Background
Desmangles, Leslie G. was born on September 28, 1941 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Son of Paul C. and Irene (Hippolite) Desmangles.
(Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the...)
Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices. Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment. Desmangles uses Haitian history to explain this phenomenon, paying particular attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempts by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based "superstitions." The result is a society in which one religion, Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is unofficial and largely secretive.
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clergyman religious education educator
Desmangles, Leslie G. was born on September 28, 1941 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Son of Paul C. and Irene (Hippolite) Desmangles.
Professor Desmangles graduated from Eastern University in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, from Palmer Seminary in Philadelphia with an M. Division. In Theology, and from Temple University in 1975 with a Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology of Religion, specializing in Caribbean and African Studies.
Assistant professor, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio., 1969-1976; assistant professor, DePaul University, Chicago, 1976-1978; professor, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, since 1978.
(Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the...)
President Greenbriar Foundation, Farmington, Connecticut, since 1993. Member Caribbean Studies Association, Haitian Studies Association (president since 1994), Pi Gamma Museum.
Married Doreen Veazie, August 28, 1968 (divorced July 1983). Children: Michelle, Tanya. Married Gertrude Chassagne.
1 child, Micaël.