Embrace the good, refuse the bad: Haitian American children's selective engagement with the United States

• Main Author: Ritger, Carly
• Other Authors: Barnes, Linda
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Social research; Biculturalism; Children of immigrants; Identity formation; Immigration policy; U.S./Haiti relations; Wellbeing
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/42858

This qualitative research study investigates the perceptions of children, parents, and staff members at a Boston multi-service nonprofit for Haitian immigrants. It is an exploration of how children cultivate their identity, and how a center for immigrants functions in the current sociopolitical climate. There is an evidentiary lacuna of qualitative explorations on children of immigrants’ perceptions and health. The COVID-19 pandemic makes this issue even more temporally relevant, as new data suggests structural factors make marginalized groups, such as people of color and immigrants, more vulnerable to infection and death. This study will contribute to the body of work on children of immigrants’ health by 1) analyzing the unique child perspective, as opposed to focusing entirely on adults or using quantitative child measures, 2) employing qualitative data to create more robust depictions of lived experiences, 3) and situating data in the particular Haiti/U.S. historical, political relationship. This study’s methodology includes ethnographic participant observation during regular visits to a nonprofit organization for immigrants (Fanmi Nou) over the course of several months, semi-structured video interviews with children, parents, and staff members of this organization, and content analysis of documents produced by Fanmi Nou. Through different waves of migration to the United States, children of Haitian immigrants have lived bicultural lives. In the last four years, however, biculturalism and transnationality have come under growing assault. As a reactionary response to overt hostility, parents, staff members at Fanmi Nou, and children themselves, actively promote a Haitian identity in children. Living under an administration characterized by its hostility to immigrants, Haitian American children pick and choose which aspects of American life to welcome and which to reject. Through a multi-service nonprofit organization, these children and their families selectively engage with the U.S. political, educational, and social systems. I argue that these children and this organization strategically support the healthy development of self under these new restrictions.