The Roots of Voodoo Run Deep in Haitian Soil
Presentation Type
Event
Location
Columbus State University
Start Date
3-11-2022 9:00 AM
Description
In the diplomatic, religious, and social isolation that followed the Haitian Revolution, Haitian elites privileged the models of freedom demonstrated by the United States and the French Republic and strove to be taken seriously in the eyes of their European and American contemporaries. The Haitian peasantry had more pressing concerns than the ideological foundation of "freedom" as they struggled with the practical aspects of emancipation. "Free," but not free to return to their homelands. "Free," but without meaningful political and social institutions to support their freedom. "Free," but civically disengaged from state-level concerns, and all but ignored by the Haitian government, the peasantry developed grassroots concepts of freedom and nationhood. Their bottom-up approach was not a coordinated attempt at nation-building, nevertheless, between 1806 and 1847, organic nationhood fluoresced among Haitian peasants, rooted in the physical and metaphysical spaces of the emergent Vodou religion.
The Roots of Voodoo Run Deep in Haitian Soil
Columbus State University
In the diplomatic, religious, and social isolation that followed the Haitian Revolution, Haitian elites privileged the models of freedom demonstrated by the United States and the French Republic and strove to be taken seriously in the eyes of their European and American contemporaries. The Haitian peasantry had more pressing concerns than the ideological foundation of "freedom" as they struggled with the practical aspects of emancipation. "Free," but not free to return to their homelands. "Free," but without meaningful political and social institutions to support their freedom. "Free," but civically disengaged from state-level concerns, and all but ignored by the Haitian government, the peasantry developed grassroots concepts of freedom and nationhood. Their bottom-up approach was not a coordinated attempt at nation-building, nevertheless, between 1806 and 1847, organic nationhood fluoresced among Haitian peasants, rooted in the physical and metaphysical spaces of the emergent Vodou religion.
