Perfume and Planes: Ignorance and Imagination in Haiti's Vetiver Oil Industry

Abstract

This article examines the production of Haitian vetiver oil and two related phenomena in southwest Haiti: an absence of information about the industry, and the surprising imaginaries that arise in relation to what the industry produces. Vetiver farmers cultivate the grass for its roots, which are sold to distilleries that produce essential oil for use in perfumes and soaps, but many vetiver farmers do not know what the vetiver oil is used for: some erroneously believe that it is used to make airplanes fly. This article argues that it is the extractive nature of production that leads to a vacuum of information and a corresponding commodity imaginary. While some have framed vetiver as an export commodity that could aid in poverty alleviation, this article suggests that by looking at the nonmaterial effects of this commodity production, the nature of a closed and extractive industry is rendered visible. [agriculture, class, extractive economies, imaginaries, Haiti, labor, markets, perfume, vétiver].