Anthropology

MY SOUL IS IN HAITI:

AN ANTHROPOLOGIST’S STUDY OF PROTESTANT CULTURE

Dr. Bertin M. Louis, Jr. from the University of Tennessee

Friday, September 23rd at 2:00 pm in Turlington 1208

Historically, the majority of Haitians have long practiced Catholicism or Vodou. However, Protestant forms of Christianity now flourish both in Haiti and beyond. In the Bahamas, where approximately one in five people are now Haitian-born or Haitian-descended, Protestantism has become the majority religion for immigrant Haitians.

In his talk about My Soul Is in Haiti: Protestantism in the Haitian Diaspora of the Bahamas (New York University Press 2015), Dr. Bertin M. Louis, Jr., Vice Chair of Africana Studies and Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Africana Studies at The University of Tennessee, will discuss the research he conducted in the United States, Haiti, and the Bahamas that led to the publication of this ground-breaking text.

Specifically, he will analyze why Protestantism has appealed to the Haitian diaspora community in the Bahamas. His talk will also illustrate how devout Haitian Protestant migrants in the Bahamas use their religious identities to ground themselves in a place that is hostile to them as migrants. The presentation also uncovers how their religious faith ties in to their belief in the need to “save” their homeland, as they reimagine Haiti politically and morally as a Protestant Christian nation.

Please join us for refreshments and a Q&A session after the talk.