Democratic Insecurities: Violence, Trauma, and Intervention in Haiti

(University of California Press) Focusing on Haiti during and after its 1991 coup, this book is an ethnography of violence. James explores the ethics of military and humanitarian intervention, while illustrating her discussions with first-person accounts from survivors of the violence. Throughout the book, James poses and explores questions about humanitarian aid, structural violence, democracy, and human rights. James is an associate professor of anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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PAW's October 2026 cover, featuring a photo of a loaf of challah bread and the headline "The Braids That Bind."
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October 2026

Holding on to Jewish life; Katy Anderson Keating ’08’s career in wine; Hollywood loves Princeton.