Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

The Faces of the gods : vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti / Leslie G. Desmangles.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press, ©1992.Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 218 pages) : illustrations, mapContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 0807861014
  • 9780807861011
Subject(s): Additional physical formats: Print version:: Faces of the gods.DDC classification:
  • 299/.67 20
LOC classification:
  • BL2530.H3 D48 1992eb
Other classification:
  • online - EBSCO
  • 11.07
Online resources:
Contents:
Cultural setting: religious paradox or symbiosis -- Historical setting: the shaping of two religions in symbiosis : Religion in the colony: 1492-1790 ; Religion and the revolts for independence: 1790-1804 ; Religion and the shaping of the republic: 1804-1860 ; Religion in Haitian life: 1860-present -- The faces of myth: symbiosis and the changing self : Participation: the communal self -- Rites of passage: the transfigured self -- The faces of the cosmic gods : The Nanchons: classifications of the Lwas ; Vodou cosmology ; The cosmic Lwas -- The faces of the gods and public life : The Lwas of public life -- Conclusion : Vodou and Catholicism.
Action note:
  • digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve
Summary: Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices. Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment. Many observers have referred to such New World religions as fusions of religious practices. Desmangles instead uses the concept of symbiosis, which he defines as the juxtaposition of diverse religious traditions, coexisting without fusing. Desmangles uses Haitian history to explain this symbiosis, paying particular attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempt by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based "superstitions." The result is a society in which one religion, Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is unofficial and largely secretive. Both religions continue to play a part in Haitian politics, and Desmangles chronicles the role of Vodou and Catholicism in the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier and the rise of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - EBSCO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (ebsco)24597

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-209) and index.

Print version record.

Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices. Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment. Many observers have referred to such New World religions as fusions of religious practices. Desmangles instead uses the concept of symbiosis, which he defines as the juxtaposition of diverse religious traditions, coexisting without fusing. Desmangles uses Haitian history to explain this symbiosis, paying particular attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempt by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based "superstitions." The result is a society in which one religion, Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is unofficial and largely secretive. Both religions continue to play a part in Haitian politics, and Desmangles chronicles the role of Vodou and Catholicism in the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier and the rise of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide

Cultural setting: religious paradox or symbiosis -- Historical setting: the shaping of two religions in symbiosis : Religion in the colony: 1492-1790 ; Religion and the revolts for independence: 1790-1804 ; Religion and the shaping of the republic: 1804-1860 ; Religion in Haitian life: 1860-present -- The faces of myth: symbiosis and the changing self : Participation: the communal self -- Rites of passage: the transfigured self -- The faces of the cosmic gods : The Nanchons: classifications of the Lwas ; Vodou cosmology ; The cosmic Lwas -- The faces of the gods and public life : The Lwas of public life -- Conclusion : Vodou and Catholicism.

Use copy Restrictions unspecified star MiAaHDL

Electronic reproduction. [Place of publication not identified] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011. MiAaHDL

Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. MiAaHDL

http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212

digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL