Haitian Vodou and the 2010 earthquake scapegoating controversy

Record summary

After Haiti’s January 2010 earthquake, public claims linking the disaster to a supposed pact with the devil or to Vodou provoked condemnation from Haitian religious leaders, historians, and commentators. The controversy is a clearly identifiable case for studying how esoteric or stigmatized traditions are used in disaster narratives, missionary rhetoric, and media framing. It should be compared with Haitian accounts of religious solidarity and disaster response rather than treated as evidence of supernatural causation. The precise wording, speaker, and context of each claim must be checked against recordings and contemporaneous reporting.