Haitian Vodou. Between medicine, magic, and religion.
PURennes| N° d'inventaire | 15751 |
| Format | 15.5 x 24 |
| Détails | 276 p., color and black and white illustrations, paperback. |
| Publication | Rennes, 2012 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782753517592 |
By moving an a priori religious object like Haitian Vodou into the field of illness, the author offers us a better understanding of the interfaces that exist between illness, medicine and religion in Haiti. Beyond his ethnographic contributions on Haitian society and on a phenomenon long considered mysterious, the monograph he offers us on Vodou, advances the broad outlines of an interpenetration of the religious and the medical that can be observed in many societies. From an analysis of Vodou that does not seek to exclude its religious aspects in favor of its medical aspects, but which nevertheless puts its status as an African-American religion in parentheses, this book leads us to see the medical, the care and a quest for health, where we too quickly think that it is primarily a question of religion and religious rituals. In addition to providing an overview of Vodou that was truly lacking in the literature, and in addition to showing us Vodou practices as they take place in Haiti, this book suggests new research that could show that elsewhere the religious dimension of practices and rituals supports their preventive, curative and healing dimensions. Visiting initially the Haitian countryside and becoming familiar with Vodou, we are ultimately invited to question how religion or forms of spirituality can coexist with illness and healing practices in the West.
By moving an a priori religious object like Haitian Vodou into the field of illness, the author offers us a better understanding of the interfaces that exist between illness, medicine and religion in Haiti. Beyond his ethnographic contributions on Haitian society and on a phenomenon long considered mysterious, the monograph he offers us on Vodou, advances the broad outlines of an interpenetration of the religious and the medical that can be observed in many societies. From an analysis of Vodou that does not seek to exclude its religious aspects in favor of its medical aspects, but which nevertheless puts its status as an African-American religion in parentheses, this book leads us to see the medical, the care and a quest for health, where we too quickly think that it is primarily a question of religion and religious rituals. In addition to providing an overview of Vodou that was truly lacking in the literature, and in addition to showing us Vodou practices as they take place in Haiti, this book suggests new research that could show that elsewhere the religious dimension of practices and rituals supports their preventive, curative and healing dimensions. Visiting initially the Haitian countryside and becoming familiar with Vodou, we are ultimately invited to question how religion or forms of spirituality can coexist with illness and healing practices in the West.