Acting Managing Editor, Transition 115 & Editorial Assistant, Transition Magazine, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University
PhD, African and African American Studies, Harvard University Supervisors: Jacob Olupona, Kimberley Patton, Vincent Brown, and Carol Duncan Address: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Vodou is frequently invoked as a cause of Haiti’s continued impoverishment. While scholarly argum... more Vodou is frequently invoked as a cause of Haiti’s continued impoverishment. While scholarly arguments have been advanced for why this is untrue, Vodou is persistently plagued by a poor reputation. This is buttressed, in part, by the frequent appearance in popular culture of the imagined religion of ‘‘voodoo.’’ Vodou and voodoo have entwined destinies, and Vodou will continue to suffer from ill repute as long as voodoo remains an outlet for the expression of racist anxieties. The enduring appeal of voodoo is analyzed through its uses in touristic culture, film, television, and literature. Particular attention is given to the genre of horror movies, in which voodoo’s connections with violence against whites and hypersexuality are exploited to produce both terror and arousal.
Dreams are vital sources of liturgical novelty in Haitian Vodou –and this novelty is, itself, an ... more Dreams are vital sources of liturgical novelty in Haitian Vodou –and this novelty is, itself, an underdescribed and understudied quality that the religion possesses. Classic scholarly descriptions have tended to portray Vodou as a living artifact, tradition-bound and slave to formality. On the contrary, Vodou is constantly responding to unique lived scenarios with novelty –a generative capacity reminiscent of Hannah Arendt’s natality. Dreaming plays a key role as provocateur and shaper of this natality. Additionally, it serves as a vouchsafe for belief; as a transformative force; as a form of divination; and as a source for theological and liturgical information. This article focuses, in particular, on why dreaming in Vodou has received so little scholarly atten- tion. Additionally, it examines how Vodou priests and priestesses utilize dreaming in their work with clients, as well as the role that dreaming plays in the enactment of spiritual marriages, and in recent responses to the 2010 earthquake.
Gine, a word which means “Africa,” has been an important site of contested meaning in Haitian Vod... more Gine, a word which means “Africa,” has been an important site of contested meaning in Haitian Vodou. As a continent, it is a lost homeland. As heaven, it is a source of longing and a hoped-for eschaton. As an aesthetic category, Gine has served as a form of religious capital through which various competing social forces have attempted to create and maintain orthodoxy. With the rise of the priesthood, Gine increasingly became a resource only the clergy could summon and control. Yet, the clergy’s innovation of ritual acts to summon Gine into any space made it possible for Vodou to survive in the form we know today. Scholars and artists—many of whom were “outsiders”—also played a substantial role in identifying which traditions would come to be seen as the most “authentic” expressions of Vodou.
Vodou is frequently invoked as a cause of Haiti’s continued impoverishment. While scholarly argum... more Vodou is frequently invoked as a cause of Haiti’s continued impoverishment. While scholarly arguments have been advanced for why this is untrue, Vodou is persistently plagued by a poor reputation. This is buttressed, in part, by the frequent appearance in popular culture of the imagined religion of ‘‘voodoo.’’ Vodou and voodoo have entwined destinies, and Vodou will continue to suffer from ill repute as long as voodoo remains an outlet for the expression of racist anxieties. The enduring appeal of voodoo is analyzed through its uses in touristic culture, film, television, and literature. Particular attention is given to the genre of horror movies, in which voodoo’s connections with violence against whites and hypersexuality are exploited to produce both terror and arousal.
Dreams are vital sources of liturgical novelty in Haitian Vodou –and this novelty is, itself, an ... more Dreams are vital sources of liturgical novelty in Haitian Vodou –and this novelty is, itself, an underdescribed and understudied quality that the religion possesses. Classic scholarly descriptions have tended to portray Vodou as a living artifact, tradition-bound and slave to formality. On the contrary, Vodou is constantly responding to unique lived scenarios with novelty –a generative capacity reminiscent of Hannah Arendt’s natality. Dreaming plays a key role as provocateur and shaper of this natality. Additionally, it serves as a vouchsafe for belief; as a transformative force; as a form of divination; and as a source for theological and liturgical information. This article focuses, in particular, on why dreaming in Vodou has received so little scholarly atten- tion. Additionally, it examines how Vodou priests and priestesses utilize dreaming in their work with clients, as well as the role that dreaming plays in the enactment of spiritual marriages, and in recent responses to the 2010 earthquake.
Gine, a word which means “Africa,” has been an important site of contested meaning in Haitian Vod... more Gine, a word which means “Africa,” has been an important site of contested meaning in Haitian Vodou. As a continent, it is a lost homeland. As heaven, it is a source of longing and a hoped-for eschaton. As an aesthetic category, Gine has served as a form of religious capital through which various competing social forces have attempted to create and maintain orthodoxy. With the rise of the priesthood, Gine increasingly became a resource only the clergy could summon and control. Yet, the clergy’s innovation of ritual acts to summon Gine into any space made it possible for Vodou to survive in the form we know today. Scholars and artists—many of whom were “outsiders”—also played a substantial role in identifying which traditions would come to be seen as the most “authentic” expressions of Vodou.
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