He is Doctor of Theology (Institut Catholique de Paris) and Sociology (Sorbonne University),[5] director of research at CNRS and professor at the Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince, of which he is one of the founding members.
[6] Today he focuses on the relationships between religion, culture and politics in the Caribbean region and has written many books on Haitian Vodou.
[6] His notable publications are the Dieu dans le Vaudou haïtien (1972) and Le Barbare imaginaire (1987), which have been described as "two classics" of the author; and the "small 'big book'" – Les mystères du vaudou (1993; US ed.
– Voodoo: Search for the Spirit),[7] which is a heavily illustrated pocket book from Éditions Gallimard's "Découvertes" collection.
He also edited a collective work entitled Catastrophes et environnement : Haïti, séisme du 12 janvier 2010 (2014).