Dr. Bertin Louis: “Anti-Haitianism, Statelessness, and Religious Practice in the Bahamas”

Dr. Bertin M. Louis, Jr., Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American & Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky, will lecture on the development of religious habitus through embodied worship at a Haitian Evangelical church. There, stateless second-generation Haitians worship within a Black, Christian and anti-Haitian Bahamas. Adherent use of Haitian Protestant hymnody, liturgical dance and prayer reflects social processes of individual and collective self-remaking through embodied and linguistic practices. This creates a unique, hybrid Christian habitus which helps them negotiate cultural belonging in the Bahamas.

Wednesday, September 13, 4:30-5:30 at Strong Hall B1 reception to follow, 5:30– 6:30pm at Strong Hall Atrium.