Haiti is one of the countries with a unique mix of West African, European, and Latin American Influences. The geography and history of the islands are essential in shaping the rugged culture of the people. 90% of the Haitians are of African heritage because the island was initially used for the South American slave trading industry. New Jersey became home to Haitians after the 2010 earthquake, which claimed 220,000 lives, including 102 United States personnel (Etienne, 2021). Haitians are the fourth largest ethnic group in the United States, with a population of over 2 million people (Etienne, 2021). However, despite moving to New Jersey, they have tried to maintain their culture. Haitians are very religious, respectable, and welcoming despite the hard life, they faced after the Earthquake. Some of the main things that define their culture are marriage and behavioral perspectives. This study will evaluate the impact of traditional family roles on Haitian teens in New Jersey.
Despite moving to New Jersey, most Haitian families have still embraced their values and culture. Some cultural rites, such as marriage play, have much importance in the Haitian culture because they are used to barter families whereby children marry families considered good in society. These families use marriage to gain trade and affiliation with families with higher income status than theirs, more educated or higher income. Although the trait of a good family may differ from one family to the other, most families consider factors such as financial security, education level, social class standing, and emotional traits (Etienne, 2021). This traditional family setup of Haiti people has significantly affected how their teens live in New Jersey, such as who to marry and how to marry. Haitian teens were more likely to intermarry within themselves and use their primary choice of language.
Another important value for traditional Haiti families is respect within their normative lives. Children are taught the values of respect while they are young, so they easily grow up reflecting them in their older lives. Thus, most of the traditional Haiti children were raised in a way that they should heed the counsel of the elders, whether in their family or from the community. Haitians expect their immigrants in New Jersey to uphold the values of respect because they are shared from generation to generation, even in a family setup (Etienne, 2021). New Jersey teen families are expected to uphold respectful values such as submission and honor.
For instance, it is the role of the women in the family to honor their husbands and be submissive as part of Haiti’s traditional culture. Some of these traits are not taught directly, as most married Haitian girls stated that they learned their husbands should be honored by how their mother treated their fathers. For instance, men were honored through exclusion from domestic chores such as laundry, ironing their work clothes, and serving food before others.
The other traditional family roles which have impacted the Haitian teens in New Jersey are gender roles. The traditional Haitian cultures are evident in the New Jersey teen’s gender roles. These behaviors are expected based on gender and are upheld by society. Kokorelias et al. (2019) conducted a study on Haitian influence and motivation to work and found differentiation in gender roles. Most of the traditional Haitian family roles emphasized women being dominant in house-based jobs. This shows that they are the main caregivers of the children and take care of their husbands. Conversely, men had the decision-making role and were the sole providers of the house. Consistent with this research, most New Jersey teens are aligned with traditional family roles. Girls are affiliated with home-based chores, while boys enjoy the liberty of being outside. This shows that women are prepared for their future house-based roles. On the other hand, boys know that it is their role to provide for women.
The traditional Haiti setup uses corporal punishment as a way of instilling discipline in their children. According to Kokorelias et al. (2019), Haiti parents are known for using wrongdoings to instil the right discipline in their children. Children are punished for failing in exams, going home late, being disrespectful and other forms of indiscipline. This role is taken by the parents and any other older adult from the community.
This traditional family role of elders having to punish young children when they do wrong is still upheld, although at varying rates. While in the rural areas, society has an overall duty of taking care of the teens, in more urban setups, it has only been constrained to the immediate parents (Etienne, 2021). Therefore, most Haitian teens in New Jersey can only be punished by their immediate family members when they do wrong. Although there is a general decline in the use of corporal punishment on children, it is still practiced among New Jersey teens. Since this is their tradition, Haitian teens take it as their role to punish their immediate family siblings when they do wrong. It is used as a way of ensuring that they are brought up morally right.
Haitian families have embraced togetherness and support as one of their community standards. Haitians who have to New Jersey are very supportive of each other due to the general stressors of a new culture, racism, and the overall new life. As part of the traditional family roles, supporting other families is one of the main roles of the Haitians who have moved to the US (Etienne, 2021). Additionally, they are extremely loyal to each and provide financial support.
Most families have routine check-ups on other families to ensure that they are doing well. While they visit those families, the well-up families try to evaluate the needs of other families and give them the needed support to ensure unity in a foreign culture. This behavior has been adopted by the Haitian teens whereby they bid support for each other to keep their unity. It is the role of the teens to visit other teens in need, establish the level of their needs and find a way of helping them. Their support is notable in places of social interaction, such as during games, class, or home time, whereby most Haitian teens stay together.
Haitians embrace the tradition of being friendly and expressive to others and themselves. Haitians are hospitable, which can be noted by how they treat their guests. Although life is hard for most of them in the traditional setups, they celebrate the joy of life with laughter and iconic dances. Most Haitian families are based on love and respect for each other. It is everybody’s role in the traditional family setup to be friendly and expressive despite their conditions.
Despite losing thousands of their relatives, they still find a reason to smile and enjoy life (Etienne, 2021). The teens have taken the role of expressing their love to the world. Other than coming up with interesting dances for visitors in New Jersey to showcase their culture, they are generally welcoming and friendly to guests. Additionally, Haitian teens in New Jersey have adopted the family role of being friendly by inviting everyone in New Jersey to celebrate. For instance, they celebrate their culture and heritage through the Annual Celebration of Haitian Heritage which the teens largely dominate.
Haitian families have much significance in their behavior and general lifestyle. Although some who have moved to New Jersey have adopted new living styles, the community is still largely dominated by its traditional culture. The traditional family roles have greatly impacted Haitian teens in New Jersey, such as their significance to marriage, whereby they still largely intermarry within themselves following various family traditions.
Another important traditional family role that they have adopted is being respectable, whereby the women look after children and care for their husbands. On the other side, husbands are supposed to provide for their families and make major family decisions. Other roles include the use of corporal punishment for the elderly to punish the young, gender roles, togetherness and supporting one another, and being friendly. This show despite moving from their original islands, Haitians have still embraced most of their traditional family roles, and this has been the same for those who have migrated to New Jersey.
References
Etienne, V. Y. (2021). Keeping it in the family: Cultural socialization among Haitian American families. Current Sociology, 13(3), 001139212110286. Web.
Kokorelias, K. M., Gignac, M. A. M., Naglie, G., & Cameron, J. I. (2019). Towards a universal model of family centered care: A scoping review. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1), 1–11. Web.