#374: Haitian Prejudices: Responding to Nancy and Gina : Vedrine comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Emmanuel W. Vedrine <evedrine@hotmail.com>


[..."Regarding speaking French or even English - I have met many Haitians 
who address me in English simply to demonstrate a 'social superiority'.  I 
have been to numerous conferences held in the United States where  
presenters address a Haitian audience in English or French as if speaking in 
Creole would have undermined their competence in the subject. The message 
they really want to send is ' I am a fluent English or French speaker.'

...One example that  remains  vivid in my mind occured in l992  at City 
College of New York. It was a conference for Haitian Bilingual educators 
regarding teaching  Creole in Bilingual programs. The entire plenary and the 
keynote address were in English. When I stood up and read a poem that one of 
my students wrote in Creole, of course, the entire room was cold and silent. 
People were shocked. I don't think they expected to hear Creole in a Creole 
education conference. What made matters worse was  the content of that eight 
year old's poem was about Haiti's political situation at that time..." 
(Nekita Lamour)]

- Hm! A nice bridge connecting Diglossia and Sociolinguistics in the case of 
Ayiti Cheri's transplanted sons and daughters.

"De je kontre, manti kaba",
E.W.Vedrine


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