Mediating Institutions and the Adaptation of HaitianImmigrants in Paris

This chapter contributes to the gap in knowledge about Haitians in a symbolically important city of the diaspora: Paris. One might expect Haitians in France to integrate easily because Haiti has been profoundly influenced by French language, culture, the Catholic religion and the ideals of the French Revolution. Little is known, however, about the paths of entry and patterns of adaptation of the approximately twenty-five thousand Haitians living in metropolitan France. In this chapter, I present data collected during the spring of 2003 for a comparative study of how religion influences the adaptation of Haitian immigrants in Miami, Montréal and Paris (Mooney 2009). ¹ Of the three countries where I conducted research, France apparently offers immigrants a very friendly welcome to immigrants: according to the ideology of French Republicanism, one must simply become a French citizen and all other differences of race, education and culture will fade into the background.