Known in the Dominican Republic and Togo as Vodu, in Benin as Vodún, and in Haiti as Vodou, West African religion has, for hundreds of years, served as a repository of sacred knowledge while simultaneously evolving in response to human experience and globalization.
Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World explores this dynamic religion, its mobility, and its place in the modern world. By examining the systems--ritual practices, community-based spirit veneration, and spiritual means of securing opportunity and well-being--alongside the individuals who worship, this rich collection offers the first comprehensive ethnographic study of West African spirit service on a broad scale. Contributors consider social encounters between African/Haitian practitioners and European / North American spiritual seekers, economies and histories, funerary rites and spirit possessions, and examinations of gender and materiality.
Offering much-needed perspective on this historically disparaged religion, Spirit Service reminds us all that the gods are growing, assimilating, and demanding recognition and respect.
Table of Contents:
Introduction, by Christian Vannier and Timothy R. Landry
Part I: Encounter
1. Vodou Genesis: Africans and the Making of a National Religion in Saint-Domingue, by Terry Rey
2. Universalism and Syncretism in Beninese Vodún, by Douglas J. Falen
3. Crossing Currents: Gorovodu and Yewevodu in Contemporary Togo, by Eric James Montgomery
4. A Prayer for a Muslim Spirit: Islam in Gorovodu, by Christian Vannier
5. Where Have All the Ounsi Gone?, by Karen Richman
6. Sailing between Local and Global: Vodou in the Modern and Contemporary Arts of Haiti, by Natacha Giafferi-Dombre
Part II: Engagement
7. Taking Hold of a Faith, by Jeffrey E. Anderson
8. The Physic(s)ality of Vodún and the (Mis)behavior of Matter, by Venise N. Adjibodou
9. Vodou Skins: Making Bodily Surfaces Social in Haitian Vodou Infant-Care, by Alissa M. Jordan
10. Spirited Forests and the West African Forest Complex, by Timothy R. Landry
11. Vodou, an Inclusive Epistemology: Towards A Queer Eco-Theology of Liberation, by Nixon Cleophat
12. Necroscape and Diaspora: Making Ancestors in Haitian Vodou, by Elizabeth McAlister
13. Conclusion: Global Vodún and Vodou: Encounter and Engagement, by Eric James Montgomery and Timothy R. Landry
Index
Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World
Montgomery, Eric James (Editor) , Landry, Timothy R (Editor) , Vannier, Christian N (Editor) , Adjibodou, Venise N (Contribution by) , Anderson, Jeffrey E (Contribution by) , Cleophat, Nixon (Contribution by) , Falen, Douglas J (Contribution by) , Giafferi-Dombre, Natacha (Contribution by) , Jordan, Alissa M (Contribution by) , McAlister, Elizabeth (Contribution by) , Richman, Karen (Contribution by) , Rey, Terry (Contribution by)