Sunday, January 26, 2020

Vodou and Protestantism, Faith and Survival: The Contest over the Spiritual Meaning of the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti

MANY FOLKS IN THE MEDIA AND ONLINE ARE REMEMBERING THIS DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE THIS YEAR A DECADE LATER HAITI REMAINSNOT JUST A FAILED STATE BUT A FAILED NATION

Claire Payton

Abstract:
This article explores the spiritual dimension of the Haitian earth-quake of January 12, 2010, and argues that some of the quake’s most profound reverberations occurred at the level of the spirit. Drawing from oral histories with survivors of the disaster, it reveals that Protestantism and the Catholic-Vodou traditions, which are often seen as being diametrically opposed to each other, actually overlap and influence one another. The development of the Haiti Memory Project, an oral history initiative aimed at documenting the impact and implications of the earthquake among Haiti’s popular classes, is also described.Interviews for this project were conducted in Haitian Kreyòl, French, and English.This article features two embedded audio excerpts (one in French, the other in Haitian Kreyòl), as well as a hyperlink to supplementary audio excerpts, that allow readers to experience the multilingual nature of the project. Additionally,hyperlinks allowing online access to three full interviews from the collection appear at the end of the article

© The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oral History Association.All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

 SPEAKING OF PROTESTANTS
The Scapegoating of Haitian Vodou Religion: David Brooks’s (2010) Claim that “Voodoo” Is a “Progress-Resistant” Cultural Influence (2014)


Shortly after the catastrophic earthquake that crushed Port-au-Prince and the surrounding towns on January 12, 2010, The New York Times published an article in which columnist David Brooks claimed that “voodoo” is a “progress-resistant” cultural influence because it spreads the message that “life is capricious and planning futile.” Alongside Brooks, many authors promote similar views, especially Christians. I argue that Vodou does not negatively affect progress in Haiti. Rather, there are historical, linguistic, and governmental policies that limit progress. In reality, Vodou practitioners enhance progress in their attention to the planning and giving of ceremonies, in the hierarchical organization they establish in communities, in their ritual and language, and in the education imparted through inheritance, teaching, and initiation. The scapegoating of Vodou by Brooks and others perpetuates a racist colonial legacy, and it betrays an ignorance of the community and the abundant research about it.



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