Marcel Desroches

Antioch College

 

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00:00:47 - Early Life

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel tells us where he was born and how his mother came from Haiti to the United States. He relays the story of his mother's first job in the early 60's at a pen factory. They're from Les Cayes or Aux Cayes. He discusses how his great grandmother lost her job on account of jealousy. Ma Tante Claudette and Marie Carmel. Marcel's Grandfather worked in Peligre, Haiti with the power plant.

00:01:02 - Grandma's coming to America

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Partial Transcript: "We did it collectively"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel discusses the circumstance in which his mother, my grandmother, came to the United States. The political moment in Haiti in terms of the Duvalier regime in the early 60s as well as the economic constraints and family situation that she was coming out of. He mentions her first job in a pen factory and her relationship to her sister referred to as Ma Tante (My Aunt) Claudette. He also talks about the collective nature of the process of immigration.

00:07:57 - "It was my godmother, his eldest cousin that assisted him coming to the states"

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Segment Synopsis: My father talks about my grandfather coming to the US and how my two grandparents didn't know each other in Haiti.

00:09:57 - When did you learn these stories

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about learning these stories and the first time his mother had to go back to Haiti at the death of his maternal great grandmother.

00:11:36 - Crown Heights

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Partial Transcript: Crown Heights will and always will be a community where people are upwardly mobile"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about the demographics of Crown Heights where he grew up in Brooklyn. He talks about a Haitian and Caribbean community developing near a Hasidic stronghold.

00:13:26 - Have you ever been to Haiti?

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Partial Transcript: "I had heard about Haiti all this time"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about his first time in Haiti in 1982 and also trips to Canada before then. He talks about blending very easily into Haitian culture. He talks about how Boy Scouts helped him have slight exposure to cooking over coal and using the bathroom outside. He discusses his experience in Haiti and and the US and a degree of continuity

00:17:06 - Brooklyn in the 80's

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Segment Synopsis: Talks about how family members were referred to as "Frenchies" when they came into the schools in NY. He talks about a historic tension between African-Americans and Caribbean people. Marcel talks about black Xenophobia among foreign blacks and how some people would deny their Haitian identity.

00:21:07 - Blackness and Haitianess

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Partial Transcript: "We were raised to transcend those limitations", "We span the entire color spectrum"

Segment Synopsis: Discusses phenotype, culture and pigmentocracy in Haiti and among the African Diaspora. Petion and Dessalines as light skin and dark skin drama within the Haitian. Brings up family

00:25:02 - Haitianness and the Colonized Diaspora

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel discusses the socio-political value of what Haitianness means to him and how Haiti existed as a space that he could always contribute to the governance. He talks about how many formerly colonized nations are still controlled economically by their colonizers. He talks about feeling connected to Haiti being a source of pride

Keywords: African Diaspora; Colonization; Mastery; Obama; Psychological Barriers

00:29:26 - Haitianess and Gender

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel discusses the negotiation of values in the Transnational space. One of which is the hierarchal aspects of the family structure- especially with siblings. He talks about older brothers. He talks about balancing the value of Respect for Elders and balancing that with harsh hierarchy. He talks about engaging with a Haitian Machismo and the necessity of partnership but also provision to be central part of being a man. He also talks about how boarding school was an alternate exposure for his gendered education. He talks about looking forward to watching 3 shows with his Dad every Monday morning with his dad.

00:37:14 - "Because they had to work"

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about the decision for him to go to boarding school for the first time and how family such as his grandmother "Mu Ni Ni" was relied upon to help out when his parents were at work until she suffered a knee injury. While family was an important resource, there were many children and his father, my grandfather, decided that he could relieve some pressure by sending Marcel to boarding school.

00:40:28 - Haitian and Catholic

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Partial Transcript: "My spiritual identity has always been spiritual, it hasn't been religious"

Segment Synopsis: Talks about exploring Haitian Religious Culture and being Catholic and being Haitian- and the process of syncretism. Some people hide that aspect of Haitian socio-religious culture. He talks about seeing aspects of traditional religion in interpretations of various Christian traditions such as SDA.

00:49:18 - Responsibility to Haiti

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Partial Transcript: "I will do whatever I can for Haiti"; "I'm passing something on"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about his desire and calling to support a homeland. He talks about feeling proud when his youngest son, my brother, facilitated a clothing drive for Haiti in the wake of a recent natural disaster. I feel like I'm doing my job.

00:51:57 - Haitian Culture

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about Haitian food and his increasing involvement in cultural things like a Caribbean food festival and his enjoyment in meeting people of Haitian descent who are doing positive things here (in the US) and back home (in Haiti). Association for Haitian Professionals. He also talks about playing the role of Jean-Jacques Dessaline in a play. He talks about art and points out some of the Haitian art in his home.

00:57:15 - Haitian Music 01:02:30 - No Separation: Christian and Voudou

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Partial Transcript: "Jethro was a Midian priest and king and Midian for a lot of people who don't realize it- is West Africa"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about a how Christian saints have a corresponding equal within the Vodou system. He talks about exoteric and esoteric aspects of the religion of Vodou. He talks about how Vodou is connected to the ancient Hebrew traditions and Moses.

01:05:18 - Language as a component of Haitian Culture

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Partial Transcript: "The language of commerce and education is French in Haiti but the everyday language is Kreyol"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about how language was used to stratify people and how professors and students chose to codify the language. He talks about getting in trouble for speaking Kreyol to elder and how use of the language was seen as disrespectful.

01:08:38 - Career Paths

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Partial Transcript: "your going to see an encounter an engineer, an accountant or somebody in the medical profession"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel discusses the various career paths and the tensions within the family when it came to choosing career paths. He talks about a cousin who played with a famous Haitian band- Carimi.

01:12:30 - Other Cultural Things: Haitian Wood Carving, Bals and Dances

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Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about a 4 brief stint where he learned some basics of Haitian wood carving. He goes on to discuss the importance of dance in Haitian culture and the delicate balance of time and place when it comes to the sensuality through movement. Marcel talks about the representations of the elements through dance and art

01:18:08 - Haitian Soccer and Dominican Baseball

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Partial Transcript: "Whether you were an athlete or weren't an athlete, you always knew about soccer", "Each side of the island, developed a love for a particular sport"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel discusses how soccer was a sport that brought communities in Haiti together and how my grandfather was recruited by the New York Generals when my father was about 18 months. He talked about the imperative of provision for my grandfather as a Haitian man as well as the the contrast to the Dominican Republic's where the national pastime is more baseball oriented.

01:21:25 - All over the world; No Professional Athletes

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Partial Transcript: "Haitian people have a tendency to be able to survive anywhere" "You may see a collegiate athlete, but you probably will never see a professional athlete"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel discusses overall survival strategies that Haitian people tend to employ like learning multiple languages. He discusses my cousins Richards linguistic prowess in Korean even though he could have was a really good Hockey player in Canada and a stresses on cultivating intellect more than physical shape.

01:23:17 - Haitianess and Sexuality; "I was a dog but I wasn't a dirty dog"

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Partial Transcript: "It's a heartbreak but it's a little easier for them to get used to it- particularly the moms but the dads have a harder time accepting their male children as being gay"; "I have to accept people for who they are but I have a limit to what I discuss and what I allow to be discussed"; "even with their machismo there was a sense of being a gentleman...I think I inherited that value system"

Segment Synopsis: Marcel posits that class affects Haitian negotiations of sexuality and that a higher socio-economic class leads to a better public reception of one's sexuality. Marcel talks about how coming out as gay in the United States would be better than coming out in Haiti and how gay men are less well received than gay women. Marcel also talks about how from the 60s to the 80s, sexuality was not really an open topic for discussion in the Haitian community. People knew of and ostracized gay Haitians on account of their sexuality within the community. He also talks about gay prostitution havens in Haiti and brings up sexuality related violence and coercion in Haiti. In the Haitian American community he says there aren't many instances of physical violence but teasing and verbal jeering are more common. Personally, Marcel discussed how for him, he doesn't want to hear gory details of people's sex lives because that way is speaking is not very gentleman-like to him.

01:34:35 - "There's always this edgyness"

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Partial Transcript: "It's the music, the art, the conversation, even the food"; "As spiritual as we are, we are not sexually parochial"; "When you get married, it's expected that this is what goes on";

Segment Synopsis: Marcel talks about how this thing where brazen sexuality is generally frowned upon a sort of sensuality or undergirding sexual tension is a part of Haitian culture. He uses the example of lambi/conch to illustrate a joviality around sexuality in Haitian culture. Some people interpret this as simply being "free" and "liberal" but Marcel makes the distinction that there are some things you will not see in public. He talks about the dissipation of a cultural sexual education. He discusses learning explicitly from his father not only the birds and the bees but also a type of sexual responsibility.

01:42:32 - Final Thoughts

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Partial Transcript: "But things are changing", "English is becoming an acceptable language"

Segment Synopsis: He talks about his avoidance of Haitian women for other women of Caribbean and non-Caribbean backgrounds in his partner selection. He said he felt certain cultural pressures associated with dating a Haitian woman when he was coming up and an expected linguistic proficiency in French. He talks about class and language dynamics and changing cultural perceptions of language.