Open Source Archives

We strive to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and the implementation of progressive and  participatory research methods, with the goal of generating tangible, durable changes in the way research about Haiti is conceptualized, implemented and applied.

ABOUT US

Research Hub & Open Source Archives

EKO HAITI Research Hub is a research and knowledge mobilization platform focused on creative, collaborative and interdisciplinary research and associated research-based learning. We aim to become the intellectual “home” for research about Haiti by creating and providing open access to the largest crowdsourced research archive dedicated to Haiti, by fostering cross-disciplinary research and innovation, and by providing support for progressive research in the form of contextual expertise and training.

“The trees fall from time to time, but the voice of the forest never loses its power. Life begins.”

Jacques Alexis, Les Arbres Musiciens (Paris, 1957)
Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
LITTERATURE
HAITIAN LITTERATURE
Haiti is the birthplace of a rich literary heritage that deserves more attention. Haitian authors open a window into this Caribbean nation’s vibrant culture and tumultuous history.

Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
ANTHROPOLOGY
EKO HAITI collections include all works, published and unpublished by Anthropologists Gerald Murray, Glenn Smucker and Timothy Schwartz
Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE
HAITI IN PICTURES
Dedicated to the late great, Kreyolicious (Katheline St. Fort), our photographs archives holds a large collection of images dating back to the late 1800's .
Haiti-bezienswaardigheden
DEVELOPMENT ARCHIVE
DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH
40 years of development reports, evaluations and survey databases many of which are not publicly available, are buried in drawers, closets, private libraries of NGOs and government donors.

ORAL HISTORIES

Oral histories are a powerful tool in developing historical understanding

Oral history offers an alternative to conventional history, filling gaps in traditional research with personal accounts of historically significant events or simply life in a specific place and time. Oral histories do more than provide charming details to dry historical accounts. In fact, oral histories help others recapture lived experiences that are not written down in traditional sources.

> Transcripts archive

" Bwa pi wo di li wè lwen, men grenn pwomennen di li wè pi lwen pase l "

The tallest tree says that it sees far, but the seed that travels says that it sees even further.

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Support EKO HAITI

As an independent institute, we rely on crowdsourcing and donations to continue expanding the depth and scope of our archives.  Your contribution enable us to provide open access to a vast collection of ethnographic and research material which in turn aims at fostering further research and contribute to a better understanding of the country.

The idea of Frequency Lists comes from the Freelisting technique used in Cultural Consensus Analysis (Romney et. al. 1986; Borgatti 1992). The technique is designed to document categorical knowledge, usually among non-literate people whose folkways are little known outside their living group. For example, a researcher may wish to learn about the types of local foliage rural Haitian leaf doctors use to concoct herbal remedies. The researcher would ask a sample of leaf doctors to give the names of plants they use. The questions are typically asked of 20 to 30 respondents. Responses from the sample of respondents are then correlated. Those plants mentioned often, for example, by more than 5 respondents, are accepted as part of the semantic category of ‘plants Haitian leaf doctors use to make herbal remedies.’ Although the technique is simple in its conception and application, statistical analysis yields a depth of information. The more frequently an herb is mentioned the more commonly we can assume Leaf Doctors use it. A correlation in order of responses—mentioned first, second, fifth– suggests the importance of a particular item, in this case a plant or leaf. Further analysis can be done with the results to uncover relationships between different herbs.

For the Maissade survey, the Freelisting technique was modified to identify vulnerable households in what we here call Frequency Listing. The advantage of the strategy is that it taps local knowledge. As seen in Section ## about criteria, Proxy Means Tests of different criteria yield low predictive value when measured against variables such as child malnutrition. Part of the reason for this is that a) differences in the wealth of the most impoverished rural Haitian households tend to be miniscule, b) inter-household dependency and sharing largely smooth over the differences, c) rural households invest heavily in urban homes, and more than anything else d) rural Haitians invest heavily in social capital. Neither outsiders nor survey questions easily measure social capital. But we can make the assumption that, not unlike the leaf doctor with his or her herbal remedies, the typically competent person living in rural Haiti can be thought of as a type of expert in judging the resources and social capital of his or her family, friends, and neighbors. We expect from studies in Cultural Consensus Analysis that when a minimum of respondents identify the same individuals as vulnerable, those individuals are indeed the most vulnerable among their neighbors. Another advantage of what we are calling Frequency Listing is that it increases the credibility of the choice of the vulnerable.