The haitian migratory system in the guianas: beyond borders

Abstract

The Guianas are an important migratory field in the Caribbean migratory system, whereby goods, objects, currencies, and populations circulate for different reasons: geographical, cultural proximity, climatic, geopolitical and socioeconomic factors. From the 1960s and 1970s, Haitian migration increased in the Guianas. Five decades later, after the January 2010 earthquake, the migratory spaces were intensified in the region, Brazil became part of them as a country of residence and transit to reach French Guiana and Suriname. In 2013, the routes were altered. Some migrants started to use the Republic of Guyana to enter Brazil through the border with Roraima, in the Amazon, or to cross the border towards Suriname and French Guiana. This article is divided into two levels. First, it describes the way in which migrants' practices and trajectories intersect national borders in the Guianas. Then, it analyzes the migratory system, documents and papers, and the problems that the different Haitian migratory generations raise in space and time. The ethnographic research is based on the Triple Border Brazil, Colombia and Peru, but also in Suriname, French Guiana and Haiti.

Keywords

• haitian migration
• migration system
• suriname
• french guiana
• brazil
• borders