Book

Haitian immigrants in Black America: a sociological and sociolinguistic portrait

Bergin & GarveyWestport, Conn.Published In 1996 • Pages:

By: Zéphir, Flore.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book, which focuses on the Haitian American population of New York City, provides a sociological and sociolinguistic analysis of Haitians in America, written from the perspective of the group itself. In this work the mechanisms that shape Haitian immigrant identity are explored as well as the Haitian definition of themselves as a distinct ethnic group, revealing in the process the strength and extent of this ethnic identification. Throughout this study the author reports the voices of Haitians as they speak, as they feel, and most important, how they experience their new life in the United States (p. 15). The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 presents a sociological portrait of the Haitian immigrants and looks at the process of the formation of their identity as a distinct Black ethnic group. Part 2 sketches out a sociolinguistic portrait. It describes the language selection of the immigrants as a non-English-speaking group by looking at issues of language maintenance, use, choice, and attitudes. In addition it underscores the importance of the native language in the construction of Haitian ethnicity in the United States (p. 4).
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
External migration
Cultural identity and pride
Speech
Linguistic identification
Ethnic stratification
Inter-ethnic relations
Ethnosociology
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Haitian Americans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
1998
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Regional, Ethnic and Diaspora Cultures
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Educator
Linguist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle ; 1997
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
ca. 1994
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1920s-1990s
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
New York, N.Y., United States
NotesAdditional notes
Flore Zéphir
Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-176) and index
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
95036906
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Haitian Americans