1492–1994: (The Resilience of Vodou and the Private National Tongue): Vodou is described as an “amalgam” of West African animist cults and Catholic ritual th…

1492–1994: (The Resilience of Vodou and the Private National Tongue): Vodou is described as an “amalgam” of West African animist cults and Catholic ritual that is practiced by nearly 100 percent of the population, regardless of their nominal Christian status. This belief system, along with Kreyòl, the true national language of 85 percent of the people, forms a “defensive impenetrability” against outside misunderstanding. While the oligarchs administered the state in French, the “humble masses” preserved African patriarchal habits and religious “conciliation of beliefs”. This cultural persistence is a form of cognitive sovereignty that allows the Haitian people to remain “proud and angry” despite centuries of external “misinformation”. The text argues that to disregard Vodou is to “foreclose serious understanding” of the nation’s history and its people’s resilience.