African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Between 1710 and 1810 over a million slaves (principally of Fon, Aja, Nago, Mahi, Ayizo, and Gedevi descent) were exported on English, French, and Portuguese..." (more)
Key Phrases: lise tree, bocio arts, ropier tree, Republic of Benin, Suzanne Preston Blier, Ben Heller (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The popular conception of voodoo includes drums in the night, pincushion dolls, and magical tales of zombies and ghouls. In scholarly contrast, Blier has examined vodun-which West African residents of Togo and Benin define as the forces of powers that govern the world and the lives of all who reside there-through an exhaustive analysis of bochio, the small wooden sculptures invested with a host of attributes and powers by their makers and owners. Amply illustrated and copiously footnooted, this study provides a fascinating view of a belief systems carried to the New World by West African slaves. Written as an art historical exploration of the bochio sculptures, this book will also be a valuable research base for readers interested in religion and cultural interchange between Africa and the Americas. For academic collections.
David McClelland, Temple Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Blier has compiled an extraordinarily detailed and complex study of the vodun art of two West African countries, Benin and Togo. Her thorough analysis begins with an extended discussion of the philosophy of vodun that includes an intriguing set of possible etymologies of the word itself. The upshot is that vodun teaches "patience, calmness, respect, and order"--acceptance, that is, of what life brings--but it is not fatalistic. While composure is valued, so is action, and that's where ritual and the making and using of vodun art objects enter the picture. Vodun sculptures fall into two categories: the bochio, which are figurative, and the bo, which are objects, sometimes called fetishes or gris-gris. Neither are concerned with beauty, but, instead, focus on the grotesque, the unfathomable, and the frightful. Constructed of a broad range of raw materials, including wood, cloth, feathers, fur, straw, pottery, cowries, chains, bones, and even blood, these sculptures are activated or empowered for use in healing, protection, or effecting change. Blier's examination of the entire, often mysterious history of vodun arts from both cultural and psychological perspectives is, in a word, definitive. Donna Seaman

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 486 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (March 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226058581
• ISBN-13: 978-0226058580
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,423,175 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Look Under The Surface, July 13, 2006

By	D. A. Graham "Student of Thoughts" (Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power (Paperback)

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.