Bertin M. Louis, Jr.

My Soul Is in Haiti

Bertin M. Louis, Jr.

Offers a greater understanding of the spread of Protestant Christianity, both regionally and globally, by studying local transformations in the Haitian diaspora of the Bahamas. In the Haitian diaspora, as in Haiti itself, the majority ofHaitians have long practiced Catholicism or Vodou. However, Protestant forms ofChristianity now flourish both in Haiti and beyond. In the Bahamas, whereapproximately one in five people are now Haitian-born or Haitian-descended,Protestantism has become the majority religion for immigrant Haitians. In My Soul Is in Haiti, Bertin M. Louis, Jr. hascombined multi-sited ethnographic research in the United States, Haiti, and theBahamas with a transnational framework to analyze why Protestantism hasappealed to the Haitian diaspora community in the Bahamas. The volumeillustrates how devout Haitian Protestant migrants use their religiousidentities to ground themselves in a place that is hostile to them as migrants,and it also uncovers how their religious faith ties in to their belief in theneed to “save” their homeland, as they re-imagine Haiti politically and morallyas a Protestant Christian nation. This important look at transnational migration betweensecond and third world countries shows how notions of nationalism among Haitianmigrants in the Bahamas are filtered through their religious beliefs. Bystudying local transformations in the Haitian diaspora of the Bahamas, Louisoffers a greater understanding of the spread of Protestant Christianity, bothregionally and globally.