Part 4

The blurry border between religious and secular is instrumental to understanding the role of enslaved healers. There were three major types of healers:the hospitaliere, employed by the masters to run the slave hospital, the infirmiere, who was employed by the masters to help the hospitaliere, care for young children, and command the youngest field gang, the midwife, often officially recognized by the master, and the kaperlata, the magic-religious healer whose role was not officially part of the slave hierarchy, and was often feared by masters. (Weaver 41,54, 55) These positions were occupied almost exclusively by women. The officially recognized positions were one of the major ways women could rise within the slave hierarchy: Being a hospitalize came with special privileges, most notable in terms of housing and food. So did the positions of infirmiere and midwife, to a lesser extent. (Weaver 42) Being a healer also gave women the opportunity to earn independent income in the form of money or gifts from those they healed, as well as the ability to ask favors from those who owed them a debt of gratitude. While the first three categories of healers were technically employed in secular positions, they used the herb and medical lore of African cultures in order to heal their patients, often combining it with Western medicine. This African medicinal lore was essentially religious in nature. Being a healer also allowed women to engage in silent acts of rebellion: Labeling a healthy patient as sick, claiming one needed more supplies than one did, and helping women procure birth-control and abortions were among the many ways healer women could use their positions to rebel against their masters. (Weaver 59, 60) Infanticide may have been another way, especially since in many African cultures, babies are not considered real people until they are three days old, and such infanticide could be passive, rather than active, given the array of diseases, most notably tetanus, that plagued newborns. (Bush 213) Birthing, birthcontrol, abortion, infanticide, and nursing, were all areas in which women clung tightly to African traditional practices. In clinging to these practices, slave women were asserting authority over their own bodies. (Bush 215)

The kaperlata, the fourth type of healer, did not fall within the official slave hierarchy, and was much feared by masters. They used both natural and supernatural remedies, including fetishes and divination. (Weaver 113, 114) This is in keeping with modern voodoo practices, where priests and priestesses are expected to be able to heal their customers through herbal remedies, special baths, fetishes, and divination. It also corresponds to the religious traditions of slaves in Brazil, where religious healers used the means mentioned above in order to cure. This is because, in traditional African cosmology, physical ailments are attributed to spiritual causes. In Haitian voodoo today, illness and misfortune are attributed either to witchcraft, or to one's displeasing their ancestors or the iwas. (Metraux 95, 96) Being a kaperlata was a way to gain prestige among the slave community, as well as gifts and favors from those who one treated, and money for the talismans one sold. One of the most famous kaperlatas was Marie Kingue, who divined, was sometimes possessed by spirits, distributed herbal remedies, sold talismans, and acted as a midwife. It is clear that her role was a religious one, as was that of other kaperlatas. As a matter of fact, Moreau de Saint-Mery attributes the presence of kaperlatas to the fact that many of those sold from Africa as slaves had been accused of sorcery in their own country - i.e. that those being enslaved were among the most religious, and among the most well-trained in the religious arts. (Weaver 114) (Sorcery was a common epithet hurled at African religious practices. (Weaver 115)) Kingue was arrested because of the large following she had, as well as her assertion that she was a free woman. Her story however, illustrates the ability of religion to empower women, to the point where they felt confident in asserting their freedom. (Weaver 115) White people also feared poisoning by kaperlatas, as well as African healers in general. No doubt, there were times in which kaperlatas did indeed use poisoning as a form of resistance, though the threat of poisoning was greatly exaggerated due to white paranoia. (Weaver 124) This paranoia in it and of itself however, was a powerful psychological weapon that healers could wield over their white masters. Thus, even before the revolution, women could empower themselves both by partaking of voodoo ceremonies, and by using African religious herbology and healing techniques, whether as official healers within the slave hierarchy, or as unofficial kaperlatas.