Our Lady of Class Struggle: The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Haiti

This book is one of the most extensive single ethnographical studies on religion yet conducted in the Caribbean. It is a sociological analysis of the Marian devotion in Haiti that aims to reveal the differences between the Marianism of Haitian poor and that of the Haitian elite, and to explain the forces that underlie these differences, and to understand the syncretism of Marian beliefs and symbols with their correspondents in Haitian Vodou. Data generated through over four hundred interviews with Catholics and Voduisants and extensive participant/observation at Marian feasts throughout Haiti over a four-year period is analyzed and explained with references to the theories concerning religion and class of Antonio Gramsci, Max Weber, and Pierre Bourdieu.