Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
keeper, thus expanding the options of some rural families. The
most successful cooperatives draw their membership from
groups of kin and neighbors already linked by ties of trust.
Although cooperatives may provide a solution for farmers
vexed by the problem of cash shortfalls, they have not ameliorated
appreciably the plight of the poorest rural dwellers.
Cooperative loans are predicated on a family's ability to pay,
which effectively excludes the landless and land poor.
Family and Kin
The family is the fundamental social unit. It provides a bulwark
in the midst of political upheavals and economic reversals.
People emphasize the trust, assistance, and solidarity kin
owe one another. Family loyalty is an ingrained and unquestioned
virtue; from early childhood, individuals learn that relatives
are to be trusted and relied on, while those outside the
family are, implicitly at least, suspect. In all areas of life and at
every level of society, a person looks to family and kin for both
social identity and succor.
Formal organizations succeed best where they are able to
mesh with pre-existing ties of kinship. Distrust of those beyond
the extended kin or neighborhood group hampers efforts to
run community-wide activities or to establish organizations.
The history and pattern of settlement of the countryside
have facilitated strong ties among related families. Many valleys
and municipalities were settled by a few related families some
five to eight generations ago. This core of extensively related
families remains pivotal despite large-scale migration and
urbanization. If anything, the ties among kin extend more
widely in contemporary society because modern transport and
communication allow families to maintain ties over long distances
and during lengthy absences.
In general, the extent to which families interact and with
whom they interact depends on their degree of prosperity.
Families with relatively equal resources share and cooperate.
Where there is marked disparity in families' wealth, the more
prosperous branches try to limit the demands made by the
poorer ones. On the one hand, generosity is held in high
esteem and failure to care for kin in need is disparaged; but on
the other, families wish to help their immediate relatives and
give favors to those who can reciprocate.
A needy relation may receive the loan of a piece of land,
some wage labor, or occasional gifts of food. Another type of
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