The Idea of Vodou in Haitian Thought, Literature, Music, and Art

Call for Book Chapters:

Vodou: I Remember: The Idea of Vodou in Haitian Thought, Literature, Music, and Art, edited by Celucien L. Joseph and Nixon S. Cleophat

Deadline: 23 May 2014

If you would like to contribute to this important volume, along with your CV, please submit a 300 word abstract to celucienjoseph@gmail.com or nc2295@columbia.edu 

Please send original and unpublished essays for this book. Successful applicants will be notified before the end of June 2014.

Since its creation in the New World, arguably, it can be said that the Afro-Haitian Religion of Vodou—as a “Haitian genius”—has been represented as an “unsettling faith” and even a “cultural paradox” throughout Haitian history—from 17th century colonial Saint-Domingue to 21st century postcolonial Haiti—as expressed in Haitian literature, thought, law, politics, painting, and Haitian art. An “idea” of Vodou has emerged from each of these cultural symbols and representations, and intellectual expressions. The Vodouist discourse not only pervades every aspect of the Haitian life and experience, it has had a momentous impact on the evolution of Haitian intellectual, aesthetic, and literary imagination as well as on Haitian theological discourse.  In addition, with the emergence of and great interest in Haitian studies in North America, the need to explore all dimensions of the Haitian life and writing, particularly of the Haitian religious experience in Vodou, is critical and important for current and future scholarship, as well as for students of culture, history, and religion.

Consequently, an open invitation goes out to interested scholars and writers to contribute a book chapter to a new volume tentatively called Vodou: I Remember: The Idea of Vodou in Haitian Thought, Literature, Music, and Art. This project is interdisciplinary both in nature and content. The goal is to explore how Haitian writers, artists, cultural critics, intellectuals, and theologians have imagined and engaged the Vodou religion and spirituality, and correspondingly, constructed their own ideas of the Afro-Haitian Religion. The emphasis of this volume is on “the idea and representation of Vodou.”  The contributor should be mindful of the cultural, socio-economic, and political context which gave birth to different visions and ideas of Vodou. The book is divided in four parts as follows: Part I: Vodou and Haitian intellectuals and cultural critics, Part II: Vodou and Haitian Women, Part III:Vodou and Haitian Theologians, and Part IV: Vodou and Haitian art, painting, (folkloric) dance, and music (mizik rasin [“roots music”]).

Potential topics to be addressed include (but are not limited to) the following:

Part I        Vodou and Haitian intellectuals and Cultural Critics

  • Jean Price-Mars
  • Jacques Roumain
  • Dantes Bellegarde
  • Justin Chrysostome (J.C.) Dorsainvil
  • François Duvalier
  • Louis Diaquoi
  • Lorimer Denis
  • Carl Brouard
  • Jacques Stephen Alexis
  • Milo Rigaud
  • René Dépestre
  • Frankétienne (Franck Étienne)
  • Max Beauvoir
  • Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
  • Félix Morisseau-Leroy
  • Lyonel Trouillot
  • Dany Laferrière
  • etc.

Part II       Vodou and Haitian Women

  • Marie Vieux-Chauvet
  • Paulette Poujol Oriol
  • Gertrude Florentine Félicitée Ida (Ida Faubert)
  • Carole Demesmin
  • Claudine Michel
  • Edwidge Danticat
  • Myriam J.A. Chancy
  • Évelyne Trouillot
  • Mimerose Beaubrun
  • Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique
  • etc.

Part II       Vodou and Haitian Theologians

  • Jean-Bertrand Aristide
  • Gérard Jean-Juste
  • Laënnec Hurbon
  • Fritz Fontus
  • Jules Casséus
  • Jean Fils Aimé

 

Message adapted from CFP announcement.