Vodou and Christianity in Haiti
Christianity and Vodou in Haiti (Part 3) (En Kreyol e Angle)
Christianity and Vodou in Haiti (Part 3) (En Kreyol e Angle)
drcelucienjoseph, "Thinking and Meditating"
"This website articulates the ideas, opinions, concerns, and meditations of Dr. Celucien L. Joseph."
Dialogue on Vodou and Christianity in Haiti?
Here’s my new article that just got published in Theology Today:
“Redefining cultural, national, and religious identity: The Christian–Vodouist dialogue?” Theology Today, 2016, Vol. 73(3) 241–262
Let me know what you think.
http://ttj.sagepub.com/content/73/3/241.full.pdf…
Abstract
This essay examines the work of two prominent progressive Haitian Theologians: Laënnec Hurbon, a Catholic Theologian and former Priest, and Jean Fils-Aimé, a Protestant Theologian and former Pastor in Montreal, and their interaction with the Vodou religion. Both thinkers have written prolifically about the three major religious expressions in Haiti and the enduring religious conflict between Protestantism, Catholicism, and Vodou in the Caribbean nation. The history of relations between Christianity—both Protestant and Catholic—and Vodou in Haiti is marked by a high degree of combativeness, hostility, and discomfort. To resolve the religious tension between Haitian Vodou and Haitian Christianity, Hurbon has suggested a frank ecumenical dialogue between Vodou, Catholicism, and Protestantism, and carefully demonstrated the legitimation of Vodou in the Haitian experience and life. In the same line of thought, Fils-Aimé has recommended an inter-religious dialogue between the two religious traditions, and brilliantly argued for the inculturation of the Vodou faith in Haitian Protestantism and culture. Through their work, both thinkers continue to campaign for more religious tolerance, pluralism, and religious inclusivism in Haitian society. I am suggesting that the Catholic theologian Laënnec Hurbon in his classic work Dieu dans le vaudou haı¨tien (1972) has inaugurated what we phrase the Christian–Vodouist compromissory tradition. Following the footsteps of Hurbon, Fils-Aimé in his controversial and learned work Vodou, je me souviens, published in 2007, has done for Haitian Protestantism what Hurbon has achieved for Haitian Catholicism—pushing forward the idea of the inculturation of Vodou culture and practices in Protestant Christianity in Haiti—within the framework of a Protestant– Vodouist compromissory tradition.
Between History and Myth: Three Perspectives on the Role of Religion in Haiti’s National History and the Haitian Revolution
Between History and Myth: Three Perspectives on the Role of Religion in Haiti’s National History and the Haitian Revolution
Generally, there are three main interpretations of Haiti’s national history and the watershed historical moment of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), in which the dynamics between religion, myth, and history became a scholarly and intellectual investigation and curiosity. The three perspectives of the unfolding events leading to the Haitian Revolution and the successful birth of the Haitian state and concurrently the ultimate abolition of slavery in Saint-Domingue include the Protestant version of Haitian History, the Vodouist version of Haitian History, and the Secular (non-theistic) version of the Haitian History. The goal of this short essay is to briefly recapitulate these three ideological approaches, and to articulate an alternative view.
First, the Protestant (Christian) version of Haitian history states that in August 14, 1791, a group of enslaved Africans gathered in a secret Vodou meeting at Bois Caiman (a little place outside of the city of Cap-Haitien, Haiti, and about two to three miles from the entrance gate of Plaine du Nord), sacrificed a pig as part of their religious-Vodou ritual, and dedicated the country of Haiti to the Devil so they could be free from the tyranny of slavery and French colonization. Protestant Haitian Christians have interpreted this historic meeting as a demonic pact. From that point on, Haiti has been cursed because of that (1) historical pact their African ancestors made with the Devil, and (2) that the Vodou religion to which Haitian ancestors committed themselves is an evil religion. Consequently, many Haitian Christians and Church leaders, both in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, equate Vodou with devil worshipping and directly associated the Afro-Haitian religion with stricken-poverty characterized Haiti’s contemporary society and the plight of the majority of Haitian population. Vodou does not truly liberate people; rather, it keeps its adherents in in profound spiritual bondage and material poverty.
Second, the Vodouist perspective of Haitian history argues that in August 14, 1791, a group of enslaved Africans, many of whom were Vodou priests and Vodouizan, gathered in a secret Vodou meeting in a plantation plain called Bois Caiman, made a pact among themselves—not with the Devil as the Protestants claim—and swore to be free or die. Vodouizan also contend that most of the military leaders and commanders of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1803) were also Vodou priests who not only mobilized the rancorous enslaved population to freedom and independence, they provided encouragement, spiritual comfort, and eventually led Haiti to become the first independent Black-Republic in the Western world. As a result, in the Vodouist interpretation of the Haitian history, the Vodou religion is interpreted as the catalyst that empowered the slaves toward freedom out of slavery and independence from French colonialism. Vodou is both Haiti’s (ancestral) spiritual and cultural heritage which all Haitians should promote and preserve. People in this tradition also maintain that Vodou is the religion of the Haitian majority, and it is the faith that sustains the Haitian people from the beginning to the present.
Finally, the Secular (non-theistic) version of Haitian History affirms that Bois Caiman is a fabrication and national myth in Haitian History. It never happened because there were no contemporary eyewitness accounts that attested to the historical credibility and accuracy of that nocturnal meeting, and that it is difficult to know exactly what really transpired in the night of August 14, 1791, if it even happened. The written accounts of the historic night should be understood as pseudo historiographies which were written many years after the actual event took place by travel writers and historians who fabricated the story of the Bois Caiman event. These written accounts should be seen as embroidered accounts of an acceptable national myth. The alternative idea advanced by proponents of this school of thought is that generous number (about 30 to 40 %?) of the African slaves, who were transported to the Saint-Domingue island in the period of the Haitian Revolution—that is at the end of eighteenth century—came from the kingdom of Kongo; they were prominent soldiers and men of war who possessed incredible military skills and strategies, and knew how to win a war. The success of the Haitian Revolution of 1804 can only be attributed to African military genius—not to religious piety or dependence to a Supreme Being/God.
Toward a More Inclusive Interpretation of Haitian History: An Alternative View
Both Protestant and Vodouist interpretations of Haiti’s national History and the Haitian Revolution acknowledge the theistic or divine element of Haitian History. The non-theistic secular interpretation rejects the doctrine of divine providence in human history because, in a sense, it contradicts the critical nature and study of human history and the clear delineation between observable historical facts and myth-making/fiction. The Vodouist version of Haitian history champions ancestral cultural traditions and practices, and see Africa as the center piece of Haitian cultural and religious identity. By contrast, the Protestant version of Haitian history undermines the ancestral religious traditions and spirituality of the Haitian people because it contradicts Christian morality and the belief in the only Triune God. In fact, the Protestant narrative attests that when an individual is converted to the Christian faith, his/her national identity and racial identity do not matter anymore because in Christ, God is creating one race, one people, and one collective Christian identity. Protestant Haitian Christians also stress that Jesus is the substance of Haitian identity because in him, God is also creating a new Haiti in contemporary Haitian society. Vodou is the antithesis of Christianity. Haitian Protestant Christians unapologetically affirm that Christianity is the only true religion of the living God and the true religion of human liberation. Finally, the Protestant perspective maintains the idea that Haiti is cursed because at its beginning, the founders failed to dedicate the country to God, but did so to the Devil.
Beyond the explored three multiple viewpoints of Haitian history, as highlighted in the aforementioned paragraphs, the Islamic version of Haitian history and the Haitian Revolution has been neglected by both Haitian and Haitianist historians and thinkers. Recent studies on the Haitian Revolution and the religious culture of the Africans in the time of the Haitian Revolution have demonstrated the Islamic element of the Haitian Revolution, and the fact of Islamic piety in the colonial life in Saint-Domingue. However, the Islamic interpretation of the Haitian history is not a new perspective; proponents of this school of thought maintain that a large number of the enslaved population at Saint-Domingue and iconic leaders of the pre-revolutionary era (i.e. Francois Makandal) and the Haitian Revolution (i.e. Dutty Boukman) were fervent adherents (i.e. Fatima) to Islam. Some of these slaves came from countries that had enjoyed an incredibly Islamic influence and political rule and peace such as Senegal (i.e. the Askia dynasty of Sudan), Ghana (i.e.The Mossi Empire of modern-day Ghana), Nigeria (i.e. the Bornu Empire), etc. In contemporary Haitian society, the Islamic perspective of the Haitian Revolution has attracted a new cadre of Haitian intellectuals who rejected both the Vodouist and Christian interpretations of Haiti’s national history and the Haitian Revolution. This attitude is also due to a reinterpretation of Haitian history in the light of the Islamic past of the Caribbean nation, and that Islam continues to spread progressively its wings in various parts of the country.
In all of the four perspectives discussed above, there’s a high level of hermeneutical exaggeration of Haitian history, the historical data, and the Haitian Revolution, which is presented to us as “historical certainty.” The individuals who prefer a religious interpretation of Haiti’s national history and the Haitian Revolution emphasize the importance of their own religion in the success of the unfolding events of the Haitian Revolution and the triumph of human freedom, and human rights and dignity in global history. They also accentuate the functional role of religion in the process of social and political transformation, and the reversal of human oppression and political tyranny. It is impossible for the champions of this view to conceive the human experience and human history without the divine imprint and God’s direct intervention in gearing human actions and modifying certain historical events toward his desired goal in the best interest and good of all people. On the other hand, the secular approach of the Haitian Revolution counters the theistic thesis.
In addition, first of all, the Africans who gathered in the night of August 14, 1791 to plan their freedom and independence from white rule and the labyrinth of slavery did not make a pact with the devil. It is an “evangelistic strategy” that right-wing Haitian Protestants promulgated to win converts and create collective fear among the Haitian people. The Protestant Haitian narrative seeks to foster a new national consciousness in the Caribbean nation in order that Protestant Haitian Christianity might win Haiti for Christ and transform Haiti into a (Protestant) Christian nation. (Interestingly, from the founding moment of the new Haitian state, in the first Haiti’s Constitution, Catholic Christianity was declared the official religion of the Haitian state; technically, Haiti began as a Christian nation—not by individual confession or commitment to the Christian faith and values—but for political expediency and affiliation with the so-called “Christian nations” in the Western world). White American and European missionaries created this tragic narrative to demonize the Vodou religion, disvalue the African element of the Haitian culture, and Christianize and westernize the Haitian people. Haitian Protestant Christians unashamedly believe this discourse; they even own it and now boldly proclaim this peculiar narrative about the ambivalent role of religion and history in Haitian history. This attitude is such a terrible strategy to proselytize people to Protestant Christianity. There are more effective and biblical ways to win the “lost Haitian soul” for the Kingdom of God and its Christ. We reject the Protestant interpretation of Haitian history; it is pseudo-history. Haitian Christians do not have to lie about or exaggerate the religious history of Haiti to magnify God and validate the truthfulness of the Gospel message to their fellow Haitians. God is bigger than human history and religion, which we have created.
Secondly, the meeting that took place in Bois Caiman in August 14, 1791, was not strictly a “religious gathering;” rather, it was a “political meeting” that was inspired by various religious forces: African traditional religions, Christianity, and Islam. The summit did happen although it is impossible to demarcate with accuracy the precise historical elements and details of this historic event. This is where history and fiction meets.
Finally, we should embrace a more inclusive interpretation of Haiti’s national history and the Haitian Revolution, which would affirm the remarkable contributions of both enslaved and free African Christians, Muslims, and African Vodouists to the freedom and independence of the Haitian people from colonial bondage, political totalitarianism, and the institution of slavery. The faith of the Africans who were brought to Saint-Domingue was not monolithic nor have the Africans subscribed to a homogeneous interpretation of religion. A lot of countries, which Haitian ancestors came from, were already Islamized and Christianized—such as Kongo, Gabon, Angola, Senegal, Sudan, Ghana, Nigeria, etc. The enslaved population that was compulsorily transported to the island of Saint-Domingue to work in the New World’s agricultural plantation system were ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. They were fervent Christians, Muslims, and Vodouists. Some were even non-religious for since the beginning of creation and time men and women have challenged the social construct of religion and even rebelled against God their Creator.
*To learn more about this important topic, I recommend two important articles: “The Rhetoric of Prayer: Dutty Boukman, The Discourse of “Freedom from Below,” and the Politics of God,” Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion 2:9 (June 2011):1-33, and “Redefining cultural, national, and religious identity: The Christian–Vodouist dialogue?” Theology Today, 2016, Vol. 73(3) 241–262
Link to the first essay (PDF document):
Click to access Joseph%202%209.pdf
Link to the second essay (PDF document):
http://ttj.sagepub.com/content/73/3/241.full.pdf?ijkey=K4hpYvHKnNAWYKx&keytype=finite
Vodou Books Discounted Order Forms/Flyers
Hello, Friends: Attached are the discounted flyers and order forms for both books: Vodou in Haitian Memory: The Idea and Representation of Vodou in Haitian Imagination (Lexington Books, May 2016) by Celucien L. Joseph and Nixon Cleophat, and Vodou in the Haitian Experience: A Black Atlantic Perspective (Lexington Books, May 2016) by Celucien L. Joseph and Nixon Cleophat.
With this flyer and order form , you can purchase both texts at a substantial discounted price. Click on the individual link below to download the form. It is in the PDF format.
Please circulate widely!
Joseph & Cleophat Vodou in the Haitian Experience International Flyer2
Joseph & Cleophat Vodou in Haitian Memory International Flyer1
Vodou and Other Religions: Religion, Religious Affiliation, and Haitian National Identity
Vodou and Other Religions:
Religion, Religious Affiliation, and Haitian National Identity
Religion, Religious Affiliation, and Haitian National Identity
by Celucien L. Joseph, PhD
In this brief post, I would like to communicate a few ideas about three important issues that are intertwined and closely related to each other: religion, religious affiliation, and the construction of self and collective national identity based on certain religious tradition or system. The emphasis of this brief reflection will be on Haitian Vodou and Haitian (national) identity. Here are my 13 propositions:
1. Religious experience could be both personal and collective.
2. Religious piety is not spirituality.
3. Religious affiliation is a choice–at least in most Western societies and nation-states. (I understand it may not be a personal choice in certain countries where religious freedom is limited or not prized!) It is also observed that some countries in the Middle East, for example, have adopted a state religion such as Islam.
4. While a person may be born into a particular religious tradition or system–such as Haitian Vodou, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, etc.–genuine religious affiliation, however, should be a personal choice of the individual.
As we say in Kreyol, “Yo pa achte Lwa” (“One cannot buy a Lwa/Spirit) (Nonetheless, I do understand that Vodou is also a family religion, and the religious heritage can be passed on from one generation to the next. However, that in itself does not qualify a family member to automatically become a Vodouizan, a Hougan or Mambo. Allow me to share a personal example: my grandmother from my mother’s side was a mambo (Vodou priestess), and my grandfather from my mother’s side served many lwa, even married to several of them (Spiritual marriage in Vodou). Nonetheless, my mother never practiced Vodou nor has she inherited the tradition or passed it on to her children. My father’s parents (my grandparents) were not Vodou practitioners). From this vantage point, religious affiliation is certainly not an entitlement.
5. Hence, to be born into a Haitian family does not automatically make one a Vodouizan or Vodouist.
6. Haiti is a country. Haitian is a national identity. Vodouizan is a religious affiliation. These three things are not the same and certainly not synonymous or interchangeable.
7. Haitians, both in Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora, have embraced various and competing religious affiliations. Haitians are Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Catholic practitioners, Protestants, Agnostics, Atheists, Secular humanists, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, etc. As a result, Haitians are free to embrace any religious worldview or system.
8. Vodou is one among other religions practiced by Haitians both in Haiti and the Diaspora. Our ancestral faith is not monolithic; it is rather pluralistic. (In fact, Vodou itself is not a homogeneous religion.) Our African ancestors who were brought by force to the island of Saint Domingue brought with them various traditions, practices, customs, and competing religious practices and worldviews including Christianity, African Traditional religions, Islam, etc. While living on the island, they also adopted the religions of the Native Americans, and incorporated them into the religion of Vodou; they have also integrated Christian rituals and theology, and Masonic humanist morality and rituals into Vodou. While a large number of the enslaved population practiced what is now labelled as Haitian Vodou, not all of them were Vodou practitioners.
9. To embrace another religion other than Vodou should not be construed as the devalorization of the Haitian culture—since religions and cultures are human inventions and part of the process and theory we call social constructionism. In a true democratic state, the individual is granted the right of religious freedom and preference.
*The ideology in contemporary Haitian scholarship is that to be Haitian is to be a Vodouizan. Many Haitianist scholars have “essentialized Vodou” as the religion of all Haitians, just like certain individuals have “essentialized” race and culture. This tendency among scholars, both in the Anglophone and Francophone worlds, does not do justice to the reality and the lived-experiences of the Haitian people–both in Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora. I would suggest that Vodou, Christianity, and Islam had played a pivotal role in the Haitian Revolution since Vodou itself is a syncretized faith which integrates Christian moral theology and ritual into its own brand of practice. Secondly, Francois Makandal, Dutty Boukman, and other important maroon leaders, and revolutionary leaders embraced Islam; they were also Vodouizan. Thirdly, the founding fathers Toussaint Louverture and Alexandre Petion were devout Roman Catholic by confession. In 1816, President Petion had invited Protestant Christianity in Haiti–what is now called today “Evangelical Christianity—only 12 yrs after the founding of the new nation of Haiti ( I do understand there is a great divide between Evangelical Christianity of the 19th century and that of the 21st century, as to their political affiliation and theological confessions). Fourthly, a large number of the enslaved Africans practiced Vodou as a religion; on the other hand, the enslaved Congolese who were brought to Saint-Domingue at the end of the 18th century were equally Catholic Christians as Catholicism became the state religion of Congo in early 15th century– even before Christopher Columbus visited the Americas. A large number of the enslaved Senegalese who were brought to the island were Muslims–an important point Jean Price-Mars affirms in Chapter 3 (L’Afrique, ses races et sa civilisation”) in “Ainsi parla l’Oncle.”
In summary, in Haiti’s contemporary society, there are three major religious practices: Vodou, Protestant/Evangelical Christianity, Vodou, Roman Catholicism. (Islam is growing rapidly in Protestant Christianity is practiced by 45% of the Haitian population. It is probably more in 2016–giving the wide spread of Evangelical Christianity in post-earthquake Haitian society.). While Vodou is among the most practiced religions by Haitians in Haiti, Haiti doe not have “one single religious tradition.” Our ancestral faith is also Vodou, Christianity, and Islam.
10. To be a Haitian Muslim or Christian does not make one an inferior Haitian Patriot.
11. In the same line of thought, the Vodouizan is not a superior Haitian than the Haitian atheist or agnostic.
12. Freedom of religion means the opportunity one has to choose or reject a certain faith among others. Religious freedom means a person who is affiliated with a certain religious tradition is free to share his or faith with another individual of a different religious persuasion or to someone who has no religious affiliation.
13. Since religion like culture is a social construction or human invention, no religion or culture has the monopoly.
Call for Papers: Between Two Worlds: Jean Price-Mars, Haiti, and Africa
Call for Papers
Between Two Worlds: Jean Price-Mars, Haiti, and Africa
Edited by Drs. Celucien L. Joseph, Jean Eddy Saint Paul, and Glodel Mezillas
Jean Price-Mars (1876 – 1969), Haitian physician, ethnographer, diplomat, educator, historian, politician, was a towering intellectual in Haitian history and cultural studies, and a Pan Africanist who called to reevaluate the contributions of Africa in universal civilizations and to revalorize African retentions and cultural practices in the Black diaspora, especially on Haitian soil. Through his writings, Price-Mars, whom Leopold Sedar Senghor called “the Father of Negritude,” sought to establish connecting links between Africa and the Black Diaspora, and the shared history and struggle between people of African descent in the Diaspora.
For many scholars, Price-Mars is the father of Haitian ethnology and Dean of Haitian Studies in the twentieth-century, and arguably, the most influential Haitian thinker that has graced the “Black Republic” since the death of Joseph Auguste Anténor Firmin in 1911. In Haitian thought, Price-Mars has exercised an enduring intellectual and ideological influence on the young Haitian intellectuals and writers of the generation of the American Occupation in Haiti (1915-1934) and the post-Occupation culture from the 1930s to 1970s. He is especially known for launching a cultural nationalism and an anti-imperial movement against the brutal American military forces in Haiti.
The writings of Price-Mars were instrumental in challenging the Haitian intellectual of his leadership role in the Haitian society, and in promoting national consciousness and unity among Haitians of all social classes and against their American oppressor. Comparatively, his work was a catalyst in the process of shaping and reshaping Haitian cultural identity and reconsidering the viability of the Afro-Haitian faith of Vodou as religion among the so-called World religions. His thought anticipated what is known today as postcolonialism and decolonization.
Moreover, scholars have also identified Price-Mars as the Francophone counterpart of W.E.B. Du Bois for his activism, scholarly rigor, leadership efficiency, and his unremitting efforts to challenge Western racial history, ideology, and white supremacy in the modern world. Unapologetically, Price-Mars challenged the doctrine of white supremacy and the ideological construction of Western history by demonstrating the equality and dignity of the races and all people, and their achievements in the human historical narrative. As Du Bois, he was a transdisciplinary scholar, boundary-crosser, and cross-cultural theorist; in an unorthodox way, he had brought in conversation various disciplines including anthropology, ethnography, geography, sociology, history, religion, philosophy, race theory, and literature to study the human condition and the most pressing issues facing the nations and peoples of the world, as well as the possible implications they may bear upon us in the postcolonial moment.
Between Two Worlds: Jean Price-Mars, Haiti, and Africa is a special volume on Jean Price-Mars that reassesses the importance of his thought and legacy, and the implications of his ideas in the twenty-first century’s culture of political correctness, the continuing challenge of race and racism, and imperial hegemony in the modern world. Price-Mars’ thought is also significant for the renewed scholarly interests in Haiti and Haitian Studies in North America, and the meaning of contemporary Africa in the world today. This volume explores various dimensions in Price-Mars’ thought and his role as medical doctor, historian, anthropologist, cultural critic, public intellectual, politician, pan-Africanist, and humanist.
Hence, the goal of this book is fourfold: 1) The book will explore the contributions of Price-Mars to Haitian history, thought, culture, literature, politics, education, health, etc., 2) This volume will investigate the complex relationships between Haiti and the Dominican Republic in Price-Mars’ historical writings, 3) It studies Price-Mars’ engagement with Western history and the problem of the “racist narrative,” and 4) Finally, the book will highlight Price-Mars’ contributions to Postcolonialism, Africana Studies, and Pan-Africanism.
If you would like to contribute a book chapter to this important volume, along with your CV, please submit a 300 word abstract by Monday, February 29, 2016, to Dr. Celucien Joseph @ celucienjoseph@gmail.com, and Dr. Jean Eddy Saint Paul @ jsaintpaul@yahoo.fr
Successful applicants will be notified of acceptance in the first week of April, 2016. We are looking for original and unpublished essays for this book. Translations of Price-Mars’ works in the English language are also welcome. Potential topics to be addressed include (but are not limited to) the following:
I. Price-Mars as Historian
• Price-Mars as Historian
• Price-Mars’ engagement with Western history
• Price-Mars’ interpretation of Haitian history
• The function of Haitian heroes and heroines in Price-Mars historical writings
• The Origin (s) and History of Haiti and Dominican Republic in Price-Mars’ works
• Particularism and Universalism in Price-Mars’ historical writings
II. Price-Mars as Cultural Critic and Public Intellectual in Haitian Society
• Price-Mars as cultural theorist and literary critic
• The role of Price-Mars’ thought in the Haitian Renaissance in the first half of the twentieth-century
• Price-Mars and the Crisis of Haitian Intellectuals
• Price-Mars and the Crisis of Haitian bourgeoisie-elite
• Price-Mars, Vodou, and the Haitian culture
• The Haitian peasant in the writings of Price-Mars
• The Education of the Haitian masses in the writings of Price-Mars
• The problem of Race in Price-Mars’ writings
• Haitian Women in the thought of Price-Mars
• Price-Mars’ contributions as Medical doctor in Haitian society.
III. Price-Mars as Politician
• The Political career and goals of Jean Price-Mars
• Price-Mars, Haiti’s Ambassador to the nations
• Price-Mars and the American occupation and American imperialism
• The political philosophy and democratic ideas of Price-Mars
• Nationalism and Patriotism in Price-Mars’ thought
IV. Price-Mars as Pan-Africanist
• African history or the meaning of Africa in the writings of Price-Mars
• The Black Diaspora in the thought of Price-Mars
• Price-Mars’ Postcolonial Rhetoric and Linguistic Strategy
• The Vindication and Rehabilitation of the Black Race
• The Role and Contributions of Pre-colonial African civilizations to world civilizations
• Price-Marsian Negritude or Blackness
About the Editors
Dr. Celucien L. Joseph is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Indian River State College. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he studied Literary Studies and Intellectual History. Professor Joseph also holds an M.A. in French language and literature from the University of Louisville. In addition, he holds degrees in theological and religious studies. He serves in the editorial board and Chair of The Journal of Pan African Studies Regional Advisory Board; he also the curator of “Haiti: Then and Now.” He edited JPAS special issue on Wole Soyinka entitled “Rethinking Wole Soyinka: 80 Years of Protracted Engagement” (2015). Dr. Joseph is interested in the intersections of literature, history, race, religion, theology, and history of ideas.
Professor Joseph is the author of several books including Race, Religion, and the Haitian Revolution: Essays on Faith, Freedom, and Decolonization (2012), From Toussaint to Price-Mars: Rhetoric, Race, and Religion in Haitian Thought (2013), Haitian Modernity and Liberative Interruptions: Discourse on Race, Religion, and Freedom (2013), God Loves Haiti (2015). He has also contributed several encyclopedia entries and scholarly articles in various journals. His forthcoming book is entitled Thinking in Public: Faith, Secular Humanism, and Development in Jacques Roumain (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2016). He is the lead editor of a forthcoming two volume anthology entitled Vodou in Haitian Memory: The Idea and Representation of Vodou in Haitian Imagination (Collection 1), and Vodou in the Haitian Experience: A Black Atlantic Perspective (Collection 2)—to be published by Lexington Books in 2016. He is currently working on a volume on Jean-Bertrand Aristide, former President of Haiti and Catholic-Priest Liberation Theology entitled Aristide: A Theological and Political Introduction (under contract with Fortress Press).
Academic Bio of Jean Eddy Saint Paul, PhD, Sociologist,
Professor of Sociology and Politics
Universidad of Guanajuato (Guanajuato, Mexico).
Jean Eddy Saint Paul is a Haitian scholar and social scientist. He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from El Colegio de México (2008), an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá (2002) and a B.A. in Social Work from the State University of Haiti. Dr. Saint Paul is a Professor of Politics and Sociology whose specializations include Religions, Citizenship, and Democracy, and Elites, Political Discourse and Ideologies. He currently works as a Professor for the Division of Law, Politics and Government at the Universidad of Guanajuato (Guanajuato, Mexico). He is also a regular Professor at the Inter-Institutional Doctorate (Ph.D.) Program in Law. Dr. Saint Paul is one of the founders of the Doctorate Program in Law, Politics and Government, and the Master Program in Political Analysis at the Universidad de Guanajuato. He usually teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs and offers courses such as “Political Science”, “Sociological Theory”, “Politics and Religions”, “Political Theory” and “Qualitative Research Methods.” Before joining the University of Guanajuato, Dr. Saint Paul was a visiting professor of “Comparative Politics” and “Political Theory” at the Ph.D. Program in Political Science and Master Program in Sociology at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
Prof. Saint Paul’s work covers an unusually broad spectrum of topic including Historical Sociology of Politics, Politics and Religions (Secular State for Civil Liberties and Human Rights), Civil Society, Politics of Memory and Citizenship, Civil Society and Democratization from a Political & Sociological Perspective, Sociology of Violence, Patrimonialism, Neopatrimonialism, and Politics of the Belly. A Member of the National System of Scholars-CONACyT, level 1, Professor Jean Eddy Saint Paul was in 2013 a “Visiting Scholar” at the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Va. United States of America) and previously in 2011 was a “Visiting Fellow” at the Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI), SciencesPo, CNRS, Paris.
Dr. Saint Paul conducts research on Latin America and the Caribbean, and has published his works in prestigious national and international press, like Karthala (Paris), Maison des sciences de l’homme (Paris) and El Colegio de México (Mexico). Among his recent publications on Haiti, it is important to mention: Chimè et Tontons Macoutes comme milices armées en Haïti. Essai sociologique, published in 2015 by the Cidihca press in Montreal (Québec), Canada; “La laïcité en Haïti. Approche sociologique des erreurs épistémologiques et théoriques dans les débats récents,” published in the international Peer Review Journal: Histoire, Monde et Cultures Religieuses (HMC), Thematic Number: Etat, Religions et Politique en Haïti (XVIII-XXI siècles), # 29, April 15, 2014, Paris: Karthala, pp. 83-100. ISBN: 9782811111540. Currently, he is working on two new books: Duvalierism, Rhetoric and Political Practices, and Civil Society and Politics of Memory in Haiti”.
Prof. Saint Paul is fluent in Haitian Creole, French, English and Spanish.
https://ugto.academia.edu/JeanEddySaintPaul.
Email address: jsaintpaul@yahoo.fr or jsaint@colmex.mx
Professional link: https://ugto.academia.edu/JeanEddy
His new book: Chimè et Tontons Macoutes comme milices armées en Haïti. Essai Sociologique. Montreal, Ca.: Cidihca, 2015.
Skype: Jean Eddy Saint Paul (Charlottesville)
Bio for Glodel Mezillas, PhD
Glodel Mezillas is a political scientist, theorist, philosopher, and a scholar of Caribbean and Latin American Studies. He received his PhD in Latin American Studies from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), a Master’s degree in International Studies from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2001-2002. He also studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) of the Université d’Etat d’Haïti, UEH), from which he received a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Letters, and at the Université Toussaint Louverture a B.A. in Political Sciences He has also done special studies in Diplomacy and International Politics at Escuela Diplomática de Madrid, and in International Public Administration (ONU) at the École Nationale d’Administration de Paris, Institut des Relations Internationales du Cameroun (IRIC),and at the Institut des Nations Unies de la Recherche et la Formation (UNITAR), he specialized in the field of United Nations System.
Dr. Mezillas has served as Professor of Genealogy of Postcolonialism at Instituto de Estudios Críticos, of International Relations and the Caribbean Studies at the Institut d’Études et Recherches Africaines (IERAH) de l’Université d’État d’Haiti, of International Relations at Université Polyvalente (Haiti), and Professor of Political Sciences and Epistemology of Social Sciences at the Université Toussaint Louverture. His teaching and scholarly research interests include Black Diaspora, Cultural, Political Theory and Epistemology of Social Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Dr. Mezillas is a prolific writer and has published in three languages English, Spanish, and French. His books including Que signifie philosopher en Haïti? Un nouveau concept du Vodou (L’Harmattan, 2015), El trauma colonial, entre la memoria y el discurso. Pensar (desde) el Caribe (EDUCAVISION, 2015), Qu’est-ce qu’une crise. Eléments d’une théorie critique (L’Harmattan, 2014), Civilisation et discours d’altérité. Enquête sur l’Islam, l’Occident et le Vodou (EDUCAVISION, 2014), Généalogie de la théorie sociale en Amérique Latine (Editions de l’Université d’Etat d’Haïti, 2013), and Haití más allá del espejo (Editorial Praxis, 2011).
E-mail address: glodelmezilas@hotmail.com
Sincerely,
Celucien L. Joseph, PhD
Assistant Professor of English
Indian River State College
Curator of “Haiti: Then and Now”
http://www.haitithenandnowhtn.com/
Jean Eddy Saint Paul, PhD
Professor of Sociology and Politics
Universidad of Guanajuato (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Email address: jsaintpaul@yahoo.fr or jsaint@colmex.mx
Professional link: https://ugto.academia.edu/JeanEddy
Glodel Mezillas, PhD
Counselor and Diplomat
Haitian Embassy in Spain
drcelucienjoseph, "Thinking and Meditating" 