The Francophone World - Article Example

The Francophone world is a common term that refers French speaking countries and the people living in them. As illustrated by Michelle Beauclair, in the book ‘The Francophone World,’ during the 16th century many factors influenced the migration of French people to different parts of the world. This factor has resulted in the wide-spread distribution of the French culture and language in the entire world. “The Francophone world includes several countries, sharing similar cultural, historic and educational ties” (Beauclair 4). Haiti is one of the countries that is considered among the Francophone world because of the French historic significance and similar cultural values that exist in the country. There are majorly two languages that are used by Haitians, French and Haitian Creole. French has been the official language since the colonial period. The republic of Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is a Caribbean country that has a total area of 27,750 square kilometers and has an estimated population of 9,996,731. Although Haiti consists a vast land area but the population is concentrated mostly in the urban areas as well as the coastal plains. The primary occupation of Haitians is agriculture. The subsistence agriculture practiced by rural Haitians in the modern world is very different from the plantations during the French colonial period (Pamphile 80). The majority of the Haitians are the descendents of the African slaves, who were forced to work in during colonialism. The remaining populations have originated from the mulattoes and the European traders, who migrated to Haiti due to the vast plantations. Several conflicts and revolutions related to slave independence, monarchy supporters and republicanism has led to the formation of modern Haiti (Beauclair 108). In the contemporary era, millions of Haitians live abroad, primarily in United States, Cuba, Canada, France, Brazil and French Guiana (LaRosa 92). Since the scope of economic development is low in Haiti, people prefer to move to abroad countries in search of better employment opportunities. The Haitian Revolution was not as simple as white planters versus black slaves. The social and political disturbances also occurred as a result of internal political disputes that existed among the Royalists and the Republicans (Marsh 24). Furthermore, some of the revolutionary movements also emerged against the brutal tortures conducted by the Mulattoes i.e. the local business people and land-owners in the country. In the year 1804, Haiti declared independence from France the new empire of Haiti, Dessalines was unable to continue his rule because of resistance experienced from the mulatto leaders. After the death of emperor Dessalines, Haiti was divided among two dictators, Henri Christophe and Alexandre Petion. Initially Christophe was elected as the president and Petion to be the head of legislature in order to gain the interest of the black population and maintain the dictate of the mulatto elites. However, Christophe decided to turn against Petite and wanted to capture Port-au-Prince (Parker 108). “The king finds himself attracted towards a totalitarian dictatorship due to his ambition to find a new civilization and the external political pressure” (Beauclair 108). Christophe lost the war in Port-au-Prince against Petion because of the modern artillery that Christophe lacked. King Henri marched North Haiti with his troops and captured the land, where he ruled with great severity. His kingdom improved and so did the lives of the people due to the sugarcane plantations. The population of Haiti grew and the plantations were improved under the rule of Boyer. Boyer was overthrown by the people of Haiti in the year 1844 because he played ransom to the Government of France in order to continue his rule peacefully. Moderate progress was made in the 19th and the 20th centuries by the National Party controlled by the Blacks and the Liberal party that was controlled by the elite businessmen. The developments that occurred during the period benefited the local people for a while but the international trade relations suffered on a large scale. Haiti, being an important part of the Francophone world has its own history after the independence. “From 1915 to 1934, the American government occupied Haiti because they wanted to continue business in the country” (Booker 138). The Americans were successful in continuing their dominance and business in Haiti for nineteen years. Finally Rafael Trujillo Molina came to power in the Dominican Republic and his agents tried to establish control over Haiti. The political disturbances between the Blacks, the mulattos and the agents of Trujillo continued for a while until Dr. Francois Duvalier won an open and free election for presidency (Booker 41). There have been continuous tensions and revolutions in Haiti for power and prejudice in the past, which had a terrible effect on the economic and social development of the country. Haiti’s economy experienced continuous challenges due to the ability of people to find suitable occupation. The constant rise in the population reduced the chances of economic development. The economic history of Haiti has not been complex compared to that of the political history. The original economic base of Haiti depended on the production of sugar. The French government had tremendous interest on the sugar plantation of Haiti and they also introduced coffee, cocoa and cotton plantation on the lands. The French plantation system was based on slave labor. The labors had limited rights and they were forced to continue their work extensively in the French plantations of Haiti. Under the French plantation system the sugar production of Haiti was extremely profitable. The sugar obtained from the plantations of Haiti was transported across the globe and the products were in great demand. The Haitian sugar economy was in competition with the Brazil plantations. The sugar and coffee production in Haiti raised the economy of the country because the products were initially sold in the European market and they were further transported to the British North American countries. The Haitian sugar was preferred over the Brazilian sugar. Though the mulattoes were benefitted from the plantations apart from the French government, the laborers did not receive the benefits. The independence of Haiti was enjoyed by the people for a certain time; however the country’s economy degraded because of poor export of the Haitian products. “Towards the nineteenth century the Brazilian products became demanding, which reduced the export of Haitian plantations” (Arnold 85). Initially the Haitian administration tried to build trade relations with France, Europe and America, which declined and the country was made to suffer. The mass production of sugar and coffee was consumed by the people and many crops were wasted because of low demand of the products in the international market. In the later part of the twentieth century, tourism business enhanced the economy of the country. The tourism industry was profited initially however it suffered great loss in the later period due to the instability of government and public’s association (Anderson 81). The threat of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS crippled the tourism industry of Haiti. The development of Haiti in the contemporary era is low because most of the people prefer to migrate to foreign countries in search of better opportunities. Most of the population of Haiti belongs to the age group of 20s-30s, which shows that the economic condition of Haiti is under increasing threat. Haiti is a nation of about nine million people and about 80 percent of people are living on the thin edge of survival. “In the year 2010, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitudes killed a hundred thousand people residing in Haiti” (Farmer 368). The earthquake affected the development of Haiti tremendously because it happened in the urban part of the country. It has been recorded that most of the business centers and buildings were destroyed during the massive earthquake. The people of Haiti had to suffer drastically due to poor international relations. In most of the cases it has been observed that countries receive medical aid and financial support from other countries during a natural disaster, however in case of Haiti the development perspective has dropped due to low economy generation and limited international political relations. As discussed earlier, Haitians had continuously experienced economical and political disturbances in their society. Due to these factors the earthquake that occurred in 2010, made the dropped the economic development and Haiti being an independent country suffered for a long period due to scarcity of basic needs. (Arnold 86). The Haitians currently do not have a systematic way to lead their life and they try to gather food for their living. Furthermore, the Haitians migrate within their country from one place to another instead of sticking at a place and fight against the social issues. The existence of the separate political factions has made the life of people worse because an efficient government has never been in existence for a long period of time. Therefore, the development of the Haitians is still a question in front of the world. Despite the fact that Haiti belongs to the Francophone world, there are several facts that prove that the cultural perspectives and social lives are different from that of Europe or France. It has also been observed that North America and Cuba have some differences in their lifestyles compared to that of France or Europe. These factors provide evidence that Haiti and other Francophone countries might have similarity in the language spoken but they have huge differences based on the social life of people. Apart from the cultural and social perspectives that political set-up of Haiti is also significantly different from the rest part of the francophone world. The countries that have French as their official language had a common history; however differences occurred after the revolutionary movements against the colonialism. Some of the Francophone countries made significant developments in the past few years however Haiti remained underdeveloped and the political factions ruling Haiti did not allow foreign trade and relationships, which has resulted in the lack of development of the country (Shideler 72). Moreover, the continuous earthquakes and other natural disasters have degraded the economy of the country and the per capita income of Haiti is among the lowest of all other francophone countries. In order to continue with the development the people of Haiti should select a non-biased and non-corrupted government, who can help the nation to maintain international trade relations and increase sustainability in the country. Works Cited Anderson, L. Debra. Martinique: Culture and Identity. New York: Springer, 2009. Print. Arnold, James. A History of Literature in the Caribbean. New Jersey: Pearson, 2012. Print. Beauclair, Michelle. The Francophone World: Cultural Issues and Perspectives. New York: Peter Lang Pub, 2003. Print. Booker, Keith. Encyclopedia of Literature and Politics. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2005. Print. Farmer, Paul. Haiti after the Earthquake. New York: Public Affairs, 2012. Print. LaRosa, J. Michael. An Atlas and Survey of Latin America History. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007. Print. Marsh, Kate. France’s Lost Empires: Fragmentation, Nostalgia, and La Fracture Colonial. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. Print. Pamphile, Leon. Clash of Culture: America’s Educational Strategies in Occupied Haiti, 1915-1934. New York: University Press of America, 2008. Print. Parker, Jeffrey. Comparative Federalism and Intergovernmental Agreements: Analyzing Australia, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States. London: Routledge, 2014. Print. Shideler, L. Janet. The Francophone Presence in the Northwestern United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Read More