Working with Students on a Mixed-Methods, Social Justice Approach to Understanding Haiti's Internally Displaced Persons Camps

Haiti's earthquake inspired one of the most generous outpourings of aid ever. Over half of United States households and 80 percent of African American households contributed something to the effort. In addition to an astonishing $1.3 billion contributed in cash donations, many people wanted to volunteer their time and efforts. To accommodate this demand, daily flights to Haiti doubled, and a new air carrier joined the two major United States companies. I was at one of the schools with the highest percentage of Haitian students, York College, so I fielded dozens of requests-from Haitian Americans as well as others, students as well as faculty and staff-to take them with me on a trip to Haiti. Would this have been useful? I pondered. In addition, echoing similar concerns of the National Science Foundation (NSF) program officer, would they be safe? More basically, is this desire to help useful, beyond the tangible results seen in a local effort accompanied by the good feelings of having done something? Also, from the perspective of an applied anthropologist employed as an academic, would the benefits of undergraduate student participation in a research project outweigh the risks? In the end, I would have to say yes.