“The Sacred Music and Dance of Haitian Vodou from Temple to Stage and the Ethics of Representation” – Lois Wilcken

This article talks about the development of the music and dance of Haitian Vodou (specifically in Brooklyn) as well as how it should be expressed and whether or not the current method of representing the art form is ethical. Vodou is introduced as revolving around the dance. The dance is a series of greetings to spirit nations that follows a ritual order and is often considered a “meditation.” It is also characterized by a call-and-response structure, which emphasizes collective needs, as well as drumming to create a rhythm and antirhythm (or opposing rhythm).

The Vodou dance is often compared to theater and drama; indeed, the modern staging of the music and dance is a recent development in Vodou’s representation. The earliest accounts of Haitian Vodou come from the accounts of missionaries in the late 1700s as they recount slave dances. However, the accounts cast the slaves in a negative light (as primitive and savage). As a result, many of the elite (in a way) dismissed Vodou as a side effect of black spirituality and that of the oppressed. Later, this mindset was partly used to rationalize the United States’ occupation of Haiti in the early 1900s. This led to a misrepresentation of Vodou called the “voodoo” and eventually led to the idea of the “zombie.” In the latter half of the 1900s, La Troupe Makandal fought for a more authentic representation of Haitian Vodou. However, this movement suffered as there were disagreements on the method of representation of Vodou, and some had outdated views on authentically representing Vodou, thus limiting its identity.

The author concludes by saying that the representation of Vodou has been “monopolized” by privileged foreigners and Haitian intellectuals. As a result, it is argued that “asymmetries of power permeate cross-cultural encounters,” and, thus, representation has failed to include the voices of the oppressed.

I have to say that this article was very interesting. In particular, I was not aware that the term “voodoo” actually stemmed from a misrepresentation of Haitian Vodou. This misrepresentation seemed to stem from the image of Vodou that was promoted: that of a savage and barbaric spirituality. What was also very interesting was that the concept of the “zombie” also originated from this misrepresentation. According to the article, it stems from the concept of the “zonbi, the soulless body of ancient legend.” This is particularly interesting because the concept of the zombie can be found in many areas of pop culture today.

It may very well be because of this misrepresentation that the long history of Vodou is not as generally well known. I certainly did not know much (if anything) about Haitian Vodou before reading this article. Thus, it seems that the only way to remedy the effects of such a misrepresentation is to inform people about its past.