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Accepted Paper:
Leftovers in the system: hope and death in Haitian charcoal economy
Rodrigo C. Bulamah
(Universidade Federal de São Paulo)
Paper short abstract:
The purpose of this presentation is to shift our gaze to other aspects of wood charcoal production in the Haitian mountains. Focusing on the leftover economy and its connections to life and death, I wish to discuss how hope is cultivated and how new 'counterplantation' futures are anticipated.
Paper long abstract:
Wood charcoal represents the basis of the Haitian energy system. It is estimated that 70% of the energy demand in the country is supplied by this fuel, used mainly in urban and peri-urban kitchens. On this topic, charcoal production is portrayed by elite national groups and global humanitarian agencies as irrational and responsible for a supposedly uncontrolled deforestation in the country. However, the charcoal chain is mediated by techniques and affects that involve vital processes, different regimes of property and inheritance, economic and ecological calculations in addition to the agency of spirits that inhabit trees and other elements of the landscape. Focusing on the leftovers of charcoal economy and its connections to local concepts of life and death, I wish to discuss how hope is locally cultivated and how new 'counterplantation' futures are anticipated.