Varieties of African American Religious Experience

Varieties of African American Religious Experience

Author: Anthony B. Pinn

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2017-10-15

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1506403360

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Twenty years ago, Anthony Pinn‘s engrossing survey highlighted the rich diversity of black religious life in America, revealing expressions of an ever-changing black religious quest. Based on extensive research, travel, and interviews, Pinn‘s work provides a fascinating look especially at Voodoo, Santeria, the Nation of Islam, and black humanism in the United States and uses the diversity of religious belief to begin formulation of a comparative black theology-the first of its kind. This twentieth-anniversary edition is an expanded version, including a new preface and a new concluding chapter. An important contribution to classroom studies!


The Faces of the Gods

The Faces of the Gods

Author: Leslie G. Desmangles

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2000-11-09

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 0807861014

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Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices. Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment. Desmangles uses Haitian history to explain this phenomenon, paying particular attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempts by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based "superstitions." The result is a society in which one religion, Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is unofficial and largely secretive.


Healing in the Homeland

Healing in the Homeland

Author: Margaret Mitchell Armand

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2013-08-22

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0739173626

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Margaret Mitchell Armand presents a cutting edge interdisciplinary terrain inside an indigenous exploration of her homeland. Her contribution to the historiography of Haïtian Vodou demonstrates the struggle for its recognition in Haïti’s post-independence phase as well as its continued misunderstanding. Through a methodological, original study of the colonial culture of slavery and its dehumanization, Healing in the Homeland: Haitian Vodou Traditions examines the sociocultural and economic oppression stemming from the local and international derived politics and religious economic oppression. While concentrating the narratives on stories of indigenous elites educated in the western traditions, Armand moves pass the variables of race to locate the historical conjuncture at the root of the persistent Haïtian national division. Supported by scholarships of indigenous studies and current analysis, she elucidates how a false consciousness can be overcome to reclaim cultural identity and pride, and include a sociocultural, national educational program, and political platform that embraces traditional needs in a global context of mutual respect. While shredding the western adages, and within an indigenous model of understanding, this book purposefully brings forth the struggle of the African people in Haïti.


Afro-Christiano-Haitiano-Voodoo

Afro-Christiano-Haitiano-Voodoo

Author: Yves G. Moreau

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2016-09-12

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1514489503

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Some Library of Congress Representatives placed AFRO-CHRISTIANO-HAITIANO-Voodoo (A. C. H. V.) under the category of scientific work! Ms. Barrett (Literary Agent) acknowledged A. C. H. V.s objectivity! Writers Literary Agency Representatives like the concept and found it unique. Mr. C. H. Dodd Peters said "a tradition may undergo alteration or distortion in the course of long transmission by word-of-mouth. . . . When . . . written, stands substantially unaltered; . . . test and control it by a careful and critical study of the documents which caught and fixed it at the earliest accessible stage of development [1]." In order to prevent alteration or distortion, one put in writing some of the elements found in voodoo (i.e., songs, prayers, tales, etc) that initiates and non-initiates heard. In passing, I did not intend to reveal any secrets initiates kept. We strived to come to call voodoo AFRO-CHRISTIANO-HAITIANO. This project became important to me after learning from several sources some people have been looking for anti-Christ elements to destroy them. I planned to make necessary repairs. * * * We intended to present some questions many voodooists posed about voodoo and to transmit objective responses through AFRO-CHRISTIANO-HAITIANO-Voodoo (A. C. H. V.). One aimed at confirming the responses with studies conducted and empirical data; honoring voodooists who did not question voodoo. One worked to sustain the faith of those persons and to perpetuate the words of God. One aimed at proving that God exists. This specially came to be more important when I heard on the radio (U. S. A.) most "baby boomers" asked whether God existed or not; if they have worked on Earth in vain. Here, one planed to honor the major and minor spirits. My work differs from the books of DOKTOR Snake (VOODOO SPELLBOOK) and Mrs. Denise Alvarado (THE VOODOO HOODOO SPELL BOOK). In their books, they paid attention to spells. I paid attention to spells and other matters in my book. Mrs. Catherine YRONWODE's work entailed herb and root virtues or their inclusion in magic. (The title of her book is HOODOO HERB AND ROOT MAGIC.) I paid attention to magic and other matters in book. Mr. Milo RIGAUD's SECRETS OF VOODOO dealt with secrets of voodoo. Mine did not. I included hundreds of lyrics to voodoo songs in my work and they, at the very least, render it unique.


Haitian Vodou

Haitian Vodou

Author: Mambo Chita Tann

Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide

Published: 2012-02-08

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 0738731633

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Haitian Vodou is a fascinating spiritual tradition rich with ceremonies and magic, songs and prayers, dances and fellowship. Yet outside of Haiti, next to no one understands this joyous and profound way of life. ln Haitian Vodou, Mambo Chita Tann explores the historical roots and contemporary practices of this unique tradition, including discussions of: Customs, beliefs, sacred spaces, and ritual objects Characteristics and behaviors of the Lwa, the spirits served by Vodou practitioners Common misconceptions such as "voodoo dolls" and the zombie phenomenon Questions and answers for attending ceremonies and getting involved in a sosyete (Vodou house) Correspondence tables, Kreyol glossary, supplemental prayer texts, and an extensive list of reference books and online resources Well-researched, comprehensive, and engaging, Haitian Vodou will be a welcome addition for people new to Haitian spirituality as well as for students, practitioners, and academics.


Bay Lodyans

Bay Lodyans

Author: Cécile Accilien

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2023-08-01

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 143849386X

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In Haitian Creole, bay lodyans means to tell stories to an audience, and more generally, to entertain. This book is the first to analyze popular contemporary Haitian films, looking especially at how they respond to the needs and desires of Haitian audiences in and beyond Haiti. Produced between 2000 and 2018 and largely shot with digital cameras and sometimes cellphones, these films focus on the complexities of community, nostalgia, belonging, identity, and the emotional landscapes of exile and diaspora. They reflect sociopolitical and cultural issues related to family, language, im/migration, religion, gender, sexuality, and economic hardship. Using storytelling and other less traditionally "academic" techniques, Cécile Accilien advances Haitian epistemological frameworks. Bay Lodyans integrates terms and concepts from Haitian culture, such as jerans and kafou (derived from the French words for "to manage" and "crossroads," respectively) and includes interviews with Haitian filmmakers, actors, and scholars in order to challenge the dominance of Western theoretical approaches and perspectives.


AIDS and Accusation

AIDS and Accusation

Author: Paul Farmer

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 9780520083431

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In this book ethnographic, historical and epidemiologic data are brought to bear on the subject of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Haiti. The forces that have helped to determine rates and pattern of spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are examined, as are social responses to AIDS in rural and urban Haiti, and in parts of North America. History and its calculus of economic and symbolic power also help to explain why residents of a small village in rural Haiti came to understand AIDS in the manner that they did. Drawing on several years of fieldwork, the evolution of a cultural model of AIDS is traced. In a small village in rural Haiti, it was possible to document first the lack of such a model, and then the elaboration over time of a widely shared representation of AIDS. The experience of three villagers who died of complications of AIDS is examined in detail, and the importance of their suffering to the evolution of a cultural model is demonstrated. Epidemiologic and ethnographic studies are prefaced by a geographically broad historical analysis, which suggests the outlines of relations between a powerful center (the United States) and a peripheral client state (Haiti). These relations constitute an important part of a political-economic network termed the "West Atlantic system." The epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean is reviewed, and the relation between the degree of involvement in the West Atlantic system and the prevalence of HIV is suggested. It is further suggested that the history of HIV in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas is similar to that documented here for Haiti.


Occult Investigator

Occult Investigator

Author: Bob Johnson

Publisher: eBookIt.com

Published: 2013-02

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1456601865

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"Occult Investigator, Real Cases from the Files of X-Investigations," chronicles author and private detective Bob Johnson's REAL-WORLD experiences investigating all manner of paranormal and occult events. He is the founder of the world's only occult and paranormal investigation firm - X-Investigations, that's affiliated with a licensed New York City private investigations company. Unlike the myriad "ghost busting" teams that garner media attention for their "scary photos and creepy sound recordings," Johnson and X-Investigations first uses its PI resources to verify if a case warrants any kind of actual occult solutions and if so confronts the events face-to-face using clairvoyant and proven ritualistic methods. Their company credo: "We Face Your Fears." He's the Sam Spade of ghosts, witches, demons and things that scare the hell out of you at night who's studied under preeminent ghost hunter Hans Holzer. That's the best way to describe the protagonist and real-life pilgrim of the night as he and his voluptuous Czech sidekick, Silvana recount their adventures into the supernatural around the globe. The author, takes you on a roller coaster ghost busting ride across the country and even into the dark woods of Transylvania (that's right, in Romania). In eleven riveting chapters, written in a hard-boiled detective staccato style, the X-Investigations team reveals the details of their most frightening and in some ways totally unexplained occult cases. Unlike the myriad "paranormal" investigations and ghost hunting books on the market, Occult Investigator tackles more bizarre challenges including a computer cursed by black magick, a vampire teen who has a blood sucking psychic link with his spitting-image cousin, the werewolf of Van Nuys, California, killer cats, Satanic neighbors in a Manhattan apartment, and our favorite, a sexually crazed succubus housewife who blames demons for her insatiable cravings!


Village on the Edge

Village on the Edge

Author: Michael French Smith

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2002-06-30

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9780824826093

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Kragur village lies on the rugged north shore of Kairiru, a steep volcanic island just off the north coast of Papua New Guinea. In 1998 the village looked much as it had some twenty-two years earlier when author Michael French Smith first visited. But he soon found that changing circumstances were shaking things up. Village on the Edge weaves together the story of Kragur villagers' struggle to find their own path toward the future with the story of Papua New Guinea's travails in the post-independence era. Smith writes of his own experiences as well, living and working in Papua New Guinea and trying to understand the complexities of an unfamiliar way of life. To tell all these stories, he delves into ghosts, magic, myths, ancestors, bookkeeping, tourism, the World Bank, the Holy Spirits, and the meaning of progress and development. Village on the Edge draws on the insights of cultural anthropology but is written for anyone interested in Papua New Guinea.