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- Title
Making Peasants Chèf : The Tonton Makout Militia and the Moral Politics of Terror in the Haitian Countryside during the Dictatorship of François Duvalier, 1957–1971.
- Authors
Chochotte, Marvin
- Abstract
Drawing on never-before-utilized archival and oral sources, "Making Peasants Chèf" contends that decades of peasant marginalization from political power created the social and political conditions for the rise of the infamous tonton makout militia under the dictator François Duvalier. After coming to power in 1957, Duvalier militarized and rearmed peasants in exchange for their loyalty. Thousands of previously ostracized peasants enlisted in the dreaded makout militia to access status and political power. This explains why the peasant-based militia formed an arm of state repression. With the support of an armed peasantry, Duvalier successfully repressed the political opposition, allowing the regime to stay in power for almost three decades.
- Subjects
PEASANTS; DUVALIER, Francois, 1907-1971; HAITIAN history; POLICE brutality; RURAL police
- Publication
Comparative Studies in Society & History, 2019, Vol 61, Issue 4, p925
- ISSN
0010-4175
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0010417519000306