Haiti, long noted for poverty and repression, has a powerful and too-often-overlooked history of resistance. Women in Haiti have played a large role in changing the balance of political and social power, even as they have endured rampant and devastating state-sponsored violence, including torture, rape, abuse, illegal arrest, disappearance, and assassination.In Walking on Fire, Beverly Bell, an activist and an expert on Haitian social movements, brings together thirty-eight oral histories from a diverse group of Haitian women. The interviewees include, for example, a former prime minister, an illiterate poet, a leading feminist theologian, and a vodou dancer. Defying victim status despite gender- and state-based repression, they tell how Haiti's poor and dispossessed women have fought for their personal and collective survival.The women's powerfully moving accounts of horror and heroism can best be characterized by the Creole word istwa, which means both "story" and "history." They combine theory with case studies concerning resistance, gender, and alternative models of power. Photographs of the women who have lived through Haiti's recent past accompany their words to further personalize the interviews in Walking on Fire.

Foreword, by Edwidge DanticatPreface: Beat Back the DarknessAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Women of Millet MountainPart I: Resistance in SurvivalYOLANDE MEVS - My Head Burning with the BurdenALINA "TIBEBE" CAJUSTE - A Baby Left on the Doorstep in a Rotten BasketLOVLY JOSAPHAT - I Always Live That HopeROSELIE JEAN-JUSTE - A Woman Named Roselie Who Fought BackVENANTE DUPLAN - I Don't Have the Call, I Don't Have the ResponseMARIE SONIA PANTAL - SchoolPart II: Resistance as ExpressionLELENNE GILLES - I'll Die with the Words on My LipsMARCELINE YRELIBN - Singing a Woman's MiseryALINA "TIBEBE" CAJUSTE - Getting the PoetryYANIQUE GUITEAU DANDIN - The Struggle for CreoleGRACITA OSIAS - Chaleron's LessonFLORENCIA PIERRE - The Cultural SoulMARTINE FOURCAND Expanding the Space of ExpressionPart III: Resistance for Political and Economic ChangeALERTE BELANCE - My Blood and My BreathYANNICK ETIENNE - A Grain of SandCLAUDETTE PHENE - A Little LightYOLETTE ETIENNE - Jumping over the FireLOUISE MONFILS - The SamaritanVITA TELCY - Five Cans of CornMARIE JOSEE ST. FIRMIN - Sharing the DreamSELITANE JOSEPH - Chunk of GoldROSEMIE BELVIUS - Reshuffling the CardsPart IV: Resistance for Gender JusticeLISE-MARIE DEJEAN - Minister of the Status and Rights of WomenGRACITA OSIAS - The Marriage QuestionLOUISE MONPILS - Walking with My Little CoffinCLAUDETTE WERLEIGH - Women's BusinessYOLANDE MEVS - Support for the ChildrenYANIQUE GUITEAU DANDIN - A Country's Problems, A Woman's ProblemsMARIE ]OSEE ST. FIRMIN - Deciding My LifeOLGA BENOIT - Assuming the Title "Feminist"JOSETTE PERARD - The Carriage Is LeavingPart V: Resistance Transforming PowerCLAUDETTE WERLEIGH - Lighting Candles of HopeMARIE SONIA DELY - Sharing the BreadfruitLISE-MARIE DEJEAN - The People Say JumpMYRIAM MERLET - The More People DreamYANNICK ETIENNE - You Can't Eat Gumbo with One FingerMYRTO CELESTIN SAUREL - Rocks in the RiverKESTA OCCIDENT - A Stubborn HopeEpilogue: Resistance as SolidarityALERTE BELANCE - Get Up, Shake Your BodiesNotesGlossaryFor Further Research and InvolvementBibliography