The advent of documents and modern identification processes: the case of Haiti

Abstract

This article will address the roots of the historical problem of undocumentation in Haiti and its current context. Based on a bibliographic and documentary research, the paper will address the emergence of documents as techniques for population control, from the emergence of what Foucault calls biopower. Originating in the European continent, the documents of identification, spread throughout the world, to allow, among other reasons (such as recognition and guarantee of social rights), human displacement. The centralized Haitian documentation system, in the midst of the country's socio-economic and political problems, suffers from a lack of resources, inconsistencies and a lack of qualification of bureaucratic personnel, without a consistent impact on the path to democratize their access. Even so, the advances achieved seem to result largely from the strong migratory wave that the country has known since the beginning of the 2010s.

Keywords: Personal documents; State; Haiti; Citizenship; Bureaucracy; Public policy.