Dr. Bertin Louis, Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American & Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky and author of My Soul is in Haiti: Protestantism in the Haitian Diaspora of the Bahamas, will lecture on the development of religious habitus through embodied worship at a Haitian Protestant church. There, 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.

Sponsored by Anthropology, Religion, Africana Studies, Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education, and the Vassar Haiti Project.

Audience members must present a Vassar College ID or supply proof of full vaccination (vaccination or booster within the last six months) or a negative COVID-19 test taken 24 hours before coming to campus. Masks are required indoors for everyone except speakers or performers who can maintain a six-foot distance from the audience.