psychographic analysis of haiti
...tian music, like Haiti itself, is an original mix, containing elements of African drum rhythms and European dance music. Haiti has also produced writers, poets and essayists of international standing. The expressiveness of the Haitian people is evident in their rich oral tradition, which includes storytelling, proverbs, riddles, songs and games. Storytelling in Haiti is a performance art. For instance, a storyteller is capable of using a different voice for each character in a given story, and may at times sing songs as part of the narrative. Many Haitian values are similar in nature to traditional, conservative American values. For Instance, Haitians like Americans, value community cooperation and usually have close extended-family ties. Many are religious, believe in hard work and harbor profound respect for authority and prescribed laws. Education is also very important to Haitians, since especially among the lower class it is viewed as the only mean of social mobility. It is not uncommon for a Haitian family to sell whatever little asset they may own, in order to provide their offspring’s with an education. Family Haitians place great importance on family life. In rural areas, the extended family has long been the social unit. However, there has been a great shift in society, fueled by deteriorating economic conditions, which had caused an exodus of peasants to the cities in search of employment. The nuclear family has replaced the extended family in certain urban areas. But family ties remain close, and family members tend to be supportive of one another; conflicts amongst family members are rare, but unfortunately increasing due to urbanization and as a way of identifying with the world. Men and women play complementary roles, generally sharing household and financial responsibilities. Women assist in framework, performing such tasks as weeding and harvesting. At home, women are generally responsible for childcare and the daily household tasks, while men do heavy chores, such as gathering firewood. In general, Haitian women have been more active in the labor force than women in other Latin American countries, perhaps because the rewards for their labor are greater. In the coffee industry, marketers (persons who transport coffee beans to local and urban markets to sell) are almost exclusively female; they are known as "Madam Saras." Income earned from agricultural production belongs to both husband and wife, but income earned from nonfarm business activities does not have to be shared with the husband, and, as a result, many women are economically independent. Language It is difficult to give a standard description of the Haitian Creole phonological system; and linguists do not agree on a phonological analysis of Haitian Creole, since there is so much regional variation in pronunciation. As a rule, the pronunciation of monolingual Creole speakers is taken as a standard. There is variation between North and South, however, and Port-au-Prince pronunciation (especially of vowels) tends to be more like French, since most of the bilingual Haitian CreoleFrench speakers live there. Creole is basically broken down French and is the official language of the island. French is mostly spoken by the elite and well educated Haitians. Religion As opposed to many foreigners thinking, 80% percent of Haitians ...