Benin's famed Voodoo festival draws back Afro-descendants


Issued on: 10/01/2023 

Some of the rituals of Benin's Voodoo followers took place at the Dah-Gbo Zonon convent in Ouidah

 © Yanick Folly / AFP

Ouidah (Benin) (AFP) – Every year in Benin, locals celebrate a festival in tribute to the deities of Voodoo, the indigenous religion worshipping natural spirits and revering their ancestors.

Increasingly, the festival is drawing people of African descent from America, Brazil and the Caribbean seeking to discover the religion and land of their ancestors enslaved and shipped away from the beaches of west Africa.

Voodoo, known locally as Vodoun, originated in the Dahomey kingdom -- present-day Benin and Togo -- and is still widely practised sometimes alongside Christianity in coastal towns like Ouidah, once a trading hub where memorials to the slave trade are dotted around the small beach settlement.

"We come here first to search for our origins and reconnect with Mother Earth," said Louis Pierre Ramassamy, 45, from Guadaloupe who was in Benin for the first time and visiting Ouidah.

He came to discover the Vodoun festival, but his stay goes beyond that.

He said he wants to follow the footsteps of his ancestors, who were taken from Ouidah centuries ago and to rediscover the divinity practised by his maternal grandmother.

Consultations and sacrifices were made for him in a Vodoun convent in Ouidah to help him reconnect, he said.

"If luck does not smile on me this time, I will come back another time. I need this reconnection for my personal development," the tourist told AFP, his camera focused on the movement of voodoo practitioners on Ouidah's imposing Atlantic Ocean beach.

Dozens of followers dressed in white cloth face the ocean each festival to pay hommage in Ouidah to Mami Wata, a goddess of the sea.

The festival included the traditional leader of the Vodoun, majesty Daagbo Hounon Houna II 

(C) © Yanick Folly / AFP

Accompanied by drums and dancing, followers dressed in colourful traditional robes and gowns watched "Zangbeto" rituals -- whirling dancers dressed as guardians of the night.

Nearby is an arch, the "Door of No Return", in memory of those jammed onto slave ships from Ouidah's beach bound for the New World.

"Our ancestors foresaw this return of Afro-descendants. They are eagerly awaited by the ghosts of our ancestors," said Hounnongan Viyeye Noumaze Gbetoton, one of the Vodoun dignitaries in Ouidah.

"When they return, it is to take blessings and recharge their batteries to move forward."

Brazilian Anaica Durand said she had passed this stage.

She managed to reconnect with her family of origin, the family of Almeida from Benin and is delighted with it.

January 10 has now become a moment of great festivity for her to revel in the songs, dances and celebrations around Vodoun.

'True identity'

Like her, Alexandra Bajeux is on her second stay in Ouidah. This year, she came to pay hommage to the Snake deity Dan.

"All the consultations revealed that it was the cult of my ancestors," she smiles, white loincloth tied at the waist.

Ouidah was once a slave trading hub and now a centre for the Voudon religion 

© Yanick Folly / AFP

The 29-year-old Haitian plans to settle in Ouidah to devote herself full-time to this religion.

"Dan is happiness and he is a source of wealth," said the young woman who swears "to have finally found the happiness that she lacked".

"Our major objective is that the indigenous culture never fades away... Sooner or later, all Afro-descendants will return to the fold. This is what our ancestors say," said Hounnongan Viyeye Noumaze Gbetoton.

Francis Ahouissoussi, a Benin sociologist specialising in religious issues, explains this attachment of descendants of African slaves as "a natural need that they must fill".

According to him, many Afro-descendants feel they "are in a permanent quest for their true identity", part of which is addressed for some by the role of Vodoun.

For Brazilian Ana Beatriz Akpedje Almeida it felt like she was connecting the deities she knew from Brazil and others and to her ancestors.

"I think most people from the diaspora can connect with this kind of knowledge," she said. "Voodoo is a perspective about humanity."

US visitor Chastyl told AFP it was also her first time in Benin.

"I have seen so many divinities and a lot of dancing," she said. "I don't have any family here, they are all in the United States, but obviously somewhere, we are from here."

© 2023 AFP


In Pictures

Photos: Benin’s famed Voodoo festival draws back Afro-descendants

The festival is drawing people of African descent to discover the religion and land of their enslaved ancestors.

Voodoo followers attend the festival in Ouidah, Benin. 

[Yanick Folly/AFP]

Published On 12 Jan 2023

Every year in Benin, locals celebrate a festival in tribute to the deities of Voodoo, the Indigenous religion that worships natural spirits and reveres ancestors.

Increasingly, the festival is drawing people of African descent from the US, Brazil and the Caribbean seeking to discover the religion and land of their ancestors who were enslaved and shipped away from the beaches of west Africa.

Voodoo, known locally as Vodoun, originated in the Dahomey kingdom – present-day Benin and Togo – and is still widely practised sometimes alongside Christianity in coastal towns like Ouidah, once a trading hub where memorials to the slave trade are dotted around the small beach settlement.

“We come here first to search for our origins and reconnect with Mother Earth,” said Louis Pierre Ramassamy, 45, from Guadaloupe who was in Benin for the first time and visiting Ouidah.

He came to discover the Vodoun festival, but his stay goes beyond that.

He said he wants to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors taken from Ouidah centuries ago and to rediscover the divinity practised by his maternal grandmother.

Consultations and sacrifices were made for him in a Vodoun convent in Ouidah to help him reconnect, he said.

“If luck does not smile on me this time, I will come back another time. I need this reconnection for my personal development,” said Ramassamy.

Dozens of followers dressed in white face the ocean in Ouidah each festival to pay homage to Mami Wata, a goddess of the sea.

Accompanied by drums and dancing, followers dressed in colourful traditional robes and gowns watched “Zangbeto” rituals – whirling dancers dressed as guardians of the night.

Nearby is an arch, the “Door of No Return”, in memory of those jammed onto slave ships from Ouidah’s beach bound for the New World.

“Our ancestors foresaw this return of Afro-descendants. They are eagerly awaited by the ghosts of our ancestors,” said Hounnongan Viyeye Noumaze Gbetoton, one of the Vodoun dignitaries in Ouidah.

“When they return, it is to take blessings and recharge their batteries to move forward.”

Anaica Durand, a Brazilian national, said she had managed to reconnect with her family of origin, the Almeidas from Benin, and is delighted.

January 10 has now become a moment of great festivity for her to revel in the songs, dances and celebrations around Vodoun.

The traditional leader of the Voodoo cult, His majesty Daagbo Hounon Houna II, left, greets the crowd during the festival. [Yanick Folly/AFP]

Every year in Benin, locals celebrate a festival in tribute to the deities of Voodoo, the Indigenous religion that worships natural spirits and reveres ancestors. [Yanick Folly/AFP]

Voodoo, known locally as Vodoun, originated in the Dahomey kingdom - present-day Benin and Togo. [Yanick Folly/AFP]

Voodoo is still widely practised, sometimes alongside Christianity, in coastal towns like Ouidah, once a trading hub where memorials to the slave trade are dotted around the small beach settlement. [Yanick Folly/AFP]

Voodoo followers pose for a portrait during the festival. [Yanick Folly/AFP]

The festival is drawing people of African descent from the US, Brazil and the Caribbean to discover the religion and land of their enslaved ancestors. [Yanick Folly/AFP]
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People drive on a motorcycle past the entrance to the city of Ouidah. [Yanick Folly/AFP]

Why Live & Let Die's Samedi Is James Bond's Only Supernatural Villain

BY PADRAIG COTTER

PUBLISHED FEB 23, 2021

The James Bond series' only real flirtation with the horror genre came with Live And Let Die's Baron Samedi, who is the spy's only supernatural foe.

Live And Let Die's Baron Samedi is James Bond's only supernatural foe - to date, at least. Despite James Bond author Ian Fleming favoring movie stars like David Niven for the role, a relatively unknown Scottish actor named Sean Connery landed the role of the suave spy in 1962's Dr. No. The success of the movie would lead to the creation of one of the longest-running franchises in movie history.

Since Sean Connery departed the role following 1967's You Only Live Twice - though he later returned for two further Bond outings - five other actors have inherited the role. While certain Bond movies are better than others, the series has the uncanny ability to adapt to each new generation and constantly reinvent itself. From the tongue-in-cheek fun of the Roger Moore era to the (relatively) grounded action of Daniel Craig's Bond, the franchise always manages to keep itself fresh.

Daniel Craig is set to exit the series with the upcoming No Time To Die, which will mark his fifth outing. The longest-serving actor in the James Bond role is still Roger Moore, who started with 1973's Live And Let Die and ended his run with 1985's A View To A Kill, his seventh time in the role. Moore's Bond went through a lot, from tossing Blofeld down a chimley to being shot into space, but he also faced the spy's only real supernatural foe in Geoffrey Holder's Baron Samedi in Live And Let Die.

Samedi is the Loa of the Dead and giver of life in Haitian Vodou religion, and in Live And Let Die the character is introduced dancing for tourists at a resort. This Baron is soon revealed to be something of a henchman for Yaphet Kotto's villain though, there's still something a little off about him - and it's not just his eerie laugh. His real nature is revealed in the finale, where Bond has to rescue Jane Seymour's Solitaire from being sacrificed at a voodoo ceremony.

Baron Samedi is seen rising from a grave, and James Bond later shoots him in the head with a magnum. His eyes are looking at the gaping wound in his own skull, and when Bond shoots again he crumbles like a clay figure. Another Samedi soon rises from another grave, and after a fight, Bond tosses him into a coffin loaded with snakes. That seems to be the end for Samedi in Live And Let Die, though he appears in the final shot of the movie - alive and well - sitting on the front of a train Bond and Solitaire are riding on.

While the James Bond franchise has dabbled with everything from space travel to invisible cars, it's very rarely touched on the supernatural or horror in general. Live And Let Die's Baron Samedi is a singular character in the franchise in this case, as the evidence seems to point to him being an otherworldly figure. He's literally introduced as "The man who cannot die," and the finale bears this out. It could be argued he's still a flesh and blood man - maybe Bond really did shoot a very lifelike Baron Samedi figure, or that snakes in the coffin weren't poisonous after all. The franchise never returned to the character so there's no definitive answer, though it's more fun to think he is the literal incarnation of the Voodoo God of Death.

Haitians hold voodoo rituals to honor ancestors amid crisis





Voodoo followers celebrate the Day of the Dead, in Port-au-Prince

Gessika Thomas
Tue, November 2, 2021

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitians honored their ancestors to mark the Day of the Dead on Tuesday in colorful voodoo rituals that offered a respite from the tough day-to-day reality of fuel shortages, gang violence and rising malnutrition.

Voodoo followers in the Caribbean nation gathered in cemeteries, many dressed in white and some with their faces covered in white powder, to sing and dance as part of rituals that involve communing with ancestral spirits.

"Voodoo, if you want to define it, is the means at your disposal to establish harmony between you and everything that surrounds you, both visible and invisible," said Carl-Henry Desmornes, the religion's "ATI" or supreme leader, in an interview.

More than half of Haiti's 11 million people are believed to practice voodoo, a religion brought from West Africa by enslaved men and women and practiced clandestinely under French colonial rule.

It is closely identified with the struggle against slavery in Haiti, which declared independence from France in 1804 following what is widely considered the world's only successful slave revolt.

Voodoo followers celebrate the Day of the Dead in Port-au-Prince

"Despite the difficulties caused by the lack of gasoline, people have made the trip to the cemetery. As I speak, my car is out of gas," said Valcin Antoine, a voodoo priest or "ougan" known as "Toutou," who led a ceremony on Monday at a cemetery in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-ville.

"We are not afraid when we do the work of the spirits, they protect us."



For decades voodoo has been portrayed in Western films as a black magic cult, but it was officially recognized as a religion by Haiti's government in 2003 under President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haiti has for nearly two weeks suffered severe fuel shortages. Gang blockades have prevented trucks from reaching fuel terminals, forcing some businesses to shut their doors and hospitals to limit services.

A wave of gang kidnappings, including the abduction last month of a group of American and Canadian missionaries, has spurred local outrage and led several transport industry groups to call general strikes.

(Reporting by Gessika Thomas in Port-au-Prince; Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Richard Chang)

ZOMBIES

Capitalism Never Says “until Death Do Us Part”

ZOMBIES REALLY EXIST.

To find them you must travel to the western third of the island of Hispaniola. Here, you will find the country of Haiti. The first free black (Afro-Caribbean) republic in the world. A country that won its independence from France, then the most powerful country in Europe, by defeating Napoleon's Army in 1804. So while other West Indian nations were evolving under the careful eye of European land owners, Haiti pursued its own path. And having achieved independence at such an early date, Haiti has invented a culture that is unique in the world. A culture built through the syncretism of various African beliefs in conjunction with Native West Indian Taino and European influences. An all encompassing element of the culture is religion. Usually spelled "Voodoo" (though the actual pronunciation is closer to vodoun) these are actually the ceremonies in which practitioners are possessed by the loa, the spirits. As in all religions there exists a tension between good and evil. Most vodoun has little to do with sorcery and black magic. Zombies, however, are one of the exceptions.

ZOMBIES A GO-GO

by John Maxwell, September 26, 2004,

Haiti's history of haplessness began more than 200 years ago when a Jamaican runaway slave called Bouckman lit the spark that fired the Haitian revolution. Bouckman, despite being a giant of a man, a born leader and probably a Muslim (think terrorist) did not survive to see the fruits of the revolution. He was betrayed, captured and his head stuck on a pike to discourage the others -perhaps a primitive attempt at exorcising demonic ideas of freedom and liberty from the revolutionaries.

It didn't work. The Haitians went on to defeat the French colonial forces, then defeated a British expeditionary force and then defeated a French expeditionary army under Napoleon's brother-in-law, killing some 60,000 Frenchmen in the process.

Before that the Haitians had fought alongside the American revolutionaries to help them throw the British out of the American colonies. Haitian help was crucial in at least two battles in which British power was broken - at Savannah, Georgia and at Yorktown.

In addition to all that, the Haitian revolution made another massive contribution to the new American nation: in defeating France, the Haitians exhausted the French treasury to the point where Napoleon had to sell Louisiana to the US or risk losing it to the British. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the US.

So, if the Haitians contributed so much to American independence and development, why is it that in their extremity of grief and suffering, the United States treats the Haitians so meanly? Originally, when the scale of the current disaster became known, the United States, the richest country in the world, offered about US $60,000 for Haitian relief. Venezuela offered $1 million, Trinidad and Tobago earmarked US $5 million while the European Union pledged US$ 1.8 million. Somewhat abashed, the US raised its pledge to US $2 million. In the US itself, where the damage has been far less severe, the federal government alone is contributing more than $6 billion in hurricane relief.

Charity, of course, begins at home or perhaps, it is simply another case of Haitian haplessness. But it must be said, however discreetly, that the United States has had a great deal to do with the current Haitian propensity to catastrophe, by destroying Haitian governments, Haitian infrastructure economic and social, and by policies which have reduced Haiti almost to a desert.

The United States and Britain refused to recognize Haiti after it declared independence The US made recognition conditional on the former colonial power, France, recognizing Haiti's autonomy. At that time, of course, the United States was busy titrating the humanity of blacks and came to the conclusion that a black was 60% human and therefore not entitled to all the rights of Man. And Liberty was as dangerous then as socialism was in the twentieth century.

Three-fifths Human

Oddly, the French, the Americans and the Haitians had all been inspired by the Enlightenment and Tom Paine's codification of the Rights of man. But only the Haitian revolution recognized all those rights. In the US blacks and women, for instance, had to wait more than a century to reach the status guaranteed to Haitians. France and the US maintained slavery more than 50 years after Haiti abolished it.

With the British and the US playing hard-ball on the recognition question, France felt able to demand that the Haitians should pay cash for their freedom. In Jamaica and other British colonies, the state paid the slave-owners compensation. In Haiti the former slaves paid twice, in blood and in treasure. When they had trouble paying back the French the kindly American bankers came to Haiti's rescue. We will lend you the money to pay off your debt, they said, and Haiti achieved another first becoming the first Third world debtor nation.

That debt was eventually paid off more than a century later- the last payment was in 1947. In the meantime it had caused Haiti the most extreme distress, wrecked her infrastructure and destroyed her independence. What the metropolitan countries could not achieve by conquest, they achieved by compound interest.

Early in the last century, the Americans became a little dissatisfied with Haitian repayment of their debt, and that led to an immediate increase in Haitian haplessness. The US invaded, changed their constitution, took away their land, chopped down their trees to plant sisal, logwood, coffee and pineapple and destroyed the agricultural base of the country. After they left officially in 1935, however, the Americans bequeathed Haiti an armed force which was corrupt, cruel, ungovernable and in thrall to the US. It guaranteed that any Haitian President either obeyed Washington or went into exile. In 1947 Dumarsais Estimé, said to be a socialist, was deposed after a couple of years. That began a period of dictatorship distinguished chiefly by American support for the ruthless Duvalier and his inane son, Baby Doc.

During the US occupation (1915 to 1935) the Haitians tried to throw the occupiers out, only to be bombed and strafed in a eerie foretaste of the fascist bombing of Guernica during the Spanish civil war. Nobody made much of the Haitian version, because, after all, what were they but a bunch of "Niggers speaking French" as they were described by William Jennings Bryan, one of Colin Powell's predecessors as US Secretary of State. The Haitian resistance leader, Charlemagne Peralte, was like Bouckman, betrayed, murdered and his head exhibited to discourage the others.
History repeats itself in Haiti, but never as farce.

VOODOO QUEEN

New Orleans had been owned by the French from 1718 to 1762, then by the Spanish until 1803 when it became French again. It was then brought under the American flag through the Louisiana Purchase.

Voodoo had been present in the city before Laveau came upon the scene, but attempts had been made by the authorities to suppress it. In 1782, for example, the Spanish governor Bernardo Galvez forbade the importation of slaves from Martinique because of its people's belief in Voodoo. Additionally, Baron de Carondelet, Spanish governor in New Orleans from 1792 to 1797, fearing the continued spread of Voodoo and also the possibility of slave revolt, disallowed the import of slaves from Santo Domingo. Eventually, a slave revolt would expel European control in Haiti. However, when the Americans came to control New Orleans in 1803, the restriction on slave importation was canceled. Additionally, an influx of free immigrants from Saint Domingue brought 5,000 people, free and slave, to New Orleans from the start of American rule until 1810. Soon, Voodoo began to flourish in American New Orleans.

The French and the Spanish placed severe restrictions on Voodoo practice as well as the limited freedoms allowed for slaves in Colonial New Orleans. The slaves, most of whom had just been directly transported from the West Coast of Africa or the Caribbean, suffered extremely harsh treatment. When not working under the lash, they were confined in buildings or in chains. Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, conditions for slaves improved to some extent. Slaves were given Sunday as a day off from labor, and they also had other limited free time at night and on some religious holidays.

On Sundays the slaves were allowed to assemble at an open field near Orleans Street and Rampart Street behind the Quarter, an area which over time had many names -- Circus Public Square, Place des Negres, and even Beauregard Square after the Civil War, in honor of P.G.T. Beauregard, a Confederate general from New Orleans. But the locale's most famous title was Congo Plains (meaning the entire grounds), or Congo Square (meaning a smaller, more frequented portion of the field).

At Congo Square the slaves performed many traditional African dances, including the Bamboula, to the beat of primitive drums. They may have even performed some Voodoo rituals as well, including the worship of Damballa, the Snake god. Although some sources claim no Voodoo worship per se was held in Congo Square, it is clear that this area was a place reserved for the free expression of African culture and customs, especially dancing to the music of the drums. And although the historical record is cloudy, it is possible that some aspects of Voodoo ceremonies were performed there.

Saint Domingue (Haiti), the western part of the once-Spanish island called Hispanola where Columbus had landed, was a colony of France. It produced coffee and sugar under the sweat and blood of imported African slaves. These slaves were brutally treated, and they kept themselves alive only with the aid of their religion. The Yoruba tribe in western Africa was largely responsible for carrying the belief in Vodu to the new world. (Voodoo was also known as Vodu or Vodun.)

In Saint Domingue, the Voodoo priests (or "houngans") and the paid-priests (or "bokors") had used Voodoo charms and potions as a form of biological warfare against the French who enslaved them, even poisoning their food supply on occassion. The Voodoo priests also drugged slaves who had betrayed the cause of slave revolution with Voodoo concoctions from natural herbs and from animal parts and held them as slaves. This is possibly the origin of the zombie.

The zombie was a resurrected body without a soul -- a social outcast who served the will of the Voodoo master. Supposedly, the zombie was raised from the dead, without free will or a soul. However, one modern theory is that the zombie never really died but was the victim of a drug. This Voodoo concoction is believed to have consisted of carefully selected herbs and animal parts, especially from the puffer fish, which contains a neurotoxin that causes a type of paralysis in the nervous system. The Voodoo priest also knew how to apply an antidote which could "resurrect" the zombie, but keep him dazed enough to be easily controlled. Most people, however, did not have the "magical" knowledge of the Voodoo priest. They believed the zombie was actually the living dead, a soulless body returned from the grave. Historically, Voodoo priests used to induce zombiism as a punishment for criminals; additionally, bokors could make someone into a zombie for a fee.

This belief of zombies weaved its way to New Orleans from Haiti as well, although zombies were not known in the Yoruba tribe in Africa. The belief in actual zombies was not as strong in New Orleans as in Haiti, but the term Zombi as certainly used in rituals, as evidenced by Marie Laveau's snake whose name (spoken in a Caribbean French patois) was Li Grand Zombi.

HAITI HISTORY

The Middle Class

The middle class was essentially nonexistent during the nineteenth century. But at about the time of the United States occupation (1915-34), it became more defined. The creation of a professional military and the expansion of government services fostered the development of Haiti's middle class. Educational reform in the 1920s, an upsurge in black consciousness, and the wave of economic prosperity after World War II also contributed to the strengthening of the class. In the late 1980s, the middle class probably made up less than 5 percent of the total population, but it was growing, and it was becoming more politically powerful.
The mulatto elite dominated governments in the 1930s and the early 1940s and thwarted the political aspirations of the black middle class. President Dumarsais Estimé (1946-50) came to power with the aim of strengthening the middle class. The Duvalier government also claimed the allegiance of the black middle class, at least through the 1970s. During the Duvalier period, many in the middle class owed their economic security to the government. A number of individuals from this class, however, benefited from institutionalized corruption.
Some members of the middle class had acquired political power by the 1980s, but most continued to be culturally ambivalent and insecure. Class solidarity, identity, and traditions were all weak. The criteria for membership in the middle class included a nonmanual occupation, a moderate income, literacy, and a mastery of French. Middle-class Haitians sought upward mobility for themselves and their children, and they perceived education and urban residence as two essential keys to achieving higher status. Although they attempted to emulate the lifestyle of the upper class, middle-class Haitians resented the social preeminence and the color prejudice of the elite. Conflicts between the Franco Haitian and the Afro-Haitian cultural traditions were most common among the middle class.

The Tonton Makout Network

The Duvalier dynasty held power longer than any other regime in Haitian history. The duration of the dynasty enabled the thorough entrenchment of Duvalierist institutions and the development of a patronage system. One of the more important of these institutions was the VSN. After the VSN's dissolution, former tonton makout leaders remained at large, and some were politically active throughout the post-Duvalier period. The old makout networks also continued to function within the army. As of 1989, they were the main obstacle to free, fair, and popular elections in Haiti, and thet were the most significant threat to domestic security.

Through the VSN, the Duvalier regime had politicized rural Haiti. The VSN had expanded the president's influence to remote areas, and it had incorporated rural Haiti into a political system once limited almost exclusively to Port-au-Prince. The VSN had assured political control of the hinterlands, but it had given peasants no new voice in the political process. It had created a rural awareness of Port-au-Prince and events there, however, a consciousness of the national political system, and new political aspirations. The VSN had engendered a generalized disrespect for political institutions, and it had heightened expectations of profit from the political system.

Labour

Haiti's 1989 labor force was estimated at 2.8 million people. The economically active population (those over age ten), however, represented more than half of the country's total 6.1 million population. Forty-two percent of the official work force was female, ranking the country's female participation as one of the highest among developing countries. In rural areas, however, the role of women in production and commerce was apparently much greater than these statistics indicated.

The distribution of the labor force by economic sector from 1950 to 1987 reflected a shift from agriculture to services, with some growth in industry. Despite these changes, agriculture continued to dominate economic activity in the 1980s, employing 66 percent of the labor force; it was followed by services, 24 percent, and industry, 10 percent. Based on these figures, Haiti continued to be the most agrarian, and the least industrial, society in the Western Hemisphere. The country's employment of only 50,000 salaried workers in 1988 was further evidence of the traditional character of the work force.

Statistics on employment and the methodologies used to gather such data varied widely; most unemployment figures were only estimates. In 1987 the United States Department of Labor estimated that Haiti's unemployment rate was 49 percent. Other estimates ranged from 30 to 70 percent. Official unemployment was severe in Port-au-Prince, but comparatively low in rural areas, reflecting urban migration trends, rapid population growth, and the low number of skilled and semi-skilled workers.

Haiti established a labor code in 1961, but revised it in March 1984 to bring legislation more in line with standards set by the International Labour Office (ILO). Conformity with ILO guidelines was a prerequisite for certification under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI--see Appendix B) enacted by the United States Congress in 1983.

Haiti's most fundamental labor law, the minimum wage, was also the most controversial. Low wage rates attracted foreign assembly operations. In 1989 the average minimum wage stood at the equivalent of US$3 a day, with some small variations for different types of assembly work. The minimum wage in the late 1980s was below the 1970 level in real terms, but assembly manufacturers and government officials refused to increase wages because they needed to remain competitive with other Caribbean countries. Labor laws included an array of provisions protecting workers in the areas of overtime, holidays, night-shift work, and sick leave. The government, however, did not universally enforce many of these provisions. The greatest number of workers' complaints came from assembly plants where seasonal layoffs were common.

The Upper and the Middle Classes

The system of public and private monopolies, including parastatals and import-substitution industries, developed under the Duvaliers. These industries generated great wealth for a handful of powerful families in Port-au-Prince, which resulted in politicized economic decision making. This elite sector saw itself threatened by the fall of the Duvalier regime. Under interim rule, volatile competition arose among certain business interests and military factions. Key members of the business community backed Duvalierist presidential candidates who were likely to protect the lucrative business privileges established under the old regime.

Intermediary classes (those between the wealthy elite and the impoverished masses) grew significantly during the Duvalier era. François Duvalier's political strategy of appealing to the black middle class created a new constituency for political patronage, government employment, and the rapid accumulation of wealth through the political system. The growth of the black middle class was closely linked to the Duvalier era, and it contributed to the tremendous growth of Port-au-Prince after the 1950s.
The long-standing tendencies toward the centralization of wealth and of power in Port-au-Prince greatly increased during the Duvalier era. The income gap between upper and lower income groups widened, and rural areas suffered accordingly. Growing rural-to-urban migration, primarily to Port-au-Prince, and emigration, especially to the United States, also had an impact on the political environment and on aspirations for change. The Duvalier era saw an unprecedented level of emigration to North America along with smaller waves of emigration to other Caribbean countries, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Emigration had an important impact on Haitian politics. Emigrés maintained numerous fragmented political parties in exile. Emigration also caused huge sums of foreign currency to enter into the economy through remittances. It raised Haitians' consciousness of the outside world, and it led to easier upward social mobility for members of the new intermediary classes by alleviating competition for scarce jobs

VODOU AND HAITIAN POLITICS

Vodou and Haitian politics have influenced each other throughout the history of Haiti. The Haitian Revolution against France was empowered by Vodou - and it was the only successful slave revolt in west of the Atlantic, resulting in the first independent black republic in the Western Hemisphere!

Some Haitian administrations have persecuted Vodou, and in 1915-1934 the occupation of HaitiU.S. military made the eradication of Vodou a priority. Other Haitian administrations have tolerated Vodou, and still others, such as the murderous Duvalier dictatorships, subsidized and subverted the Vodou priesthood.

The United States political scene has sometimes been influenced by Vodou. Following the Haitian revolution the American government refused to recognized Haiti and organized a trade embargo, so great was the fear of rebellion and African religion among the U.S. African slave population. Later American administrations sought to suppress Vodou, and even recently affiliation with Vodou has been used to stigmatize Haitians when determining immigration, foreign aid, and public health policies.

Jesse Helms blocks reproductive health care for Haitian Vodouisants! Published Monday, March 15, 1999, in the Miami Herald: U.S. subsidizing witchcraft, Helms complains. Journalists quickly satirized the rabid Senator Helm's intolerance, and on March 23, 1999, Mat Honan wrote a piece carried on the MoJo Wire, titled Jesse Helms' Political Voodoo.

Three Protestant pastors were arrested at the historical site of Bois Caiman, Bwa Kayiman in Haitian Creole, for violating a court order banning them from the site, in order to avoid confrontations between Protestants and Vodouisants. The pastors had planned to "exorcise" the spirit of Haitian national hero, Houngan Boukman Dutty, from Bois Caiman, considered the birthplace of the Haitian Revolution. Bois Caiman was then declared a public trust by the Haitian government under President Rene Preval.

As the incident reverberated through Haiti, lines were drawn. On one side were the populist, pro-democracy organizations which were so severely persecuted under the Cedras military regime of 1991-1994. They have regenerated since the return of then-President Aristide in October 1994, and took the side of respect for the Vodouisant tradition. Allied with them were progressive international human rights professionals, and Vodouisants of all political affiliations. They pointed the finger of accusation at Protestant pastors and their right wing supporters, including the meddlesome American organization, the International Republican Institute (IRI). Haiti Progres, a progressive, left-of-center Haitian newspaper, has an English language editorial.

The De-Macoutization of Vodou is the most poignant issue facing Haitian Vodou today. Because the Vodou priesthood was protected, subsidized and later subverted by the dictatorships of Francois Duvalier and later his son Jean-Claude Duvalier, the feared Ton-Ton Macoutes and the Vodou clergy sometimes merged.

Slingshot! - the story of one pro-democracy Houngan's resistance against the military regime of 1991 - 1994.

"Antigang", by Johnson Aristide - a poem by one of the pro-democracy movement's most heroic activists; it uses Vodou imagery as it makes a plea for the victims and the perpetrators of human rights abuses.

Testimony of a Haitian Pro-Democracy Activist - the author above, Johnson Aristide, survived torture on three occasions, one of which he outlines here. by the

CLINTON’S VOODOO POLITICS

It turns out that in 1975 Bill and Hillary traveled to Haiti where a friend introduced them to Max Beauvoir, an influential Houngan, or Voodoo Priest. In Beauvoir's company, the young couple witnessed a ceremony in which two dazed and seemingly mindless people were animated by an unknown force.

On page 237 Clinton recalls the experience:

"The man proceeded to rub a burning torch all over his body and walk on hot coals without being burned. The woman, in a frenzy, screamed repeatedly, then grabbed a live chicken and bit its head off."

Taking pains to be sensitive, Clinton describes the zombie's behavior as a kind of religious ecstasy, but this explanation smacks of liberal expansiveness; a reader can’t help but to wonder if something more sinister was afoot.

Clinton is no stranger to Voodoo Zombies, and in My Life he cites the findings of Wade Davis, a Harvard professor who developed a pharmacological theory of zombiefication, and published a popular book on the subject. In The Serpent and The Rainbow Davis concluded that zombies were a kind of walking vegetable, bound by powerful poisons to serve the whims of secret societies, and Clinton seems to subscribe to this theory. See How are Zombies Made?

"I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE"

by Inez Wallace

The natives of Haiti maintain that today there are zombies working in the cane fields, around lonely houses on the island, and some say that these mysterious dead workers exist even in the most populated cities. One may know them because, except in rare instances, they never talk, and they stare always straight ahead of them. If one is not certain he will know if he offers the suspected one some salted food, for the zombie may not taste salt, or he will know at once that he is dead, and will make his living corpse return to the grave no matter where it is, and no one can stop it!

HAITI RELIGION

Folk belief includes zombies and witchcraft. Zombies are either spirits or people whose souls have been partially withdrawn from their bodies. Some Haitians resort to bokò, who are specialists in sorcery and magic. Haiti has several secret societies whose members practice sorcery

"Evidence suggests that zombification is a form of social sanction imposed by recognized corporate bodies--the poorly known and clandestine secret Bizango societies--as one means of maintaining order and control in local communities."

François Duvalier recruited voodoo specialists to serve as tonton makouts to help him control all aspects of Haitian life. Duvalier indicated that he retained power through sorcery, but because voodoo is essentially a family-based cult, Duvalier failed to politicize the religion to any great extent.

ZOMBIES

The voodoo religion involves belief in a supreme god (bon dieu) and a host of spirits called loa which are often identified with Catholic saints. These spirits are closely related to African gods and may represent natural phenomena — such as fire, water, or wind — or dead persons, including eminent ancestors

One belief unique to voodoo is the zombie. The creole word “zombi” is apparently derived from Nzambi, a West African deity but it only came into general use in 1929, after the publication of William B. Seabrook's The Magic Island

Haitian zombies were once normal people, but underwent zombification by a "bokor" or voodoo sorcerer, through spell or potion. The victim then dies and becomes a mindless automaton, incapable of remembering the past, unable to recognize loved ones and doomed to a life of miserable toil under the will of the zombie master.

HAITI SELLING OFF ZOMBIES

Psst . . . wanna buy a zombie? You can pick up some great deals on the undead from the Haitian government, which is trying to unload thousands of the walking corpses -- at less per head than you'd pay for a decent TV.

"Imagine having your very own slave who will mindlessly obey you, no matter what you order him or her to do," says a government spokesman.

"A zombie will work all day and all night if you want him to, everything from farm labor to house cleaning, and all you have to feed him is oat mush."

Haitian officials say they're turning to sales of the undead to relieve the critical over-supply of zombies, which is dragging down their failing economy even further. Haiti's upper- and middle- class population has shrunk to almost nothing, leaving hundreds of zombie servants unoccupied.

JAPANESE TV INTERVIEW ON ZOMBIES

A recent T.V. program here in Japan provided an interesting look at the

phenomenon of zombies in Haiti.  The president (I think that's what he

said) of the zombie-master's was the guest, and he had escorted a

Japanese film crew to meetings in Haiti with zombie-masters and several

zombies.  He had also enabled them to film and take samples of the

zombie powder, the rituals creating a zombie, feeding zombies, and other

"secrets" of the zombie society.

Videotapes of several "interviews" with zombies (they don't talk much,

but... actually, one did talk some, others didn't.) were reviewed by

Japanese psychiatrists.  They indicated that several people displayed

symptoms they recognized, although they said the symptoms could be the

result of drugs or of mental problems (physically based brain problems,

I think?).  They thought these people would be given medical treatment

in Japan.

The president said, in effect, that that is what the zombie-master

provides.  They feed the zombies, tell them what to do, and run their

lives.

An interesting part was the preparation of food for the zombies - rice,

bananas, and goat meat, steamed.  No salt is used, and the zombie master

making the food explained that salt is very dangerous to zombies.

The president said that the belief is that salt can turn a zombie to

stone.  He said he is sure that there is really some small amount of

salt in the food, but that zombie masters are careful to keep their

zombies away from salt as much as possible.

[my gloss - One of the psychiatrists had suggested some kind of mineral

deficiencies might be involved.  Wonder if salt "cures" some zombies?]

My impression was that while using flashy language ("killed" instead of

committed; "zombie" instead of "mentally ill"; "zombie master" instead

of "caseworker"; etc.), what the president (and the videos, etc.) were

pointing to was a kind of socially functional mental care system.

ZOMBIES

To make a zombie, a voodoo practitioner makes a potion that consists of mainly the poison of the pufferfish (one of the strongest nerve poisons known to man, the clinical drug norcuron has similar effects and is used during surgery) that is given to the intended victim. This causes severe neurological damage, primarily effecting the left side of the brain (the left side of the brain controls speech, memory and motor skills). The victim suddenly becomes lethargic, then slowly seems to die. In reality, the victim¹s respiration and pulse becomes so slow that it is nearly impossible to detect. The victim retains full awareness as he is taken to the hospital, then perhaps to the morgue and finally as they are buried alive. Then, at the voodoo practitioner¹s leisure does he come to retrieve the victim, now become a slave, as a commodity (at one time it was said that most of the slaves who worked in the sugar cane plantations of Haiti were zombies. One case in 1918 had a voodoo priest named Ti Joseph who ran a gang of laborers for the American Sugar Corporation, who took the money they received and fed the workers only unsalted porridge). A zombie will remain in a robot-like state indefinitely, until he tastes either salt or meat (so much for ‘The Night of the Living Dead’). Then the zombie becomes aware of their state, immediately returning to the grave. The reality behind the zombie has only been taken seriously by medical science within the last ten years, since the use of CAT scans of the brain, along with the confessions of voodoo priests, explaining their methods. Previous to that, zombies were considered mental defective by science or explained as stunts to try to confuse scientists.

ZOMBIS MAY NOT BE WHAT THEY’RE REPUTED TO BE

But in a paper in this week's The Lancet, two researchers, Professor Roland Littlewood of the department of anthropology and psychiatry at London's University College and Dr. Chavannes Douyon of the Polyclinique Medica in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, conclude many so-called zombies may in fact be individuals with psychiatric disorders or brain damage.

In their study, the researchers report on three individuals who were considered to be zombis by their families and neighbours. They found the first individual appeared to have a severe psychiatric condition called catatonic schizophrenia, which can make a person mute and immobile; the second to have brain damage and epilepsy, perhaps due to an episode of oxygen starvation of the brain; and the third individual, a severe learning disability, perhaps due to fetal-alcohol syndrome.

COULD TRACES OF PUFFER FISH TOXIN EXPLAIN THE SUPPOSED EXISTENCE OF HAITI'S ZOMBIES?

Luigi Garlaschelli unearths the evidence - for and against

Zombie fish eaters? Could traces of puffer fish toxin explain the supposed existence of Haiti's zombies? Luigi Garlaschelli unearths the evidence - for and against According to widespread Haitian beliefs, voodoo sorcerers (bokors) would administer a 'magic powder' to their victim. The victim would lapse into a state of such low metabolic activity that he (or she) might appear clinically dead. The poor soul would then be buried alive, only to be rescued hours later by the sorcerer who dug him up, fed him a hallucinogenic concoction, and sold him as a slave, often to sugar plantations. If by some lucky chance (the bokor's death, divine intervention etc) the zombie could free himself, he can still be spotted by his glassy eyes, limited speech capability, nasal voice and slow and 'goofy' movements. The existence of zombies is often taken for granted by Haitian people, and 'zombification' is still considered a crime in Haitian law: Article 264 forbids the administration of drugs that can induce apparent death. If the victim is buried thereafter, the crime is equated to homicide. But do zombies really exist, or is all this just superstition and legend? And if they do exist, are they misunderstood cases, or is there any pharmacological rationale for the activity of the bokor's magic drugs? What is the active molecule in the 'zombie powder'?

ZOMBIES AND P-ZOMBIES

There is another kind of zombie, however: the philosophical zombie. A philosophical zombie (p-zombie, for short) would be a human body without consciousness which would nevertheless behave like a human body with consciousness. To some philosophers (e.g., Daniel Dennett) this is a contradictory notion and thus an impossible conception. If it behaves like a person and is indistinguishable from a person, then it is a person. Other philosophers (e.g. Todd Moody and David Chalmers) argue that a p-zombie would be distinguishable from a person even though indistinguishable from a conscious person. It is distinguishable, say these philosophers, because it is stipulated that it is not conscious even though it is indistinguishable from a conscious being. In case you are wondering why philosophers would debate whether it is possible to conceive of a p-zombie, it is because some philosophers do not believe or do not want to believe that consciousness can be reduced to a set of materialistic functions. Important metaphysical and ethical issues seem to hinge on whether there can be p-zombies. Can machines be conscious? If we created a machine which was indistinguishable from a human person, would our artificial creation be a "person" with all the rights and duties of natural persons? To the p-zombie advocates, consciousness is more than brain processes and neurological functions. No adequate account of consciousness will ever be produced that is "reductionist," i.e., completely materialistic.

ZOMBIES ON THE WEB

Compiled by David Chalmers

Philosophical zombies

It is philosophical zombies that I'm most interested in here, since I'm a philosopher and they raise very interesting issues. The sort I'm most concerned with are zombies that are physically and behaviorally identical to a conscious human, but lack any conscious experience. As in this case-study of my own zombie twin, for example.

Most people doubt that zombies could exist in the actual world. (In philosophical terms, they are naturally impossible.) But many people think that they are at least logically possible - i.e. that the idea of zombie is internally consistent, and that there is at least a "possible world" where zombies exist. This logical possibility is sometimes used to draw strong conclusions about consciousness (e.g. in my book The Conscious Mind, and elsewhere).

Curses!

It appears though that Wicca has made it into the Big Leagues in America. As in Major League Baseball. Not so strange since most sports types are superstitious and after all witchcraft and magick is commonly used in Soccer.

Garner can’t find right voodoo doll

Looking for a way to slow down Chicago Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano, Houston Astros manager Phil Garner decided to try voodoo.

“I’m confused,” Garner told Chicago’s Daily Southtown. “I went online and looked for my voodoo guy and I’m going to have to pick one and try to get it. Most of these curses are against lovers … I’ve got to find one that puts a curse on a baseball player.”

Of course there are other ways to curse a ball player.

“It wasn’t voodoo. I stayed away from the voodoo. I can’t go into the details. I’ll just have to tell you Wicca (a form of witchcraft),” Garner said to the Houston Chronicle, explaining his latest plan.

But Voodoo ain't Wicca. The former does claim on occasion to use curse magick the latter says it doesn't.


Voodoo is Black Magick, as in originating in Africa, while Wicca claims to be White Magick, as in Eurocentric.

A Witchcraft suppression bill, currently being drafted by the Mpumalanga legislature, has struck fear into the hearts of South Africa's witches, who fear the dark days of medieval witch-hunts may soon return.

The bill, leaked in June to the South African Pagan Rights Alliance (Sapara), threatens to undermine the freedoms and rights of a religious minority by criminalising and prohibiting their right to exist and practise their religion, says Sapra convener Damon Leff.

The draft, titled the Mpumalanga Witchcraft Suppression Bill 2007, states in its introduction that it is "to provide for the suppression of witchcraft in the province".

In Chapter 6 it states any person who "professes a knowledge of witchcraft or the use of charms" or "for gain pretends to exercise or use any supernatural powers, witchcraft, sorcery or enchantment" shall be guilty of an offence.
One of the major causes of the Western pagans' upset, according to Leff, is the failure of the bill to recognise the doctrinal and ethical gap between Western pagan and some forms of traditional African witchcraft.

And according to Vos, by lumping the two religions together the bill has overlooked how differently they approach the issue of ethical responsibility.

"While in rare cases (some in Mpumalanga) murder has been committed to get hold of human tissues, such as hearts and genitals for muti practices, the furthest a Western pagan would go is to collect human hair and nail clippings," he claimed.

Another serious criticism Western pagans in the country harbour is the bill's stereotyping of witches and witchcraft as being harmful and dangerous to their community.

The bill defines witchcraft as "the secret use of muti, zombies, spells, spirits, magic powers, water, mixtures, etc, by any person with the purpose of causing harm, damage, sickness to others or their property".

Leff has asked the Mpumalanga advocates to replace it with the definition: "a religio-magical occupation that employs the use of sympathetic magic, ritual, herbalism and divination".

AIDS, Witchcraft, and the Problem of Power in Post-Apartheid South Africa

As an epidemic of AIDS sweeps through this part of Africa, isidliso is the name that
springs to mind amongst many in the epidemic’s path. To the extent that this occurs, the epidemic of HIV/AIDS becomes also an epidemic of witchcraft. But the implications for a witchcraft epidemic are quite different from those of a public health crisis, at least as such things are conventionally conceived in western discourses of social and political management.

In this paper I will examine some of the implications of interpreting HIV/AIDS
infection as witchcraft and ask what they might mean for the legitimacy of public power in post-apartheid South Africa. For when suspicions of witchcraft are in play in a community, problems of illness and death can transform matters of public health into questions of public power, questions relating to the identification and punishment of persons deemed responsible for bringing misfortune to the community, that is: witches.

So instead of using pins in dolls to curse his opponent perhaps Garner should have found a witch who was good at casting Lucky Mojo Spells.

Like this guy.

Wiccan Wins Lottery

Wiccan instructor Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett says a New Age book store made it possible for him to become an overnight multi-millionaire.

The Maryland accountant, who claims to hold one of four winning tickets sold for Friday night's estimated 330 million dollar Mega Millions jackpot, says he made a bargain with the multiple gods associated with his Wiccan beliefs: "You let me win the lottery and I'll teach."

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Huston Astros, MLB, baseball, Phil Garner, USA,
sports, , witchcraft, magic, magick, South Africa, sorcerer, rituals, AIDS, superstions,

Portland protesters say, ‘Donut cross our picket line’

By Lyn Neeley posted on July 30, 2021

Portland, Ore.

Over 100 workers protested in front of Portland’s Voodoo Doughnuts July 30 for the illegal firing of 11 workers. Joining the picket line were workers representing over half a dozen unions and coming from as far away as Seattle.

July 30 protest. WW PHOTO: Jim Wallace

Workers demonstrate in front of Voodoo Doughnuts. Early this month, when Portland’s record-breaking temperatures hit 116 F, many businesses closed due to unsafe working conditions. But Voodoo Doughnut  workers were expected to keep working inside the kitchen with weak air-conditioning, large southwest-facing windows and deep fryers boiling.

The workers said on their Facebook page that the temperature at the shop was so high that customers stepped inside and immediately departed. “The doughnuts themselves melt in the heat, as the frosting never fully dries.”

When some of the workers started to pass out and show signs of heat exhaustion, the manager told them, “If you’re too hot, you can go home.” (tinyurl.com/9rt5jvk2)

Thirteen workers left for two days until temperatures lowered towards 100 F. But when they returned, 11 of them were fired, some of whom she knew were union organizers.

The workers formed Doughnut Workers United in March of last year, but have not been formally recognized by Voodoo’s corporate office. The union is affiliated with the Portland chapter of Industrial Workers of the World and gets support from Teamsters Local 225. They have filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Oregon State Bureau of Labor and Industries and the National Labor Relations Board, for unlawful retaliation for an unsafe work refusal.

Voodoo doughnut has locations in 11 cities including Orlando, Houston, Hollywood and Denver.  Mark Medina with IWW told WW: “There were demonstrations in support of the Portland Voodoo Donut wokers in Los Angeles, Houston and Austin, Texas and Eugene, Oregon.”

Gothic "Voodoo" in Africa and Haiti

E Tropic, 2019

Eric J Montgomery

This paper seeks to historicize and demystify “Voodoo” religion in Africa and Haiti while also drawing comparisons and contrasts to concepts and themes related to “the gothic”. What is assumed to be “supernatural” or “paranormal” in Western and Gothic circles has long been a part of everyday reality for many peoples of African descent and devotees of Vodun in Western Africa and Vodou in Haiti. Tropes that are essential to realms of the gothic (supernatural characters, mystery, the macabre, spirits, and paranormal entities) — are also central to the cosmology and liturgy of so-called “Voodoo”. As “the gothic” undergoes a resurgence in academic and popular cultures, so too does “Voodoo” religion. And yet, both terms continue to be conflated by popular culture, and by equating “voodoo” with “the gothic”, the true spirt of both concepts become confounded. A certain racialized Eurocentric hegemony devalues one of the world’s least understood religions (“Voodoo”) by equating it with equally distorted concepts of “the gothic”. As globalization transforms society, and the neo-liberal order creates more uncertainty, the continued distortion of both terms continues. Vodun does more than just speak to the unknown, it is an ancient organizing principle and way of life for millions of followers. Vodou/Vodun are not cognates of the “American Zombie gothic”, but rather, are a mode of survival and offer a way of seeing and being in an unpredictable world.

Doi: 10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.3666

Issue: 1

Volume: 18

Publication Date: 2019

Publication Name: E Tropic

Tropical Gothic: arts, humanities and social sciences

eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics, 2019 

Anita Lundberg

Katarzyna Ancuta

Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska

The Gothic is undergoing a pronounced resurgence in academic and popular cultures. Propelled by fears associated with massive social transformations produced by globalisation, the neoliberal order and environmental uncertainty-tropes of the Gothic resonate. The gothic allows us to delve into the unknown, the liminal, the unseen;; into hidden histories and feelings. It calls up unspoken truths and secret desires. In the tropics, the gothic manifests in specific ways according to spaces, places, cultures and their encounters. Within the fraught geographies and histories of colonisation and aggression that have been especially acute across the tropical regions of the world, the tropical gothic engages with orientalism and postcolonialism. The tropics, as the region of the greatest biodiversity in the world, is under enormous stress, hence tropical gothic also engages with gothic ecocriticism, senses of space, landscape and place. Globalisation and neoliberalism likewise impact the tropics, and the gothic imagery of these 'vampiric' capitalist forces-which impinge upon the livelihoods, traditions and the very survival of peoples of the tropics-is explored through urban gothic, popular culture, posthumanism and queer theory. As the papers in this special issue demonstrate, a gothic sensibility enables humans to respond to the seemingly dark, nebulous forces that threaten existence. These papers engage with specific instances of Tropical Gothic in West 

Doi: 10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.36 

Publication Date: 2019 

Publication Name: eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics

Tropical Gothic' Special Issue

Tropical Gothic, 2019

Verena Bernardi

The rise of supernatural creatures throughout different media in the post-­2000 era has resulted in a significant change of audiences' perceptions of vampires, werewolves and witches (among others). Traditionally used to reflect human fears, lack of morals or instinct-­related insufficiencies, these creatures are no longer fear-­inducing monsters. Instead, their depiction tends to adopt human qualities to confront the audience with missteps and downfalls of contemporary societies and politics. This paper analyzes the television series The Originals as a supernatural mirror image of American society, where the different communities' struggles for power and their place in New Orleans becomes a micro-­cosmos for the American nation. The setting plays a crucial role in the series, which Gothicizes New Orleans to construct a space in which the characters are shown to operate in a posthuman context. This paper will clarify how the protagonists' posthuman characteristics and their placement in the subtropical landscape of Louisiana uncovers contemporary societal concerns and brings aspects such as Urban Gothic and tropicality closer to the audiences' reality. Ultimately, it is in the capital of the subtropical Deep South of America where the hegemonic discourse and practices of discrimination and spatial separation are reflected and challenged.

Doi: 10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.3689

Publication Date: 2019

Publication Name: Tropical Gothic

blood_and_soil_2018 

https://www.academia.edu/37005421/blood_and_soil_2018.pdf

Lisa Lampert-Weissig

The third season of The Vampire Diaries introduces the story of the “Originals”, a family who came to North America with Vikings in the eleventh century and became vampires as a way to protect themselves against ‘native werewolves’. This mythology draws on the legend of Vinland, a paradise supposedly settled by Vikings in North America and recounted in thirteenth-century saga of the same name. The Vinland story has been used since the nineteenth century to legitimate white nationalism in North America. Further, medievalism more generally permeates both vampire narrative and the mythology of the ‘Old South’ so important to the fictional Mystic Falls where The Vampire Diaries is set. Focusing primarily on season three of The Vampire Diaries, I argue that the series’ emphasis on a Nordic origin for its “Original” vampires, combined with obfuscation of the history and legacy of slavery and racism in the United States, results in a narrative that ultimately, if inadvertently, legitimates white nationalist claims.

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-2005-paper-gothic-capitalism-full.html

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CLR+JAMES

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BLACK+JACOBINS

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=HAITI

SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=VOODOO