Just as surely as Haiti is "possessed" by the gods and spirits of vaudun (voodoo), the island "possessed" Katherine Dunham when she first went there in 1936 to study dance and ritual. In this book, Dunham reveals how her anthropological research, her work in dance, and her fascination for the people and cults of Haiti worked their spell, catapulting her into experiences that she was often lucky to survive. Here Dunham tells how the island came to be possessed by the demons of voodoo and other cults imported from various parts of Africa, as well as by the deep class divisions, particularly between blacks and mulattos, and the political hatred still very much in evidence today. Full of the flare and suspense of immersion in a strange and enchanting culture, Island Possessed is also a pioneering work in the anthropology of dance and a fascinating document on Haitian politics and voodoo.
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Mention Haiti, and images of poor and battered refugees risking their lives attempting to reach America, or a barren Caribbean island prone to military coups and hideous zombies, come to mind. But when anthropologist-choreographer Katherine Dunham first traveled to Haiti in 1936 to study the country's dance traditions, she fell in love with the people and their culture. Island Possessed, originally published in 1969, captures Dunham's experiences of the island's intricate voodoo religious dances and customs; the friction between the black peasants and the mulatto elites; and the brutal dictatorships that have plagued the nation. Of her three-day initiation into the voodoo religion as a "bride" to the Haitian serpent god Damballah, she writes, "My feeling was closer to belonging to something all-encompassing than I have ever known since." Called by the Haitian people "Mama Katherine," Dunham has contributed a humane and comprehensive overview of the world's first black republic. --Eugene Holley Jr.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This book is awesome,
By Mike Rock (Austin, Tx United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Island Possessed (Paperback)
Manbo Dunham is a good writer and her prose flows as she talks about her sojourn in Haiti and the religious and political and other figures she interacts with there. This book is of especial interest for her description of the 3-day initiation called the lave tet [or sevis tet or kanzwe depending on where you are and who you ask], which is less well known than the more popular modern kanzo rite initiation centered in Potoprens and other urban centers in Haiti and the Diaspora.
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
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This review is from: Island Possessed (Paperback)
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It was with letters from Melville Herskovits, head of the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University, that I invaded the Caribbean-Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, passing lightly over the other islands, then Haiti again for the final stand for the real study. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hounci canzo, pot tête, mapou tree, pots têtes, poteau mitan, altar objects, sacrificial food, head pots Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dumarsais Estimé, New York, Habitation Leclerc, Hotel Excelsior, Pont Beudette, Marie Claudine, United States, Rex Theatre, Mardi Gras, Melville Herskovits, Dunham Company, Papa Guedé, Paul Magloire, Aida Ouedo, Boss Meus, Congo Moundong, Fred Alsop, John Pratt, Baron Samedi, Kyona Beach, Madame Ezméry, François Duvalier, Madame la Présidente, President of Haiti, Santo Domingo New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It was with letters from Melville Herskovits, head of the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University, that I invaded the Caribbean-Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, passing lightly over the other islands, then Haiti again for the final stand for the real study. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hounci canzo, pot tête, mapou tree, pots têtes, poteau mitan, altar objects, sacrificial food, head pots Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dumarsais Estimé, New York, Habitation Leclerc, Hotel Excelsior, Pont Beudette, Marie Claudine, United States, Rex Theatre, Mardi Gras, Melville Herskovits, Dunham Company, Papa Guedé, Paul Magloire, Aida Ouedo, Boss Meus, Congo Moundong, Fred Alsop, John Pratt, Baron Samedi, Kyona Beach, Madame Ezméry, François Duvalier, Madame la Présidente, President of Haiti, Santo Domingo New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 4
books:
33
books
cite this book:
See all 33 books citing this book
- Magic Island by W. B. Seabrook on page 1, page 20, and page 220
- Citizen Toussaint by Ralph Korngold on page 158
- Thus Spake Zarathustra (Dover Thrift Editions) by Friedrich Nietzsche on page 117
- It Had to Be by Mary E. Hall on page 66
- Katherine Dunham: DANCING A LIFE by Joyce Aschenbrenner on 24 pages
- Women At Sea: Travel Writing and the Margins of Caribbean Discourse by Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert on 9 pages
- Sacred Possessions: Vodou, Santerφa, Obeah, and the Caribbean by Margarite Fernandez Olmos on 6 pages
- Between Anthropology and Literature by Rose De Angelis on 5 pages
- African-American Pioneers in Anthropology by Ira E Harrison on page 137, page 143, and page 152
See all 33 books citing this book
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