1930s: (Comhaire-Sylvain’s Research on Marriage in the Countryside — During Her Research on Marriage in the Haitian Countryside Throughout the 1930s Comhaire…

1930s: (Comhaire-Sylvain’s Research on Marriage in the Countryside — During Her Research on Marriage in the Haitian Countryside Throughout the 1930s Comhaire-Sylvain Finding That the Majority of Marriage Unions in Rural Areas Were Not Legal, Instead Women Being in Common-Law Unions Known as Plasaj or in Open Relationships with Partners with Whom They Were Not Legally Bound — Partnership and Marriage Across Social Differences Intimately Connected to Market Fluctuation and Mobility Revolving Around Women’s Relationship and Accessibility to the Resources of Land): During her research on marriage in the Haitian countryside throughout the 1930s, Comhaire-Sylvain found that the majority of marriage unions in rural areas were not legal. Instead, women were in common-law unions known as plasaj, or in open relationships with partners with whom they were not legally bound. Partnership and marriage across social differences were intimately connected to market fluctuation and mobility that revolved around women’s relationship and accessibility to the resources of land. With access to land, through family relation or via marriage, women cultivated plots that allowed them to sell produce throughout the nation, giving them relative access to income and movement — the root of women’s freedom was literal: the soil they could plant, the road they could walk to market, the produce they could sell without asking permission.