Haitians in the United States represent the fourth largest immigrant population from the Caribbean. As in the case of many immigrant populations, Haitian immigrant adaptation has been challenged by social, political and economic factors, and as a result they have had to seek legal, health, and social services. According to the literature, help-seeking behaviors among Haitian immigrants have been associated with traditional indices of socioeconomic status, namely education, occupation, or income. This study takes a more in-depth look at the influence of social class by approaching it as cultural construct in the context of historical patterns of Haitian immigrant incorporation. Most Haitians arrived during the latter half of the 20th century in four successive waves, the 1957, 1970, 1980 and 1991 wave. Each of these waves of Haitian immigration represented a distinct context of departure and social class composition. A qualitative approach was used to obtain rich information on the role of help-seeking in the immigration and incorporation experience of Haitians from the perspective of immigrants who arrived during the four distinct waves of immigration. Individual and focused group interviews were conducted in English, Creole, and French with a purposive and snowball sample of 43 Haitian immigrants currently living in south Florida. Using a grounded theory approach, the analysis generated six categories related to the Haitian immigrant experience: orientation at time of arrival, establishment of social connections, issues of trust, generational effects, cultural constructs of social class, and perspectives on the help-seeking experience. Key findings emerged that identified the importance of social connections in Haitian help-seeking behaviors in the context of a complex Haitian social class construct imbedded in historical, political, and economic positioning. Specifically, across all immigration waves, regardless of social background--from the highly educated doctor who arrived in the 1950s to the rural peasant who arrived in the 1990s--Haitian immigrants identified an individual of Haitian descent residing in the United States on whom they relied for assistance in obtaining resources. This system of social connections reflected the social constructs of class existing in Haiti and remained a significant factor in Haitian immigrants' help-seeking behaviors during resettlement. / text

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Nous visons à mieux comprendre, à travers la notion composite de rapport(s) au(x) savoir(s), la façon dont le sujet apprenant haïtien se construit dans l'espace scolaire comme membre de la société et s'y intègre. L’approche se base sur des données construites sur des singularités d’« histoires » scolaires et des statistiques issues d’études sociologiques. Elles sont analysées et interprétées dans un cadre théorique inspiré de travaux développés par l’équipe ESCOL (Charlot, Bautier, Rochex) ou par Beillerot dans une perspective clinique, ou culturelle comme Hayder. Les situations sociopolitiques et économiques rendent complexes les rapports à l’école et à ses objets : ainsi dans la société haïtienne, les enseignants éprouvent des difficultés à susciter l’intérêt pour les savoirs scolaires et les apprenants expriment des sentiments d’abandon à leur sort. La réussite à l’école ne leur suffit pas pour se projeter dans un avenir plus assuré qu’il ne l’est actuellement. Malgré tout, des familles se sacrifient pour que leurs enfants continuent à fréquenter l’école. Ici s’origine une idée de mieux comprendre ce que signifie, pour un jeune haïtien le fait d’aller à l'école, d'y travailler ou non, d'y apprendre et comprendre les savoirs proposés. Notre question centrale : de quel ordre sont les facteurs qui influencent la(es) rapport(s) au(x) savoir(s) des sujets apprenant dans l’espace scolaire haïtien ? Notre hypothèse principale : La mobilisation du sujet apprenant pour investir la(es) savoir(s) dépend de ses rapports à lui-même, à l'institution (à travers les interactions avec les enseignant(e)s et personnels de direction) et de ce que ces savoirs mobilisent en lui.Ces questions sont abordées à partir de l’organisation de l’enseignement dans différentes institutions scolaires prenant en compte entre autres : qualité d’enseignement, rapports à la culture scolaire, question du sens de l’école et des savoirs, etc.. Nous tentons de formuler un problème éducatif en Haïti à partir d’une lecture «en positif » des situations des sujets apprenant. Un des constats : les savoirs étant présentés en vrac, ceux qui n’ont pas une stratégie de « survie » se perdent dans l’indifférence de la société. / We predict to better understanding the Haitian learning experience through the notions of its relationships with knowledge and how these relationships are built within the school system environment as a member of society leading up to the integration. This approach is based on individual students’ stories and statistical facts issued from sociological studies. On one hand, these stories and facts are been analyzed and interpreted within theoretical and academic frameworks developed by ESCOL (Charlot, Bautier, Rochex). On the other hand, they have been analyzed by Beillerot from a clinical perspective, and analyzed by Haydwe from a cultural standpoint. The socio-politic and economic situations have contributed to the complexity of the relationships between the learners and school environments. Consequently, teachers have endured difficulties to motivate students to learn meanwhile students have expressed desire to drop out from school given that academic success has not been sufficient to ensure a sustainable future to them. Nevertheless, Haitian parents, in spite of limited resources continue to invest in the education of their children. Herein, begin the idea of understanding what it means for young Haitians to attend school, to work or not, to learn and understand what they are being taught in school.Our central question: What are the influential factors within the relationships between the learners and Haitian school system? Our hypothesis: The motivation of a student to learn depends on intrinsic motivation; and the interaction between him or her and the school institutions trough interaction with teachers and administrative personnel.These issues are raised from the organization of the educative system through several institutions in assessment of the quality of instruction, relation with the school culture, questions on the importance of education, etc. We try to formulate the problem of the Haitian school system from a “positive model” of the learners’ circumstance. One of the findings, since knowledge is presented in bulk, those who do not have a "survival" strategy, are lost in the society frightening indifference.