By Jean Jude Dugé and Quetya Aubin
The escalation of armed violence in Haiti is not just paralyzing the economy; It profoundly upsets university life. By curbing the flow of students and teachers, insecurity weakens national scientific production. Through the testimony of researchers and the analysis of institutional data, this article examines how this violence threatens not only the immediate transmission of knowledge, but also the country's ability to intellectually project itself into the future.
Mobility: a condition of academic survival threatened
University mobility is not just a journey: it is one of the foundations of higher education. It involves freedom of movement between home and campus, access to libraries, field surveys and seminars.
This mobility is now drastically reduced. The strategic axes controlled by armed groups – including Martissant, Carrefour, Delmas and Croix-des-Bouquets – make any move to campuses uncertain, if not impossible. Having to adapt their schedules or bypass these red zones, many students and professors end up interrupting their activities. Some give up the exams, others completely desert the classrooms.
This situation undermines the very functioning of the institutions. As Professor Fritz Deshommes points out, « The University is an area of intellectual mobility but also of physical mobility; when a society cannot guarantee this, it condemns its youth to immobility ».
Psychological wear and tear and fragmentation of campuses
Beyond physical barriers, the impact is psychological. Constant exposure to violence generates widespread anxiety that affects attention and motivation. Sociologist Sabine Manigat points out that « Insecurity creates deep mental fatigue, a permanent alert state that reduces cognitive availability for studies ».
At the institutional level, there is a genuine « Academic fragmentation ». Several faculties of the State University of Haiti (UEH) located in risk areas operate intermittently, with infrastructures sometimes abandoned or temporarily displaced. This discontinuity is fatal to scientific rigour. For historian Michel Hector, « Higher institution cannot survive permanent discontinuity: science requires time, concentration and minimum stability ».
Scientific production at risk
This paralysis affects the heart of research: data collection. In a country where understanding social, health and environmental realities depends on empirical research, the impossibility of conducting field surveys leads to incomplete or purely theoretical memories.
Insecurity also accelerates the academic exodus. Many teachers-researchers leave the country to protect their families, resulting in a drop in the number of publications and supervisions. Sociologist Louis Herns Marcelin rightly notes that armed violence « disorganizes meaningful institutions, including university ».
To this is added a logistical collapse: closed libraries, displaced or damaged archives, and suspension of international symposia, further insulating the Haitian scientific community.
Resilience and limits of virtual
In the face of the crisis, Haitian universities demonstrate resilience: virtualization of courses, remote research groups and temporary relocation of activities. If these solutions ensure minimal continuity, they cannot replace physical mobility.
Research cannot be fully virtualized. As Laennec Hurbon, a specialist in Haitian society, says, « knowledge produced away from the ground loses its thickness, its depth, its ability to transform reality ».
Conclusion: To safeguard national intelligence
The current crisis goes beyond education; it threatens Haiti's scientific future. Without secure and stable spaces for reflection, the country faces a major generational break.
Saving national science requires concrete actions: securing university corridors, rehabilitating infrastructure, protecting archives and, above all, retaining the brains through sustainable research funding. University is a pillar of sovereignty. In the words of Rector Deshommes: « a country that abandons its ability to produce knowledge abandons its ability to govern its future ».
References
Deshommes, F. (2018). Higher education and the future of Haiti. Port-au-Prince: UEH.
Hector, Mr (2014). Universities, society and governance in Haiti. Port-au-Prince: CRESFED.
Hurbon, L. (2017). Violence, society and reason in Haiti. Paris: Karthala.
INURED. (2010). The Challenge for Haitian Higher Education: Diagnosis and Recommendations. Port-au-Prince
Manigat, S. (2019). « Insecurity and social fatigue ». Haitian journal of humanities, 12(2), 45–60.
Marcelin, L. H. (2012). Violence, State and social institutions in Haiti. INURED Working Papers.
Jean-Jude DUGÉ
Haiti-Antilles Pole, Haiti Science and Society (HaSci-So)
Team of Scientific Partners for Research Communication (E-PSi-CoRe)
djeanjude82@gmail.com
Quetya AUBIN
Haiti-Antilles Pole, Haiti Science and Society (HaSci-So)
Team of Scientific Partners for Research Communication (E-PSi-CoRe) quetyaaubin25@gmail.com
