Also known as: Michel S. Laguerre, American Odyssey, American Odyssey: Haitians in New York City
Last updated: April 16, 2026
The foundational urban ethnography of the Haitian immigrant community in New York City, based on fieldwork conducted from 1977 to 1978 across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, supplemented by prior fieldwork in Haiti. Laguerre traces seven domains of immigrant life — origins and settlement, family structure, residential geography, economics, Vodou in diaspora, health beliefs, and political life — arguing that Haitian-American culture is not simply Haitian culture transplanted but a structural response to racial discrimination, class displacement, and the constraints of American urban poverty.
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Chicago
Michel S. Laguerre. "American Odyssey: Haitians in New York City." Cornell University Press, 1984. Rasin.ai, https://rasin.ai/connections/sources/laguerre-american-odyssey. Accessed 2026-05-05.