L E S L I E. G. D E S M A N G L E S

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in May, 1999. 

SEEING RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

When students in Professor of Religion and International Studies Leslie G. Desmangles’ "Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean" class visit the Chango Botanica on Hartford’s Park Street they see chromolithographs of Catholic saints displayed alongside herbs, perfumes, and other ritual paraphernalia used in Santeria, a folk religion of the Caribbean. What Desmangles sees, however, is an extraordinary visual aid for teaching how culture affects religious traditions.

"I take my students on field trips to the botanica to see the kind of items people purchase to deal with daily problems, whether it be an illness in the family, a divorce, or a runaway teenager," Desmangles explains. "When a young woman finds her young man being distracted by someone else, she will buy a candle or some kind of potion, which is often perfume to lure the young man back. If you live with a person who talks too much, you can buy a ‘Shut Up’ candle." The candle, which is readily recognizable by those who are familiar with the rituals of Santeria, frequently achieves its goal without even being lit, Desmangles notes.

Practitioners of Santeria, a religion that originated in Cuba and Puerto Rico centuries ago, are usually also Catholics whose West African ancestors were enslaved, transported to the Caribbean, and subjected to conversion efforts. Like other folk religions in the Caribbean, Santeria addresses very practical issues of daily life and provides emigrants to Hartford and other U.S. destinations with a foundation for social and ethnic national identity in their new homeland, Desmangles notes.

Himself a native of Haiti, Desmangles teaches courses in Caribbean and African religions, Hindu and Buddhism from an anthropological perspective, focusing on how those religious traditions exist within a culture’s political, economic, and social structure. Desmangles received his secondary education in Canada and followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was the founder of the American Baptist Church in Haiti, earning a master’s degree in divinity studies from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He abandoned a career in the ministry in favor of a secular approach to the subject in 1967.

Desmangles, who holds a Ph.D. from Temple University, joined Trinity’s faculty in 1978. He is the author of The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism, which was named a 1994 "Choice" outstanding academic book, and he helped to inaugurate the Journal of Haitian Studies. He currently is working on a book about the ritual use of foods in the Caribbean. His expertise in Vodou and other Caribbean religions has caused him to be the focus of interviews by such diverse media as NBC’s national news program "Dateline," National Public Radio, and the Arts and Entertainment cable television network. In 1997, he served as scholar-in-residence at Santa Rosa Junior College in California and last semester served in the same capacity at Hall High School in West Hartford, where he taught a course on the anthropological history of the Caribbean.

Professor of Religion and International Studies Ellison B. Findly describes Desmangles as a "generous, hospitable, and gracious colleague who is a dedicated teacher willing to help all students at all times." Findly, who co-taught a seminar with him entitled "New American Religious Movements," says Desmangles "presents very organized, well-informed and well-thought out lectures that are filled with wonderful anecdotes about his research."

A dynamic lecturer with contagious enthusiasm

Religion major Kristin S. Forester ’01, who has taken three courses with Desmangles, says her professor’s anecdotes make the material "real." "For example, in ‘Magic, Possession and Spiritual Healing,’ Professor Desmangles told us about a seeing a person in Haiti who was in a possession trance jump eight feet straight up into the air. Such things seem so fantastical. By looking at religion from an anthropological perspective like we do in his courses, we learn to view different religions without prejudice and understand why people believe what they do. By doing so, we look at what we ourselves believe."

Anthropology major Lindsey B. Wells ’99, who also has taken three courses with Desmangles, praises her professor’s knowledge and passion for his subject. "Professor Desmangles is enthralled with what he teaches and gets students to feel the same. His enthusiasm is contagious." Georgiana S. Chevry ’01 is a sociology major with a minor in education who has taken "Myth, Rite and Sacrament" with Desmangles. "Professor Desmangles doesn’t give us answers," she says. "He asks questions and expects us to extrapolate information and find those answers ourselves. He lectures in a dynamic and entertaining way and establishes a dialogue in class by reaching out to everyone."

Desmangles says he has two primary pedagogical goals. "I hope that my students gain sensitivity not so much for organized religion but rather for the spiritual dimension of themselves as human beings," he explains. "In addition to helping my students gain a better understanding of themselves, I hope my teaching helps them become more sensitive to religious traditions of other parts of the world as well."

-Suzanne Zack