Scholar Profiles
Hananie
Albert
2007 - 2008 University Scholar
Mentor: Faye Harrison
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
"I am researching a segment of Haitian history that seems to have been forgotten by scholars and historians alike. Working with Faye Harrison, an anthropologist who is attune to the politics and nuances of the academy has helped me to navigate what initially felt like an intellectual void."
Hananie is a senior triple majoring in anthropology, English and French. She is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and Presidential Scholar and a member of the Caribbean Student Association. She also contributes to BlackListed Magazine.
Research Description:
A Monstrous Silence: The Tale of Subversive Women’s Action in Haiti
My research examines the Fiyet Lalo, a female paramilitary force that operated during the reign of the notorious Haitian dictator, Francois Duvalier. These women were crucial to Duvalier’s ascension to and maintenance of power, yet there has not been scholarship that analyzes their motivations or the overarching implications of their brutality.
This research is a work in historical anthropology and questions how culture is constituted around fissures, gaps and erasures in history. I explore the power dynamics inherent to the process of historical production and argue that accounts of female agency have been mythologized in an attempt to remove them from the historical master narratives. The Fiyet Lalo mark a visible juncture in this trajectory and stand as reminders of the dangers of hidden histories and the extent people will travel to reclaim them.
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