Culture Presentation


Haitians

Kelsey Crehan, Mary Elchert, Kelsey Jones, Gabrielle Santangelo
 

Location & Geography

Located on western part of Hispaniola

b/w the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean

Can be compared to the size of Maryland

Shares a border w/ the Dominican Republic

Capital is Port-au-Prince


Location & Geography

It is about 28,000 square kilometers

Divided into 3 regions:

North, Central, South

Has four islands:

Ile de la Gonave

Ile de la Tortue

Grande Cayemite

Ile a Vache



Location & Geography

Hot and Humid Tropical Climate

Dry season lasts from November to January

February-May experiences a lot of rain

June-October, there are a lot of storms

It is in the middle of the hurricane region of the Caribbean

Prone to flooding, earthquakes, and droughts



History

Jean-Jacques Dessalines named the country

Became the world’s first independent black republic

Became occupied by US Marines from 1915-1934

After growing to a stronger nation, Haiti was the most densely populated nation in the Western Hemisphere

Had to stop tourism because of AIDs epidemic

This caused a rise in unemployment b/c tourist business stopped

Economy never rose back up and actually just continued to fall

AIDs rate grew very high along with malnutrition



History

A former president, Aristide, was reelected in Haiti to better the nation

People were infuriated & wanted him to resign b/c he did not do a good job during his first election

September 2004- Hurricane Jeanne hit and killed over 2,400 people

After this, the gov’t had no control over the country and most of it was run by former soldiers

To regain power, Haiti held elections on February 7, 2006

Rene Preval, former prime minister, won




History

August/September of 2008, various storms and hurricanes killed 800 people

School collapsed in November w/ 500 people inside b/c of poor construction

January 2010, Haiti was hit w/ an extreme earthquake that killed 300,000 people

It affected over 3 million Haitians

Suffered from a Cholera outbreak, which killed 3,500 people

In 2011, the death toll reached 6,000 people
 


Economy

Free market economy

Disdavantages

Poverty

Corruption

Poor access to education

Poorest country in the Western Hemisphere

80% live under the poverty line

2/5 of Haitians depend on agriculture

Subscale farming

2010, 40.6% unemployment rate
 

Government

Republic w/ elected government

After earthquake, Parliament collapsed

The United Nations’ mission was destroyed

Laurent Lamothe is the prime minister




Education

Country with an adult literacy rate of 50%

School system deals w/ crowdedness, poor management, precarious physical condition and little teacher training

After the earthquake, 3 million students’ educations were either halted or disrupted
 


Education

Education costs remain high in proportion to family revenues

Public schools only cover 20 percent of the total demand for basic education

Parents must pay school fees to enroll their children in the public school system

The majority of schools have no functioning basic services
 

  Strategies & Priorities of  Schools

Increasing enrollment of primary school children

Improving the quality of education

Reducing the number of over-aged students in classes
 

Solutions

Teacher Salary Support

Teacher Training

Tuition Vouchers

School Feeding

“Safe School” Construction and Rehabilitation
 

Traditions & customs

Voodoo

Honoring the dead

Healing the sick

Asking for spiritual advice

Carnival

Involves parades

Costumes

Local music and dancing
 


Traditions & cultures

Rara

Is considered a peasant carnival

Also refers to a distinct Haitian style of dance and music

Musicians play vaskins

Hybrid Artistic Traditions

Paintings and sculptures feature naïve styles and reflect Tainos culture

Bright colors, the subject could be simple but artist will add humorous elements
 

Family

Marriage

Expected among elite and middle classes

Can happen after a man and woman have their first child

Living near or on families land is expected

Domestic

Typically made up of family members and adopted children or young relatives

Elderly widows may live with their children or grandchildren

The husband is the owner of the home and tends to the garden and livestock
 

Immigration

Haitians have triumphed over incredible odds to reach the U.S.

Parents make it to the U.S. and send money home for their children's education (though it is sometimes misused)

Census (2008):

546,000 Haitian immigrants

Top states for settlement: Florida (46%), New York (25%), New Jersey (8%), Massachusetts (7%), Georgia (2%), and Maryland (2%)


Immigration

75,000 to 125,000 illegal Haitian immigrants

Some children have false birth certificates

310,000 U.S.-born Americans have at least one parent Haitian born

20% of Haitian immigrants and their children live in poverty

46% use at least one major welfare program (in Haitian led households)
 

Haitian Students

3 types
American Haitian

Children born to Haitian parents in America

This title is based more on students’ association with the American culture

Immerse themselves more in the American culture

Have less pronounced accents





Haitians in Transition

These are Haitians who just came to America

They eventually will either transition into the American-Haitian or Haitian-American groups

Problems they might face:

a lack of mastery of the English language

the degradation of the educational institutions in Haiti

emotional distance from parents and guardians

a general cultural disconnect with their new environment.




Haitian-American

Identify as Haitians first

Immerse themselves more in the Haitian culture

With many of the major cities around the United States having Haitian communities, Haitian-Americans are normally found in predominantly Haitian communities like Little Haiti in Miami





General Challenges all Haitian Students may face

a more profound identity crisis as they attempt to assimilate into the general United States’ culture

some familial and cultural disconnect between what they learn at school and their customs at home

and language barriers either between them and their local United States’ community or between them and their parents.
 

Children Singing






No comments:

Post a Comment