African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
240 p, Contents: 1. The dialectics of healing power -- 2. Metropolitan medicine and strategies of rule -- 3. Biomedicine in Jeanty -- 4. Medicalization and illness experience: two case-studies -- 5. The Catholic practice of healing -- 6. Houngan and the limits of Catholic morality -- 7. Religious healing and the fragmentation of rural life -- 8. Conclusion
301 p., In many of the francophone Caribbean's most influential texts, a black messiah conquers his enemies and takes over the land. This man is a superman, who hears the cry of his people and delivers them from slavery and the Code Noir (a black code). He draws strength from Voodoo and Roman Catholicism to set his people free or die trying. Argues that scholars have not studied the extent to which the messiah figure dominates French Caribbean fiction and how this trend colors our perceptions of black leadership. After presenting messianism in the history of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Haiti, the author considers key messianic passages in francophone literature and highlight where rhetorical devices and figurative language transcribe metaphysical beliefs. These close readings correct the misconception that the French Caribbean and its religions are not messianic.
