The concept of social inequality tackles the existence of unequal opportunities for people of different status and positions in the society. While it normal to have a form of stratification in the society, there are situations that remain dire and need urgent intervention to try and bring about a balance. There are various dimensions of social inequality including income, wealth, power, and ethnicity. Social inequality has adverse effects on citizens of a particular nation especially on the quality of life due to unequal access to important social amenities. In Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, the author has a particular focus on several aspects of life in Haiti. While the book covers on several thematic concerns, the issue of social inequality takes a major portion of the author’s attention. Particularly, Mountains Beyond Mountains highlights the economic inequality and disparate provision of healthcare services in Haiti, its impacts on the affected people and the possible solutions to this social inequality.
culture is a way of life of a group of people the behaviors values, and symbols that they accept. people have always been identified by their cultures. Most of people leave their country to go to another one they usually adopt to the new culture. leaving your culture have many reasons such as lack of insecurity, education and economy it is very sad when people leave their native countries and never come back.in order to pursues their dreams these problems are everywhere in the world not only in poor but also in rich countries. For of too many people in some countries, the insecurities arte incontrollable. There two differences and one similarity
According to Samuel Lagerlof “Culture is what remains when that which has been learned is entirely forgotten” (as cited in Usunied,1996, p.94). Every single country in the world possesses his own culture no culture is more important than another. They’re just different. However, Haiti’s culture differs from the United States in three major points; Values, religion, and norms.
It is impossible to discuss gender and the influences it has on one livelihood without acknowledging the other aspects of one’s identity. Other aspects such as race, class, and sexuality in combination with will always play a major role in one’s life choices and the way they are perceived by others. The term intersectionality as stated by Susanne Hochreiter offers a way to understand the multiple grounds of identity when considering how the social world is constructed. Intersectionality explains why gender cannot be in isolation from other inequalities in the social world. As a black Haitian woman raised in America, it is clear to see that my identity occupies several spheres. The experiences of being a woman in Haitian culture often conflicts with that in of American culture. In Haitian, there are specific roles and social spaces that women occupy. Traditionally in Haitian culture women are the head of the household but still place their husband’s authority above them. Young Haitian girls must learn many things before they are considered young women in their society. These
Within the period of 1750 to 1914, changes were taking place around the world. New empires and nations began growing and expanding their territory, and as a result of these actions, wars, bankruptcy, and rebellions became more common. An example is the American Revolution, in which the American colonists, who were influenced by new philosophies and the sense of nationalism, fought and gained their independence from Britain. This revolution eventually inspired others throughout the world as it was successful in gaining the colonies independence from a powerful European empire. Those revolutions include the Haitian and French Revolution. The Haitian Revolution can be compared to the French revolution in that they were both influenced by the Enlightenment
Haitians are constantly living in fear whether it’s a natural disaster or leaders who rule in fear and tortured and killed approximately 30,000 people due to political reasoning. Haiti has a long dark history which constantly affects them in their daily lives now. Not only does Haiti have a dark past but they are the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere today which affects many others. About 200 years ago, Haiti had to pay an indemnity to France so independence would be recognized allowing them to provide for themselves. During times like these, the leaders of Haiti would use the rest of their money for greed instead of improving life for the people. Something which
When researching information about Haiti’s cultural dimensions, there wasn’t a significant amount of data available. However, a cultural dimension model will be developed based on personal research(Appendix D). Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension model is a five-dimension model that rates countries from 1 to 100 based on certain criteria such as power distance, individual vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation. When looking at power distance, which measures how evenly power is distributed and the influence that one has over another, Haiti is assessed at 50. Power is not evenly distributed in the country and there are times where the citizens will try to rectify that imbalance of power. Other times, citizens will just accept their place in society without making any political waves.
Haiti is an island which is located in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea, the island is 27,750 square kilometers in size and has approximately 10.8 million people, which ranks it the first populous country in the Caribbean. Despite, Haiti vast population 80 percent of the people live below the poverty line hence, half of the citizens are malnourished. In terms of healthcare systems, the island positions last in the western hemispheres and one of the world worst healthcare system due to their lacking sanitation systems, poor nutrition and insufficient health services, which continues to prevent Haiti development.
Paul Krugman, an economics professor at Princeton, writes “Confronting Inequality” chapter 7 in his book. Equality in America is what makes America, what it stands for. Social and economic inequality still is a part of everyday life in America. Education is making parents struggle because they want to give them a good education; but also, health care for those who need it. Middle-class starts to scramble more every day while the high-class gets more prosperous. Inequality in America is creating trouble to the lives of Americans.
There was not much to do as I grew up in Haiti. I would sit outside for hours until the sun would set, the darkness consuming the little light that once remained. I didn’t know anything besides my house; my mom believed that our safety simply lay inside the house and anything outside was dangerous. Growing up, I didn’t have my father around because he came to the United States in order to provide for his family back home. At the age of seven both my immigration papers and my sister's were finalized, and we were able to finally be with our father. Unfortunately, our mother was not able to come with us. When we got to the airport, I hugged my mother and said goodbye.
In the article Poverty and The Gospel: The Case of Haiti written by Dieumeme Noelliste, the author states that “Although situated in a region of the world classified as middle income, Haiti has never moved remotely close to that status during its life as a nation” (Noelliste). This is due to the fact that the unorganized government has never made a constant effort to help its citizens with the limited resources they have. There are little to no laws to protect the nation from poverty, the justice is completely obsolete. According to the article Haiti Sees Drop in Poverty Rates, but Inequality Remains written by the journalist Jaqueline Charles, relief efforts have been attempted by the government and social programs of Haiti, over 47 percent of households reported receiving some type of aid. However, the government and social programs cannot continue to provide this small aid, “The problem now is as aid declines, how do you sustain that?” (Charles). Citizens of Haiti are now oppressed and in poverty as the corrupt system uses the nation’s income to keep the wealthiest people at the top which can be shown in figure 2. This image displays groups of Haitians protesting the unfairness of the nation with signs that state “Stop corruption we want good distribution.” The Book Haiti Family Business also states that “As Haiti is ‘modernized’ economically and bound more closely to the international financial system, so more Haitians are seeking a political opening and demanding observance of constitutional and political rights” (Rod). Haitians are crying out for help and not receiving any government assistance in return, exemplifying their lack of justice. However, in the midst of all tragedy and poverty, author Noelliste emphasizes that they turn to their faith
The United States tried to protect Haitian Immigrants but has ultimately failed. Immigration policies are only impactful if the system is willing to protect them. In 2010, Haiti was struck by an earthquake that killed thousands and displaced millions of people, and many of them came to the United States seeking asylum. Due to the increase of Haitian immigrants, Congress instituted the Temporary Protected Status (TPS). While Temporary Protected Status has been granted to groups from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras, the government continues to fail them by ignoring their importance. Implementing a policy to help immigrants is important, but the continuation of the policy increases its significance. Until the United States prioritizes immigrant
The period from 1780s to 1840s in Europe is named as the age of revolution because of emergences of numbers revolutions such as industrial revolution starting from Britain in between 1700s to 1800s and French revolution from 1789 to 1871.Considered as a colony of French, Saint-Domingue, whose today territory is Republic of Haiti and Dominica Republic, was the wealthiest colony in the world in 1780s. It is also known as the first and the only colony that had successful slave revolt in the age of revolution. This paper is going to discuss the causes, main events and significences of Haitian revolution.
The Haitian revolution had a massive impact on Haiti today and other countries around the world. It was the most successful slave uprising in the world and its story was an inspiration to many. The revolution that happened from 1791 to 1804 would later lead to the economic disaster that the country has become today. The country was discovered by an Italian navigator known as Christopher Columbus. He decided to call it La Isla Española and later changed it to Hispaniola. Soon after Columbus found the island, the Spanish enslaved the native people of the island called the Tainos. They were forced to mine and they all soon perished due to harsh conditions and diseases spread by the Europeans. After the natives died and the gold mines were mined out, the Spanish started bringing slaves from Africa and they were 90% of the population in Hispaniola. The island was full of plantations that the black slaves worked on and one plantation often had over 200 slaves working on it daily. The slaves started planting coffee beans, growing sugar canes, and raising cattle. Hispaniola quickly became very valuable and it produced 40% of Europe’s sugar and 60% of it 's coffee. This made Hispaniola more valuable which interested Europeans. In the early 1670’s, the French defeated the Spanish and took over the left side of Hispaniola. This french colony was named Saint-Domingue in 1697 and it was next to the Spanish colony, Santo Domingo. Once the French had established this colony, it quickly
I was born in a really poor place in the Caribbean called Haiti. When I was 9 years old, my family moved to the United States, because I was doing things I am not proud of. Later on, I went back to Haiti after an earthquake ravaged my homeland and left nothing, but destruction and sadness in the people’s lives. Some of my family were also still there. I called them to ask them how they were and to make sure they weren’t hurt. My family was safe and none of them died, but in some ways I was still unhappy with the look of the people, nation, and the land. It was really not a good time for me. I planned with my family to help them as much as I was able. Damage was everywhere. I was only ten or eleven years old and the earthquakes were still happening, so I couldn’t stay in Haiti for long.