I from Haiti to Cuba and Back: Haitians' Experiences of Migration
From Haiti to Cuba and Back: Haitians’ Experiences of Migration, Labor, and Return, 1900-1940 by Matthew Casey Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas, 2003 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2006 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2012 i UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Matthew Casey It was defended on April 4, 2012 and approved by George Reid Andrews, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of History Lara Putnam, Associate Professor, Department of History Jerome Branche, Associate Professor of Latin American and Cultural Studies, Hispanic Languages and Literatures Dissertation Advisor: Alejandro de la Fuente, UCIS Research Professor, Department of History ii Copyright © by Matthew Casey 2012 iii FROM HAITI TO CUBA AND BACK: HAITIANS’ EXPERIENCES OF MIGRATION, LABOR, AND RETURN, 1900-1940 Matthew Casey, M.A., PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2012 This dissertation is a social history of the approximately 200,000 individuals who migrated seasonally between their homes in rural Haiti and the eastern regions of Cuba during the height of the United States’ military and economic presence in both countries. Existing scholarship explains Haitians’ movements in terms of the United States’ military presence in Haiti (1915- 1934), the country’s rural poverty, and the massive growth of U.S.- and Cuban-owned sugar plantations in Cuba. However, the migrants themselves have not been studied. Instead, previous scholarship puts forth an image of Haitian migrants that is heavily influenced by false, long- standing assumptions about Haiti and the anti-immigrant stereotypes of the early 20th-century Cuban press.
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