Vodou and Medico-Religious Pluralism in Haiti
In analysing the relationships between vodou and illness in Haiti, vodou appears as both a site in the health seeking process and a health care system. Moreover, when its place within Haitian medical-religious pluralism is examined, it becomes apparent that vodou permeates the practices and knowledge of therapists. This article demonstrates the nuances of vodou’s presence in the various therapeutic spaces that we studied in the Haitian countryside, within a plural medical-religious context. We propose considering vodou as a system of references and a repository of practices and meanings for all therapists in Haiti. Our research results suggest that, in Haiti, therapeutic spaces are permeable, indicating vodou’s pervasiveness in Haitian society. As such, our research also fills some gaps in the understanding of Haitian medical-religious pluralism.