American Influence: The Evolution of Haitian Culture

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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