a824: Re: a818: Implications of the mythic pact with Satan (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lois E Wilcken <makandal-ny@juno.com>

Intriguing material, Liza, and I'm glad you and others are tracking it.

I was caught very much by the phrase "pro-'folklore' politics that had
been at work since the Duvalier regime."  I always feel the need to point
out that such politics pre-dated Duvalier, even in the work he published
before he had a regime.  Jean Price-Mars introduced "folklore" into
nationalist discourse in 1928 (Ainsi Parla l'Oncle).  Folklore was the
expressive dimension of the politics that brought Estime to power in
1946.  If it's your informants who associate folklore and duvalierism,
that ought to be more explicit in your paper.

It's pretty interesting that Haitian pastors attended "workshops led by
pastors from the United States."  Undoubtedly, Protestant missionaries
worked in Haiti before 1915, but it seems they were present in
significant numbers only since 1915.  Protestantism as a symptom of North
American hegemony would only be natural.  France is a predominantly
Catholic country, while the United States is predominantly Protestant.
Has anyone looked into the story behind these workshops?  Has there been
any comparison with the work of pastors from the United States in other
Latin American countries?

Lois

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