Lois Wilcken’s The Sacred Music and Dance of Haitian Vodou From Temple to Stage and the Ethics of Representation discusses the misrepresentation of Vodou in media, and how it is actually a form of healing. It is believed that through the practice of lave tet, the washing of one’s head, will acknowledge the lwa (spirit in one’s head) and allow them to speak and dance. This becomes a performance for others to watch and play music to, following a two and three drumming pattern, creating a kase or anti-rhythm for the lwa to dance to. In history, when missionaries made note of these performances, they described them with ethnocentric ideals and in pejorative terms. In addition to that, when enslaved people practiced vodou themselves, those in power felt threatened by the possibility that the congregations could be the enslaved people plotting to overthrow them, so vodou was viewed and presented negatively by them. Without the privilege of literacy, Haitians who practice vodou do not get a chance to represent themselves properly in media. Even when Haitians get a chance to show and explain it, there is a fear that others will exploit and criticize their practices. In addition to that, the other problem is performing their practices in a way that appeases those who want to watch it in 60 to 90 minutes, when the real event could take hours. I agree that the lack of representation for vodou in media is still a problem because I was quite unfamiliar with vodou before reading this article. In the past I have only watched movies such as Princess and the Frog that included two different forms of vodou in the plot, but did not go in depth as to how it truly is. Hopefully these practices will get the proper representation in media that they deserve in the near future.
-Isabella Huang