An Investigation of Catholic Education and the Predicament of Democracy in Haiti
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An Investigation of Catholic Education and the Predicament of Democracy in Haiti by Roselor François Department of Integrated Studies in Education Faculty of Education McGill University, Montreal October, 2015 A Thesis Submitted to McGill University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Roselor François, 2015 i Abstract The purpose of this sequential transformative mixed methods study is twofold: (a) explore in-depth the nature of the Catholic congregational school pedagogy in Haiti, and (b) critically examine how such pedagogy impacts democracy in Haiti. For the transformative paradigm used in this research, the interpretive standpoint of the results has been purveyed by the postcolonial theory which brought out the importance of Haitian Vodou and Creole in the matter of educating for democracy in Haiti. Particularly, the theory of hybridity from Homi K. Bhabha acknowledges Vodou and Creole as two basic historical elements that would foster democratic learning spaces in the school context and empower the Haitian student. By considering that "different histories and cultures produce different democracies" (Koelble & Lipuma, 2008, p.1), the study stressed that educating for democracy should be based on these "hybrid cultures." However, since the signing of the Concordat of 1860 between the Vatican and Haitian State, Catholic congregational schools have borne the responsibility for educating the Haitian elites. The whole result of the study revealed that these schools are a model of anti-Vodou and anti-Creole colonial school established within the framework of a French neocolonial project engineered by Gaspard Theodore Mollien to reconquer Haiti. Both the qualitative and quantitative findings strongly drew attention to the total exclusion and marginalization of Haitian Creole and Vodou by Catholic school leaders. Through this type of "mis-education" (Woodson, 1933), the congregational schools prepared a type of subaltern, alienated, racist, autocratic, and violent elites that have always served the interests of the West while oppressing and marginalizing the Vodouists and Creole ii speaking Haitian masses. In 1994, such "mis-educated" women and men were considered the "most repugnant elites" by the U.S Embassy (Fatton Jr., 2002). Thus, since the literature and theoretical framework of the study are in line with the fact that the predatory nature of subaltern indigenous elites has been molded in colonial schools, this research has established a significant relationship between this type of colonial education promoted in Catholic congregational classrooms and the absence of democracy in Haiti. In light of the findings, the present investigation advocates for a radical change in the whole Haitian educational system. iii Résumé Cette dissertation est une recherche mixte transformative qui comprend deux parties conduites de façon séquentielle et qui a le double but (a) d'explorer en profondeur la nature de la pédagogie des écoles congréganistes catholiques, et (b) d'examiner de façon critique l'impact d'une telle pédagogie sur la démocratie haïtienne. À cause de la nature transformative de l'étude, la théorie postcoloniale a été placée au centre de toute la démarche méthodologique. En particulier, la théorie de l'hybridité de Homi K. Bhabha a fait ressortir l'importance du vodou et de la langue créole dans le domaine de l'éducation pour la démocratie en Haiti. S'appuyant sur cette perspective critique, cette étude transformative a présenté le vodou et le créole comme étant deux éléments historiques de base qui peuvent créer des espaces d'apprentissages démocratiques dans les écoles haïtiennes et aussi fortifier mentalement l'élève haïtien. Considérant que "different histories and cultures produce different democracies" (Koelble & Lipuma, 2008, p.1), l'étude a montré que toute éducation pour la démocratie doit être impérativement basée sur ces cultures hybrides. Cependant, grâce à la signature du Concordat de 1860 entre le Vatican et l'État haïtien, les écoles congréganistes catholiques étaient devenues responsables de la formation académique des élites haïtiennes. Les résultats de la recherche ont révélé que ces écoles congréganistes représentent un modèle d'école coloniale anti-vodou et anti- creole qui a été établi en Haiti dans le cadre d'un projet néocolonial français conçu par Gaspard Théodore Mollien pour reconquérir Haiti. Les résultats des deux phases qualitative et quantitative ont fortement souligné l'exclusion et la marginalisation du créole et du vodou par les leaders de ces écoles catholiques. Au moyen de cette forme de iv "mal-éducation" (Woodson, 1933), ces écoles congréganistes ont formé une classe dirigeante subalterne, aliénée, raciste, autocratique et violente qui a toujours servi les intérêts des occidentaux tout en opprimant et marginalisant les masses créolophones et vodouisantes haïtiennes. En 1994, de telles femmes et de tels hommes "mal-éduqués" ont été qualifiés de "most repugnant elites" (Fatton Jr., 2002) par l'ambassade américaine en Haiti. Ainsi, se basant sur un cadre théorique et une littérature qui supportent le fait que les écoles coloniales ont grandement contribuer à fabriquer la nature prédatrice des élites indigènes subalternes, cette étude a pu établir une relation significative entre le type d'éducation coloniale dispensée dans les écoles congréganistes catholiques et l'absence de démocratie en Haiti. Dans cette optique, la présente recherche plaide pour un changement radical dans l'ensemble du système éducatif haïtien. v Dedication To my lovely mother, Lorilia Pierre—my first teacher. To my precious wife, Dieudonne Monplaisir, for her radical and unending love. To my daughters: Monica and Dashka, also Stephane, Mona, and my sister Joliette for their unconditional love and support. To the great majority of marginalized Haitians who inspired this thesis. vi Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to give my greatest gratitude to the Almighty God who has granted me good physical and mental health to conduct this investigation. God has additionally put in my path a set of relatives, classmates and friends, and good mentors who have respectively embraced my cherished dream, encouraged, and supported and worked with me to successfully complete this dissertation. Specifically, I would like to express my gratitude to my doctoral committee formed by Dr. Spencer Boudreau, Prof. Daniel Cere, Dr. Carolyn Turner, and Dr. Kevin McDonough. I could never have completed this dissertation without the participation of all the members of this committee who played a key role through their respective contributions. Firstly, I would like to express my immense gratitude to my two supervisors, Dr. Spencer Boudreau and Prof. Daniel Cere, for their continuous guidance, dedication, and patience as well as their brilliant advice and constructive feedback. Secondly, I would like to give gratitude to Dr. Carolyn Turner for her invaluable methodological support. Not only did her class of research inspire me to utilize a mixed methods approach in this dissertation, but also, she joyfully shared with me her great skills and knowledge beyond the classroom. Last, but not least, I am so grateful to Dr. Kevin McDonough for his critical feedback during my doctoral examination which helped me to look at other perspectives and make important changes in the second chapter. Such changes had a considerable impact on the entire dissertation. In addition to my doctoral committee, I thank kindly all my teachers from McGill University who have inspired, mentored, and inculcated in me the sense of doing critical vii research and academic works. I am also thankful to the Ph.D. candidate Shujiao Wang for making the statistical part of the study easy for me. Moreover, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the unconditional support and critical reading of Madam Pascale Doresca. By challenging my thinking, she made me improve some aspects of my thesis. Also, many thanks go to Myrlène Bruno, Fanel Mervil, and Pierre Lubin for their suggestions and comments in the area of editing. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the love, friendship, encouragement, and great support of Dr. Greger Figaro and family, Louis Gerson Richemé, and Adler Michel. In a similar vein, I would like to thank kindly several individuals such as Alex Turnier, Calherbe Buteau, Daphney Beaudouin and family, Florence Maurice, Gérald Jean Baptiste, Jacques-Michel Gourgues, Lydie Misère, Nadine Louis, Raulin Cadet, Rozefort Verlaine, Yves Fausner Paul, Wadner Cadet, and Wakiss Celestin. I would not have been able to finish this dissertation without the support of each of these good people. viii Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................i Résumé...............................................................................................................................iii Dedication............................................................................................................................v Acknowledgments..............................................................................................................vi Table of Contents..............................................................................................................viii List of Tables.....................................................................................................................xii