Month: May 2025

Payton’s article, titled “City of Water: Port-au-Prince, Inequality, and the Social Meaning of Rain”, perfectly displays the connection between a person’s ability to access clean water and their place in the social hierarchy. Based around Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Payton’s study analyzes the environmental and political histories of the city in order to prove that the Haitian government used water resources as a form of power and control over their citizens. The Duvalier regime, which controlled Haiti in the 1970’s, noticed how valuable water resources were, due to the shortages and floods that the country was constantly dealing with, and decided to use them as a weapon to divide the different social classes. Decisions like these only split the country apart politically, leading to the eventual overthrow of the dictatorship in the 1980’s. 

The findings of this article prove a lot to be true about society. If the government in Haiti managed to use water access as a weapon against the people, what is to stop any other national government from doing the same thing? There are several countries worldwide that struggle with the same issues that Haiti faced in the 1970’s. All it takes is a corrupt politician to take control and people could completely lose access to one of their most basic needs. Beyond water though, governments could base class divisions off anything that suits their agenda, whether that’s education, food, or even money. 

It is also important to note that this study shows a different trend than most studies I have seen. More often than not, social hierarchy is used as a way to determine access to resources. Even in America, a person’s position in society can often factor into how easily they can get clean water. The interesting part about this article is that it shows the reverse happening, water access determining social status. Just like with corrupt governments, this trend could occur anywhere. That is why it is important to notice events like these so they can be prevented in the future. 

This article aims to uncover how family relationships affect Black land ownership through a specific example found in South Carolina. The researchers implemented ethnography and archival research to examine past and current land ownership situations between the Gullah/Geechee families. What they found was that the strong connections between family members, even if they were not related by blood, often pushed the people to speak up and fight against the governments that tried to limit their access to land. 

While some might see this as a powerful conclusion to the study, these results are not anything groundbreaking. It is already well known that most people work better in groups than on their own, so the idea that the people who lived with their family were more motivated to push back against the government is not a surprise. Plus, this study mainly focused on two families from the state of South Carolina. The exact results of the study could be due to factors such as the location where this study was conducted and the culture that surrounds that location.

Lisa Moore proves that, yet again, strong community ties are the key to bringing about change. Granted, there are some instances where people lose all hope in trying to fix their city simply because they know their government does not care. For the most part, however, cities where people have a strong sense of connection with their family or neighbors are the ones that end up making efforts to fix the problems that exist in their community. Flint, Michigan, would be a great example of this. All it takes to start a movement is for one person to decide if they are tired of living in their current conditions.

Moore, Lisa. “Gullah Geechee Families: Land and Culture.” Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal, vol. 9, no. 1, 2017, article 8