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Enviado el: martes, 30 de abril de 2002 04:24 Dear Friends, I think that Professor Henry Carey has written an eloquent and intellectually engaging review of Jennie M. Smith superb book: “When the Hands Are Many.” He has given us an idea of why a political scientist would assess a subject and a problem differently from an anthropologist. To put it simply, a Political Scientist would emphasize structures, systems, definitions and impersonal issues, while an anthropologist would focus on the human condition, on the human motivations and on its gray areas. I think that both approaches are necessary, but when any on these opposite camps start reproving the other for trying to offer absolute solutions to a predicament, like the Haitian, we as scholar start to look as kids claiming, “My daddy is stronger than yours.” I believe that a more eclectic approach is needed to comprehend and to resolve the history and the current problems in Haiti. I liked from professor Carey that he touched on a subject that is rarely heard in scholarship (Bob Corbett’s is a good exception): that Haiti should focus on solutions and not on blame. I think that is true, and, naturally, this statement would have to come from a Political Scientist. But I also liked Professor Smith’s steady stress on imperialism (something that Carey seems not to like), not only because it gives cohesiveness to her monograph and arguments, but because it is the correct, most fair, form of presenting Haitian history and current condition. If you take away the abuses of imperialism, racism, capitalism and colonialism out of history and out of the present picture of this nation you are simply participating, immorally, with the current discourse on the triumph of Western Capitalism, and will also be lying. So, again, a balance is needed, self-(“national” in this case) responsibility and social (“global” in this case) accountability. William Paterson Independent Scholar and Activist Belize PS: I thought Robert Jackson was a bit to "forceful" (probably rash, and rude) with his comments on the Saltillo book. I think you could write the same strong criticism about a weak book with much kinder and professional words.
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