Being "Black twice": Black and Migrant Identities among Haitian Diaspora in South Florida

• In Event: 2207 - Racialized Assimilation of Immigrants and their Children

Abstract

As rhetoric surrounding migrants and refugees has become increasingly racial, scholars have come to focus more on the role of race in influencing immigrant integration. However, research should also consider how anti-Black and xenophobic racism influences how and to what degree Black immigrants can integrate. My study suggests that Haitian migrants’ experience of integration is shaped by shifting racial and ethnic identities in which they may be read as Black, migrant, or both. Haitian migrants experience dual processes of racialization as Black based on their homeland’s relationship to the U.S., and Black as a diaspora within the U.S. Through in-depth interviews, archival media analysis, and contextual analysis of US imperialism in Haiti, my project reveals that dual processes of ethnic and race-based discrimination have stigmatized Haitians in South Florida in ways that have also informed how the diaspora have developed into more visible political force.

Author

• Jamella N. Gow, University of California Santa Barbara