Prof. Stephen Gasteyer wrote this letter to the editor in response to a David Brooks column about Haiti:
To the Editor:
David Brooks should be congratulated for stating that greater attention to poverty reduction is needed. He is also correct that systemic poverty reduction will result neither through small, nongovernmental efforts alone nor neoliberal macroeconomic policies. There is a growing body of development research now focusing on the importance of cultural change.
But I take issue with his call for more paternalism. United States foreign policy in Haiti has been nothing if not paternalistic. Over the last 20 years the United States has ousted, reinstated, then ousted again Haiti’s leadership. We have consistently worked with international financial institutions to impose neoliberal governance — leaving the Haitian government impotent before the earthquake, and largely invisible since.
Paternalist cultural development policy has led to some of our most shameful legacies (like Indian boarding schools). Cultural change must be locally led to have positive effects — not based on self-righteous proclamations.
Stephen Gasteyer
East Lansing, Mich., Jan. 18, 2010
The writer is an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University.
Turtle Talk 