Cognition and Culture

The main focus of this paper is to discuss how Haitian cultural elements influence the cognitive structuring of Haitian migrants living in the city of Joinville (SC, Brazil) and how these elements are updated in the migrant condition. From a theoretical point of view, this objective is treated based on an interdisciplinary dialogue between cognitive psychotherapies and anthropological theories. Among these Haitian cultural elements, the lakou stands out. The symbolic elements of the lakou have influence on the cognitive structuring of Haitians and at the same time are evoked in the migrant condition both by automatic cognitive contents and by reflective cognitive contents, and these evocations can be visualized in the way of coping with adversities in the migrant condition. Among the coping strategies in the migrant condition, the search for help in the support network residing in Haiti stands out, since the collectivity inherent in the lakou creates cognitive and affective representations of helping and being helped in times of difficulty.