Miss Zora Neale Hurston has gone afield from the scenes of her previous work . . . and turned in the inexhaustible mines of Voodoo and witchcraft in Haiti and Jamaica. Tell My Horse is a curious mixture of remembrances, travelogue, sensationalism, and anthropology. The remembrances are vivid, the travelogue tedious, the sensationalism reminiscent of […]
Tag Archives: religion
Zora Neale Hurston and Haiti
Posted in Haiti
Also tagged 1938, African-Americans, anthropology, archive, Haiti, history
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Dr. Alfred Metraux’s Gourd Rattles
Title: Gourd Rattle “Asson” “Baksor” Donor Name: Dr. Alfred Metraux Culture: Haitian Object Type: Rattle Place: Croix-Des-Bouquets (Near Port-Au-Prince), Ouest Province, Haiti, Caribbean Accession Date: 1942-Jun-19 Topic: Ethnology Accession Number: 163278 Catalog Number: E382581-0 USNM Number: E382581 Specimen Count: 1 Notes: GOURD RATTLE, NARROW END SERVES AS HANDLE. COVERED WITH LOOSE RETICULATE NETTING OF COLORED […]
“Voodooism” Increases Profits
On the tendency of white foreigners, especially, and recently American negroes, to read dark, jungle atavism into even the most guileless aspects of Haitian life, our author has this to say: “Many good missionaries have come to us from the United States and elsewhere to advise us to preserve our traditions, customs, and African cults […]
Posted in Haiti
Also tagged 1943, 1970, Haiti, history, revolution, sovereignty, United States
5 Responses
Haiti: Religion
There is at the present time entire freedom of the Press and religious toleration. The Protestants now upon the ground, (mostly English Wesleyans) may preach in their chapels, in the streets, and from house to house, without the least hinderance from Government, but on the contrary, with their sanction and approval. They have also the […]
Haiti: Vodou
The years when Haitian culture was first emerging as a major object of anthropological study both domestically and internationally were actually a period of prolonged penalization and persecution for many who served the Vodou spirits. Kate Ramsey, “Prohibition, persecution, performance,” Gradhiva (2005)