The Lakou System: A Cultural, Ecological Analysis of Mothering in Rural Haiti.

This descriptive exploratory study uses a cultural-ecological framework to examine mothering and the role of family support within the lakou (group living) system in the rural province of Leogane, Haiti. Historically, the lakou refers to clusters of homes in which Haitian families reside, as well as to the extended and multiple-generation family form that is prominent in Haitian culture. Initially, the members of a lakou worked cooperatively and provided for each other with financial and other forms of support. However, the original lakou system has changed due to the pressures of increased poverty and landholding fragmentation brought about by the globalization of capitalism. One of the detrimental impacts of these changes in the lakou system is the disruption of parenting. This difficult shift has fallen largely on the shoulders of Haitian mothers. The move from multiple mothering, wherein several women in the lakou shared in the caring and supervision of young children, to individual mothering, wherein single mothers are now the sole caretakers, constitutes a major social change that needs to be understood within the cultural context of the Haitian framework.