1940s: (Kom Se Kawo Tèm — the Body as Land — Women Who Left Domestic Work Jobs Often Being Accused of Theft on Their Way Out of Town but These Women “Stealin…

1940s: (Kom Se Kawo Tèm — the Body as Land — Women Who Left Domestic Work Jobs Often Being Accused of Theft on Their Way Out of Town but These Women “Stealing Away” from the Ambiguity of Urban Life, as Carolle Charles Explains for Many Working-Class Women the Body Was “an Important Resource — It Was a Capital — As Poor Working-Class and Peasant Women Put It ‘Kom Se Kawo Tèm’ My Body Is a Piece of Land or ‘Se Lajam’m’ It Is Money” — Rather Than Being the Urban Proletariat Some Women Being More Akin to the Landed Haitian Peasantry Their Body Being Their Land in Which “They Controlled the Rate of Their Exploitation”): Women who left domestic work jobs were often accused of theft on their way out of town. Guilt or innocence regarding accusations of petty theft were rarely determined, but these women were stealing away from the ambiguity of the intersects of urban life. As Carolle Charles explains, for many working-class women the body was an important resource — it was a capital. As poor working-class and peasant women put it: “kom se kawo tèm” (my body is a piece of land) or “se lajam’m” (it is money). In this construction, rather than being the migratory, non-land-owning laborers who sociologists would identify as the urban proletariat, some women who left these domestic work jobs were more akin to the landed Haitian peasantry — their body being their land in which they controlled the rate of their exploitation. Their bodies became the site and the mechanism of escape.