My Soul Is in Haiti: Protestantism in the Haitian Diaspora of the Bahamas

by Bertin M. Louis Jr.

Overview

Offers a greater understanding of the spread of Protestant Christianity, both regionally and globally, by studying local transformations in the Haitian diaspora of the Bahamas.





In the Haitian diaspora, as in Haiti itself, 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 My Soul Is in Haiti, Bertin M. Louis, Jr. has
combined multi-sited ethnographic research in the United States, Haiti, and the
Bahamas with a transnational framework to analyze why Protestantism has
appealed to the Haitian diaspora community in the Bahamas. The volume
illustrates how devout Haitian Protestant migrants use their religious
identities to ground themselves in a place that is hostile to them as migrants,
and it also uncovers how their religious faith ties in to their belief in the
need to “save” their homeland, as they re-imagine Haiti politically and morally
as a Protestant Christian nation.






This important look at transnational migration between
second and third world countries shows how notions of nationalism among Haitian
migrants in the Bahamas are filtered through their religious beliefs. By
studying local transformations in the Haitian diaspora of the Bahamas, Louis
offers a greater understanding of the spread of Protestant Christianity, both
regionally and globally.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479866533
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	12/19/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Bertin M. Louis, Jr. is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Africana Studies, Affiliated Faculty of American Studies, and a Faculty Fellow of the Center for the Study of Social Justice, Global Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Table of Contents

Contents 

Acknowledgments xi 

Pronunciation of Haitian Creole Terminology xv 

Introduction 1 

1. Haitian Protestant Culture 19 

2. Haitians in the Bahamas 47 

3. Pastors, Churches, and Haitian Protestant Transnational Ties 71 

4. Haitian Protestant Liturgy 95 

5. “The People Who Have Not Converted Yet,” 119 Protestant, and Christian 

Conclusion: Modernity Revisited 143 

Notes 153 

References 163 

Index 169 

About the Author 179 

Editorial Reviews

"A ground breaking study of the evangelical Protestant churches in the Haitian communities of the Bahamas, describing the ways in which these churches provide their congregations with a sense of national and transnational identity. Vital for students of diasporic and transnational studies, anthropologists, historians and sociologists of religion, this book is a comprehensive study likely to be the authoritative source on this topic for years to come."

Leslie G. Desmangles

"[F]or bringing Haitian Protestantism to our attentionand apparently to the attention of Bahamiansand for linking religion to class, race, and transnational variables, the project is a welcome addition to the literature on Latin and Caribbean Christianity."

Anthropology Review Database

"Dr. Bertin M. Louis Jr. has just offered to the world of intelligentsia a remarkable book on the culture of Haitian Protestantism in the Haitian diaspora of the Bahamas. It is, without a doubt, a roadmap for cultural anthropology or ethnography designed for researchers with deep insights, students, and scholars to address religious issues, not only under the lens of inquiry, but with a profound thirst for social justice."

Clarence St. Hilaire Ethnic and Racial Studies

"A ground-breaking study drawing on five years of transnational ethnographic research in the Bahamas, Haiti, and the United States. As a Haitian-American, Louis is cognizant of the subtleties of Haitian culture and the cultural differences between Haitians living in Haiti and Haitians living abroad. A major strength of this book is the authors keen recognition of the importance of boundary maintenance and his insights into native constructions of 'religion,' such as the distinction Haitians make between being Protestant (Pwotestan) and being Christian (Kretyen)."

Stephen D. Glazier

"My Soul is in Haitioffers much for us to seriously contemplate."

Black Theology

"Dr. Bertin M. Louis Jr. has just offered to the world of intelligentsia a remarkable book on the culture of Haitian Protestantism in the Haitian diaspora of the Bahamas. It is, without a doubt, a roadmap for cultural anthropology or ethnography designed for researchers with deep insights, students, and scholars to address religious issues, not only under the lens of inquiry, but with a profound thirst for social justice."- Ethnic and Racial Studies ,Clarence St. Hilaire

"A ground-breaking study drawing on five years of transnational ethnographic research in the Bahamas, Haiti, and the United States. As a Haitian-American, Louis is cognizant of the subtleties of Haitian culture and the cultural differences between Haitians living in Haiti and Haitians living abroad. A major strength of this book is the author’s keen recognition of the importance of boundary maintenance and his insights into native constructions of 'religion,' such as the distinction Haitians make between being Protestant ( Pwotestan ) and being Christian ( Kretyen )."-Stephen D. Glazier,University of Nebraska-Lincoln

From the Publisher