Newsgroups: alt.magick From: (Lucifer) Subject: Re: Anthropology of Voodoo? Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 16:15:12 GMT Try reading "Voodoo in Haiti" by a French anthropologist called Metraux(unsure about spelling). It is a decently-written and well known book. Lucifer From: mimir@stein.u.washington.edu (Al Billings) Newsgroups: alt.magick Subject: Re: Anthropology of Voodoo? Date: 26 Feb 1993 17:56:40 GMT _Secrets_of_Voodoo_ by Milo Rigaud. The book was written in the '20s and it is considered a classic. The man was Haitian, went to study in France (for college) and later came back and studied the religion of his own people. It is currently pulished by City Lights (I have a copy here). Wassail, Grendel Grettisson From: joshua@cpac.washington.edu Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 11:27:50 -0800 Subject: Anthropology of Voodoo? try 'the serpent and the rainbow'. I forget the dude's name, but he's an ethnobotanist. very good book. josh From: eddie@hermes.oit.unc.edu (Edward M. Averett) Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 21:27:40 GMT Two things: 1) Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, by Maya Deren isn't a bad start for a book. 2) Look under Voodoo and Santeria in your local university library. 3) (That's THREE Things) Anthropologists have historically had a mind-numbing narrow-minded sense of the rightness of Western Mediterranean / Northern European culture and thought, and even to this day have a strong and limiting bias in the way they approach other cultures. There are NO good Anthro- studies on Voodoo, and not very many on Haiti, Cuba, etc. Good luck anyway. -Axe-wielding bunny "You get pregnant by standing in the surf" From: st923336@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (Matt) Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1993 06:38:48 GMT There is a book called _Mama_Lola_ (?) that a friend of mine was reading. The author (I think it's a woman -- sorry I can't remember the name) lived in Haiti for twelve years and was adopted into the family that she writes about. Sorry I'm so vague, but I didn't read the book, just heard of it. -Matt From: orby@iastate.edu (Clark Kent) Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1993 02:09:44 GMT I recently did a small report on Voodoo for my HS senior Anthroplogy class, and one book that helped me get a basic understanding is called "Faces in the Smoke" by Douchan Gersi. It's a little far out, as the book is mostly about "unknown mysteries" like vampires, faith healing, etc but it's still a facinating book to read. I don't remember the date of it, but there was a two- part article in Whole Earth Review a while back called "Hear the Long Snake Moan" that dealt with the origins of Rock 'n Roll - namely Voodoo. Another book that I can remember using was simply called "Voodoo in New Orleans" and the title pretty much says it all. Hope this helps somewhat. From: timbomb@cs.uq.oz.au (Tim Mansfield) Date: 8 Mar 93 08:29:00 GMT eddie@hermes.oit.unc.edu (Edward M. Averett) writes: >Anthropologists have historically had a mind-numbing narrow-minded sense >of the rightness of Western Mediterranean / Northern European culture and >thought, and even to this day have a strong and limiting bias in the way >they approach other cultures. There are NO good Anthro- studies on >Voodoo, and not very many on Haiti, Cuba, etc. Good luck anyway. Is Maya Deren's `Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti' that bad? I thought it was quite sympathetic, but on the other hand it's my main basis for understanding Voudoun, so what would I know... If it is an incorrect (or biassed portrayal), Edward, please comment. I want to know if my understand is too Euro-slanted... tim -- From: chroma@toad.com (Steve XI The Entity_Attache') Date: 10 Mar 93 17:30:11 GMT In article <1993Mar8.224314.10214@samba.oit.unc.edu> eddie@hermes.oit.unc.edu (Edward M. Averett) writes: >>Is Maya Deren's `Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti' that bad? >>I thought it was quite sympathetic, but on the other hand it's my main >>basis for understanding Voudoun, so what would I know... >>If it is an incorrect (or biassed portrayal), Edward, please comment. >>I want to know if my understand is too Euro-slanted... >>tim > >Maya Deren isn't an anthropologist. She was a dancer, and a filmperson. >She did have advice from Joseph Campbell and some other dude, and they >encouraged her to write the book, but we was not an anthropologist. >One of the many reasons her book is probably so good. > > -eddie > Damballah Bunny Well I think Maya Deren and Metraux should read in combo. One is a fussy but sympathetic French Academic, the other is a film/art type that set out to make a vanilla skeptical documentary and fell into the system she was studying and ended up writing the book. Anthro types often get grants and hire some film type to do their documentaries. Or sometimes money is given out for this to some film maker. Metraux is good because he is good at understanding French in all of its glory as a world language that has been hacked and modified by everyone who uses it. He understands and explains lots of things that are "ambient" and carries it off real well. He is very very good at all this stuff. Deren Maya is good because she cares and has direct emotional insights into the culture she is studying. She gets a little carried away, but explains what it is to be inside of some system. She explores from the inside out, Metraux from the outside in. How French Academics seem to gain the confidence of rattled indigenous people I will never know. But they hit lots of things right on. Have Fun, Sends Steve