Haitian Vodou and Ecotheology
This contribution reviews ecotheological perspectives among traditional practitioners of the West African religions known as Vodun and Voodoo and their diasporic syncretic variants Hoodoo, Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo, using Haiti as the main case study. Based on ethnographic and comparative r...
| Published in: | The ecumenical review |
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| Subtitles: | Theology of the Oikos |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[2018]
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| In: |
The ecumenical review
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| IxTheo Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements BS Traditional African religions NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
comparative ecotheology
B Ecocriticism B West African religions B Vodou (Voodoo B Vodun) B Vodou and ecology B ecocriticism - Caribbean religions |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This contribution reviews ecotheological perspectives among traditional practitioners of the West African religions known as Vodun and Voodoo and their diasporic syncretic variants Hoodoo, Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo, using Haiti as the main case study. Based on ethnographic and comparative religion scholarship, as well as consultation with researchers in the field, it discusses Voodoo traditions in light of modern ecotheological concerns, such as sustainability, dominion over nature, anthropocentrism, and animal rights. It also discusses the sometimes accommodating and sometimes hostile relationship with Catholicism with respect to nature and spirit worship, and the overlap of saints and Voodoo spirits as intermediaries. Despite finding a striking disjunction between environmentally unfriendly practices in Haiti and its religious views of nature as sacred, the paper argues that the historical adaptability and accommodationism of Haitian Vodou practices may provide the basis for an eco-friendly approach to natural resource management and a renewed spiritualized view of nature. |
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| ISSN: | 1758-6623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The ecumenical review
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/erev.12393 |