1804–1995: (The Sociolinguistic Fortress of the Rural Majority): Post-independence Haiti is defined by a cultural dualism where 85 to 90 percent of the peopl…

1804–1995: (The Sociolinguistic Fortress of the Rural Majority): Post-independence Haiti is defined by a cultural dualism where 85 to 90 percent of the people maintain a “closed and withdrawn society” that rejects foreign roots. Kreyòl serves as the true national language and a “private” tongue that provides defensive impenetrability against outside interference. The rural lakou system and Voodoo represent an “amalgam” of West African practices that have remained deeply rooted in Haitian soil for centuries. This majority population often exists in “relative isolation” from the Westernized urban elite who administer the state in French. Such cultural continuity is viewed as a persistent form of resistance against the systemic “misunderstanding” and “misinformation” of the outside world.