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Customer Reviews (1)

A Look Under The Surface
This is a refreshing work that views Vodun from an artistic and psychological perspective, versus a religious or Hoo-Doo search. There is alot of material here you won't readily find anywhere else about the culture of Vodun. There is also great information in one chapter on the realities and impact of the slave trade within Africa that provides a clearer perspective than most such articles.

A very excellent, and intellectual read I enjoyed and is well worth the price. Plainly, Ms. Blier put great effort and thought into this work, and it shows. This is one of the top 10 books a serious student of Vodou should aspire to have and read. ... Read more

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The reflexive approach and the concept of bimusicality have made possible this in-depth study of the Rada rite, the foundation of the complex and sensationalized religion of Haiti, Vodun. Fleurant returned to his native Haiti to immerse himself in the socio-cultural life of those who practice the religion that was brought to Haiti by the people captured in Africa from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Through total immersion in daily life culture and apprenticeship in the music culture (reflexive approach and concept of bimusicality), the author has accessed information and provided a descriptive analysis heretofore unavailable to scholars. From this privileged position, the author details the complexity, sophistication, and beauty of the ritual, music, and dance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Too expensive for content, poor presentation
I teach afro-Haitian dance and wanted to find information about the dances to share with my students. I was attracted to this book for a long time ago but didn't want to spend all that money for a book. Recently I decided to make the investment to see what make this book so expensive. To be honest there are a lot of good information in it but I have read other less expensive book with more information than Dancing Spirits. If you want to sell a book for that kind of money at least use some good quality color pictures and illustrations. The pictures make the book looks like crap... and worthless for the money. No originallity, to me it seems like the author just copy and repeat what have alrady been written by Katherine Dunham, Lamatiniere Honorat, Lavinia Williams... Although some descriptions of the dances mentioned in the book are very helpful but lack details and beside some rada dances are missing for e.g. the author talked about zepol but did not explore the other variations like flavodou and dahome; what about all the Mayi variations: Mayi siye, Mayi dete or gete and laye? What about Yanvalou Mascaron, Yanvalou royal? I haven't finished my reading yet but feel very disappointed I was expecting to find information that no one has ever presented before about Haitian dances or Vodou. I will certainly return the book and get my money back. If you don't mind spending that kind of money for very little go ahead and buy this book but if you concern about where you putting your money find some other books. with $110 you can get at least 4 books with tons of info about the rada spirits and rites.

For the Poets and Musicians
This is a study of the songs, styles of dance and music frequently encountered at a Vodou service, with explanations thereof.

Where songs are quoted, they also are translated conveniently.

My interests don't run this way, however it was saved from being a dry read by being woven together with alot of history and wonderful descriptions of personal encounters the author had with significant people during research and all in all, this was the most interesting sections of the book and lifts it well above a mere study of form by breathing living substance into the topic.

I'm glad to have this book in my private collection.

If you aremusically inclined and interested in Vodou, this is a must have classic. ... Read more

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This study, focusing on select novels by women writers of the African Diaspora, illustrates that a surprising degree of commonality exists among works with obvious geographical, cultural, and linguistics differences an affirmation of the philosophical essence of the Vodun religion as an antidote to Western spiritual and cultural moribundity. A close reading Zora Neale Hurston s "Their Eyes Were Watching God", Simone Schwarz-Bart s "Pluie et Vent sur Telum??e Miracle", and Paule Marshall s "Praisesong for the Widow", demonstrates the way in which these works allude to the Vodun pantheon and ancestor veneration in order to valorize a worldview that recognizes the interconnectedness of all living things, visible and invisible. This is accomplished by locating each novel within its socio-political context and developing African diasporic literary tradition wherein African-derived beliefs have become sources of cultural resistance. After this reconstruction, the author is able to explicate the representation and function of Vodun as it is employed by each of the authors under consideration. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Mississippi Quarterly, published by Mississippi State University on December 22, 1999. The length of the article is 6212 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Antislavery Unconscious: Mesmerism, Vodun, and "Equality".(Critical Essay)
Author: Russ Castronovo
Publication: The Mississippi Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 1999
Publisher: Mississippi State University
Volume: 53Issue: 1Page: 41

Article Type: Critical Essay

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Haitian Vodou orVaudou is a syncretic religion originating from the Caribbean country of Haiti, located on the island of Hispaniola. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples, with Roman Catholic Christianity, which was brought about as African slaves were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and forced to convert to the religion of their owners, whilst they largely still followed their traditional African beliefs. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from African Arts, published by The Regents of the University of California on March 22, 2010. The length of the article is 9270 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Ephemerality and the "unfinished" in Vodun aesthetics.(Report)
Author: Dana Rush
Publication: African Arts (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2010
Publisher: The Regents of the University of California
Volume: 43Issue: 1Page: 60(16)

Article Type: Report

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More than 500 articles cover the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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Chapters: West African Vodun, Zombie, Loa, Guinee, Captain Debas, Boum'ba Maza, Haitian Vodou, Ram, Maya Deren, Marie Laveau, Lgbt Topics and Voodoo, Richard Auguste Morse, Boukman Eksperyans, Haitian Mythology, Rasin, Christian-Voodoo Relations, Bokor, Divine Horsemen: the Living Gods of Haiti, Anaisa Pye, Veve, Hounfour, Kosanba, Houngan, Mambo, Belie Belcan, Gris-Gris, Ghede Doubye, Ghede Loraj. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 127. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Haitian Vodou or Vaudou (French pronunciation: , Anglicised as Voodoo) is a syncretic religion originating in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers. The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed. Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft. Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour. Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5542305 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from African Arts, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2007. The length of the article is 3409 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Ewe ceramics as the visualization of Vodun.(research note)
Author: Lisa Aronson
Publication: African Arts (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 40Issue: 1Page: 80(6)

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This digital document is an article from Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 617 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Based on the scholarship in the acclaimed Encyclopedia of Africa, this work presents Africa, from Egypt to Cape Town and from prehistoric times to the present day. This set spans many disciplines, covering animals, foods, holidays and festivals, tribal groups, ecology, music and art, trade and economy, geography, religion, folklore, and fossil and skeletal discoveries. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Shinto, West African Vodun, Odinani, Folk Christianity, Hawaiian Religion, Finnish Paganism, Chinese Folk Religion, Yoruba Religion, Kaharingan, Folk Hinduism. Excerpt:: This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support , you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters . Clothed statues of Matsu /Mazu (Chinese goddess of the Sea) Chinese folk religion (simplified Chinese: / ) is a collective label given to various folkloric beliefs that draw heavily from Chinese mythology . It comprises the religion practiced in much of China for thousands of years, which included ancestor worship and drew heavily upon concepts and beings within Chinese mythology. Chinese folk religion is sometimes seen as a constituent part of Chinese traditional religion , but more often, the two are regarded as synonymous. It is estimated that there are at least 394 million adherents to Chinese folk religion worldwide ( see Major world religions ). Overview Chinese folk religion is composed of a syncretistic combination of religious practices, including Confucianist ceremonies, ancestor worship , Buddhism and Taoism . Chinese folk religion also retains traces of some of its ancestral neolithic belief systems, which include the veneration of (and communication with) the sun , moon , earth , the heaven , and various stars , as well as communication with animals. It has been practiced by Chinese people for thousands of years, for much of that time alongside Buddhism , Confucianism , and Taoism . Ceremonies , veneration , legends , festivals and various devotions associated with different folk gods/deities and goddesses form an important part of Chinese culture today. The veneration of secondary gods does not conflict with an individual's chosen religion, but... ... Read more

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Chapters: West African Vodun. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 65. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Vodun or Vudun (Gbe pronunciation: that is, with a nasal u on a high tone) (so spelled in the Fon language of Benin and the Ewe language of Togo and Ghana; also spelled Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, Voodoo etc.) is a traditional Polytheistic organised religion of coastal West Africa, from Nigeria to Ghana. It is distinct from the various traditional animistic religions in the interiors of these same countries, as well as from various religions with often similar names of the African Diaspora in the New World, such as Haitian Vodou, the similar Vudu of the Dominican Republic, Candomblé Jejé in Brazil (which uses the term Vodum), Louisiana Voodoo, and Santería in Cuba, which are syncretized with Christianity and the traditional religions of the Kongo people of Congo and Angola. The word vodún is the Gbe (Fon-Ewe) word for spirit. When the word is capitalized, Vodun, it denotes the religion. When it is not, vodun, it denotes the spirits that are central to the religion. "Voodoo" is the most common pronunciation amongst English speakers. Vodun is practised by the Ewe, Kabye, Mina, Fon, peoples of southeastern Ghana, southern and central Togo, southern and central Benin,and (under a different name) the Yoruba in southwestern Nigeria. Vodun cosmology centers around the vodun, spirits and other elements of divine essence which govern the Earth. Vodun has a single divine Creator, called variously Mawu or Nana Buluku, which embodies a dual cosmogenic principle, and of which Mawu, the moon, and Lisa, the sun, are female and male aspects, respectively. (Mawu and Lisa are often portrayed as the twin children of the Creator.) There are a hierarchy of lesser creations, the vodun, which range in power from...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=32669 ... Read more