Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture

This collection introduces readers to the history and practice of the Vodou religion, and corrects many misconceptions. The book focuses specifically on the role Vodou plays in Haiti, where it has its strongest following, examining its influence on spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, national identity, popular culture, writing and art.

"Les invisibles are the powers that have sustained Haitians through centuries of exploitation, impoverishment, and terror. This collection of essays by leading scholars has the great merit of showing how Vodou works as a healing force that thoroughly penetrates Haitian culture and social life. From ritual temple to street festival, from song and dance to art and literature, from democracy to social justice, from Haiti to New Orleans, each essay addresses a different aspect of Vodou's living presence. Assembled together in this volume, they constitute a vital whole that provides broad access to a living religion and way of life that has all too often been maligned and misunderstood." - Patrick Taylor, Chair of the Division of Humanities, York University, editor of Nation Dance: Religion, Identity and Cultural Difference in the Caribbean "The essays of this exceptional volume throw clear, cool water on a parched terrain. Many readers will emerge from Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture with a fresh vision of the world's oldest - and most maligned - spirituality. The book's contributors, both budding and accomplished scholars from multiple disciplines, honor the Haitian people who bravely nurture Vodou and weave it through every strand of their lives. Ayibobo to Claudine Michel and Patrick Bellegarde-Smith!" - Lois Wilcken, Ph.D., author of The Drums of Vodou "The collection makes a valuable contribution to the field, and it should draw much interest among scholars and students of Caribbean religions." - Eugenio Matibag, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Iowa State University

CLAUDINE MICHEL is Professor of Black Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA, and Editor, Journal of Haitian Studies. PATRICK BELLEGARDE-SMITH is Professor of Africology, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, USA.