Haitian Immigrants in Black America: A Sociological and Sociolinguistic Portrait

(Hardback)

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Written by a member of the Black Haitian community, this book brings to life the mechanisms that shape Haitian immigrant identity and underscores the complexity of such an identity. Zphir explains why Haitians define themselves as a distinct ethnic group and examines the various parameters of Haitian ethnicity. Through hundreds of interviews, the author gathered the voices of Haitians as they speak, as they feel, and most importantly, how they experience America and its system of racial classification. This work is a description of the diversity of the Black population in America and an effort to dispel the myth of a monolithic minority or sidestream culture.

Reviews

"Zephir's remarkable ethnographic and sociolinguistic study of Haitian immigration will engage a variety of readers concerned with immigration to the U.S., past and present. An important and timely contribution."-David R. Roediger, Professor of History, University of Minnesota
[O]ffers rich perspectives on the experience of Haitian immigrants in the United States....Flore Zephir brings an insider's intimate understanding of the Haitian immigrant experience and of the role of Creole in shaping and maintaining Haitian ethnic identity....Her analysis demonstrates that when race and ethnicity remain undifferentiated, we lose the rich variety of cultural and class differences of black group....Haitian Immigrants in Black America masterfully tackles the complex dynamics of social stratification and the strategic use of ethnicity in New York's Haitian community.-New West Indian Guide
Only Jamaica sends more black immigrants to the US than Haiti. In most cases, Haitians have retained their identity. Zephir looks at the process of ethnic identity formation among Haitian immigrants and focuses on macr (external) and micro (internal) causal factors.-Choice
"Offers rich perspectives on the experience of Haitian immigrants in the United States....Flore Zephir brings an insider's intimate understanding of the Haitian immigrant experience and of the role of Creole in shaping and maintaining Haitian ethnic identity....Her analysis demonstrates that when race and ethnicity remain undifferentiated, we lose the rich variety of cultural and class differences of black group....Haitian Immigrants in Black America masterfully tackles the complex dynamics of social stratification and the strategic use of ethnicity in New York's Haitian community."-New West Indian Guide
"Only Jamaica sends more black immigrants to the US than Haiti. In most cases, Haitians have retained their identity. Zephir looks at the process of ethnic identity formation among Haitian immigrants and focuses on macr (external) and micro (internal) causal factors."-Choice
"[O]ffers rich perspectives on the experience of Haitian immigrants in the United States....Flore Zephir brings an insider's intimate understanding of the Haitian immigrant experience and of the role of Creole in shaping and maintaining Haitian ethnic identity....Her analysis demonstrates that when race and ethnicity remain undifferentiated, we lose the rich variety of cultural and class differences of black group....Haitian Immigrants in Black America masterfully tackles the complex dynamics of social stratification and the strategic use of ethnicity in New York's Haitian community."-New West Indian Guide

Author Bio

FLORE ZPHIR is Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Missouri where she coordinates the foreign language education program. She has contributed an article on the Haitian middle class to the journal Research in Race and Ethnic Relations and has published chapters in books on multiculturalism and foreign language teaching. She has received recognition as an outstanding teacher.