Overview

Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky is a collection of true short stories from Haitian storytellers in Jeremie, Haiti. Written side by side in both Haitian Creole and English, this book is a celebration of the Haitian language and can also be used as a language learning resource for either native speaker. These stories offer a glimpse into daily life in Haiti and look past the big headlines of natural disasters the outside world seems to only ever see. Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky is an opportunity to learn about the real human experiences these storytellers wanted to share with the world. Haitian Creole has been the common language for the Haitian people, but it was not recognized as an official language of Haiti until 1987. French was and is still seen as the upper-class language of Haiti and the language of education. Schools still primarily teach only French even though Haitian Creole is the language spoken by all Haitians, and only 20% of the population speak French. This book breaks the boundaries of expected literature in Haiti and can open the way for more Haitian Creole centered literature in the future. Seeds in a Dark Fruit Sky is expanding the way to share stories, while keeping the stories firmly connected to their Haitian roots.

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9781733087308

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Rosie Alexander went to Jeremie, Haiti for six weeks to interview Haitians and prepare this book. When she got back to the states she started writing short stories based on the audio of those interviews.Rosie has a passion for giving every person the opportunity to tell their story.Rosie enjoys making lists, quilting, baking her feelings, play with her cats, and watching her husband play video games.With this project, Rosie wanted to fade into the background and give voices to Haitian storytellers in their native language. Rosie saw a need while visiting Haiti to help elevate Haitian Creole, an official language of Haiti, and together we can work to impact future generations. With two official languages, French is perceived as the upper-class language while Haitian Creole is treated as lowbrow. In fact, French is still usually the only language taught in public and private schools while students speak only Creole in their homes. Haitian Creole is an underrepresented and beautiful language, and there is not a lot of literature available in Creole. This book will give a platform to Creole as an official and respected language in Haiti and can be a language learning resource for Haitians to learn English, and for English speakers to learn Creole.The goal of this project was to honor the Haitian storytellers, collecting their stories in person and then verifying the stories along the way in both languages using friends who live in Jeremie, Haiti. Marie Lily Cerat has a Ph.D. in Urban Education along with a Certificate in Africana Studies from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Through the theoretical lenses of post-colonialism and culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, her work examines the effects of the exclusion of Haitian language and culture in the education of Haitian learners. Cerat has been working in the K-16 New York public education system as a classroom teacher, a staff developer and a college teacher for over 20 years. Her academic writings have appeared in Rethinking Schools, the Journal of Haitian Studies, and the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. In addition to her scholarly activities, Cerat has a long history of organizing within the Haitian community in New York. She is the co-founder of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR), a group that was established in 1992, to provide ESL and adult literacy programs to Haitian immigrants and refugees in the Brooklyn area. Today, HWHR continues to provide educational services, as well as organizes leadership training to help members advocate on their own behalf for civil, educational, social, labor/economic and immigration justice.

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