Anti-Haitianism and Statelessness in the Caribbean

Statelessness affects an estimated 15 million people worldwide (Kosinski 2009, 377). Without citizenship in the countries of their birth, stateless people lack access to basic political and social rights, such as the right to vote, marry, travel, and own property; in some cases, stateless people are also denied access to employment, educational services, and health care (UNCHR 2021). In this article, we look at the growing global problem of statelessness through the lens of anti-Haitianism and ethnographic analysis of people of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic, Anse-à-Pitres, Haïti, and New Providence, Bahamas. [The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Caribbean, anti-Haitianism, statelessness].