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