'Where They Need Me': The Moral Economy of International Medical Aid in Haiti

This dissertation examines and analyzes the provision of international medical aid in northern Haiti. Medical aid in this setting comprises a wide range of goods and services, including pharmaceutical supplies and medical equipment, clinical procedures, support for infrastructure projects and training for Haitian medical staff. Based on ethnographic research conducted from 2007 to 2009 among the providers, implementors and recipients of medical aid, this study examines the various collaborations and tensions that result from the provision of health resources across marked social and economic inequalities. Beginning with a discussion of humanitarian heroism as exemplified by the lives and work of Drs. Albert Schweitzer and Paul Farmer, the dissertation goes on to describe the activities of a secular U.S.-based health NGO. The third chapter is devoted to the experiences and perspectives of Haitian medical residents at a large, public hospital, situating their lives and work within larger debates about obligation and emigration. The fourth chapter focuses on the issue of coordination, and examines the factors that impede coordination among the diverse actors involved in medical aid, despite unanimous calls for it. The final chapter proposes theories of moral economy, resentment and "ressentiment" as frameworks for understanding the diverse exchanges, values and emotions that constitute, influence and result from medical aid encounters. Rather than expose the shortcomings or failures of international medical aid in Haiti, this dissertation aims to highlight the ambivalence and contradictions experienced by the diverse actors involved in this complex process.