American Influence: The Evolution of Haitian Culture

In the documentary, The Americanization of Haitian Culture, Sandy Dorsainvil and Georges Bossous, Jr debate whether American organizations and businesses located in the country will change Haitian culture. It’s already known that Haiti has traditional French cultural roots due to colonization, but the concern is that the American culture and language prominence influenced in 1915 will occur on a much larger scale with the increased amount of organizations located in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010. Richard H. Robbins, author of Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, explains topics that support this occurrence by delving into the expansion of capitalism into the peripheral areas of the world, and its hindering of maintaining

diverse cultures.
Pierre Proudhon first defined the term capitalism by calling it “an economic and social regime in which capital, the source of income, does not generally belong to those who make it worth through their labor” (as cited in Robbins, 2007, p.

40). An example of this can be in seen with large corporations, such as Nike, locating their assembly factories in countries other than their own (Robbins, 2007). This infiltration into peripheral countries allows for the most profit by keeping the money spent on factories, machines and labor as low as possible all while keeping the money out of the pockets of the laborers. Sandy Dorsainvil, who represents the Little Haiti Cultural Complex, states that there is very big number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Haiti. These organizations claim to strengthen Haiti’s economy by promoting economic growth and social progress, but one must look closely as to what their true intentions are. “The major feature of capitalism is that money can be used to make more money,” (Robbins, 2007, p. 45) and it seems as if Haiti is under the construction of American capitalism by being stripped of occupation and assets all while ensuring the Haitian government their commitment to economic development. This economic development is implemented through a process of industrialization, where there is creation of free labor in exchange for tariff exemption. Ultimately, the result of organizations entering into peripheral countries creates a population

whose support derives from the sale of their own labor all while investors get a higher profit return (Robbins, 2007).
The situation in the previous paragraph creates what Robbins (2007) calls a “clash of cultures” (p. 41) and goes on to explain that “one of the casualties of the expansion of the culture of capitalism is cultural diversity” (p.268). Dorsainvil and Bossous, Jr agree that America’s cultural influence is everywhere in the world because their reach extends through global taxation, media and internet throughout the globe. Where they begin to differ in cultural outlook is whether or not cultural identity is important. Dorsainvil argues that culture is a description of life, music, and food, and that it’s not important to identify because it’s about what they do with the cultural influences rather than concerning if they’re good or bad for the nation. On the other end of the spectrum, Bossous, Jr claims that cultural identity is very important as a nation should never want an extinction of its own culture, especially since Haiti already seems to be in a limbo between French and American influence. With Haiti not being very good at defending its culture, an example being forced to speak French and uphold French ideals, he continues to argue that cultural identity must be taught and developed just as America advocates a sense of patriotism. Knowing that capitalism has not been conducive to maintaining diverse cultures, Bossous, Jr points out that with political colonization comes cultural colonization which can end up being a very detrimental effect. The outcome of the integration between the two cultures ends up being at best, the preserving of superficial characteristics (e.g. art, dance, food) that Dorsainvil defined culture as, and at worst, the policies of the nation-state leading to ethnocide which is the concern of Bossous, Jr (Robbins, 2007). This destruction of culture occurs when it is integrated into the national economy through violence, slavery, forced labor or the coined term “economic development” (Robbins, 2007, p. 279). Ways that economic development is transformed into a capitalistic structure is through forced labor, taxation and technological development which ultimately result in ethnocide for the country. Applying this to the matter at hand, America seems to have used the earthquake of 2010 to enter Haiti and spread capitalism creating a threat to Haitian culture with political and economic colonization.
Bossous, Jr’s main argument recognizes that Haiti is a melting pot of cultural influences, but if Haiti does not define and build who they are regarding cultural ideals, values, and politics then they will not be able to form an identity and will ultimately undergo ethnocide.

Robbins explains the destruction of culture that capitalism can cause through expansion into peripheral countries and the negative effects of economic development. In addition, the clash of cultures that capitalism causes along with political colonization may overtake the translucent national identity that Haiti already portrays resulting in a full Americanization of Haitian

culture.