Water in Their Eyes, Dust on Their Land: Heat and Illness in a Haitian Town

Abstract

The man who spoke these words gave his answer with a slight shrug, as if it were the most obvious response to my question. As I began to understand his statement, I was struck by the enormity of what had previously seemed just another discomfort of living in a poor, tropical country. This chapter is about the concept of chalè, or “heat” as it appears in the medical discourses of rural Haitians. The term chalè is used to refer to the physical phenomenon of heat as well as to an illness that affects various parts of the body and is thought to be caused primarily by overexposure to heat and physical labor. Drawing from interviews conducted with 30 residents of Bèlans, a coastal town in northern Haiti, I will argue that an understanding of the illness chalè requires recognition of environmental factors in the analysis of illness narratives.¹ Environmental factors such as contact with biomedically recognized pathogens and toxic pollutants or the spread of previously isolated micro-organisms have already been recognized as having an impact on human health, but environmental factors must also be considered when examining the lived experiences of illness. Rural Haitians generally do not attribute chalè to biomedical causes or social dynamics, but focus instead on environmental problems when describing the illness. Although from an outsider’s perspective, one can point to the social roots of poverty, underdevelopment, and poor health, one must not overlook how Haitians link chalè to factors as immediate and obvious as a dry riverbed and the sun’s blazing heat.

Author: “Does heat make people sick?”

Informant: “Yes, there’s no water.”