This episode is about how – at the heart of a revolution unlike any other the world has ever seen – there is a story that became a seed at the heart of a national identity… a story of a secret ritual, and a priestess of the Lwa. And it’s about how our rituals, our magic, our heritage can be the leavening agent of our liberation. A source of inspiration and a prelude to action. Our words, our spells, our gathering together even at a distance can change the world – can make the ingredients of ourselves and the moments we are in transform and rise. This insight from Haitian history is alchemical and speaks to why so many of us go seeking for spiritual philosophies that connect us to our ancestors and specifically to ideologies that explode our loneliness, that connect us in a fundamental way to others – spirits, humans, animals, trees – who see us as a part of the wholeness that is out there and also in here – coming to overcome the false brokenness and brokeness and exhaustion of a whole entire social political system founded on slavery.
The title comes from Jean Fouchard, quoted in Jayne Boisvert in “Colonial Hell and Female Slave Resistance in Saint-Domingue”.
This episode was produced with invaluable research support from Amy Townes Booth.
This episode is dedicated to François Alexandre and David Joseph.
https://www.kut.org/crime-justice/2017-12-19/a-cousins-mission-to-say-all-the-things-david-joseph-couldnt https://scalawagmagazine.org/2020/07/haitian-protest-miami/
Sources:
JOURNAL ESSAYS
Boisvert, Jayne. “Colonial Hell and Female Slave Resistance in Saint-Domingue.” Journal of Haitian Studies 7, no. 1 (2001): 61-76. Accessed January 17, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41715082.
BOOKS
Bellegarde-Smith, Patrick, and Claudine Michel, eds. Story. In Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006.
- Bellegarde-Smith, Patrick, Claudine Michel, and Guerin C. Montilus. “Chapter 1 : Vodun and Social Transformation in the African Diasporic Experience: The Concept of Personhood in Haitian Vodun Religion.” Essay. In Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality, p.1-6. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
- Bellegarde-Smith, Patrick, Claudine Michel, and Patrick Bellegarde-Smith. “Chapter 3: Broken Mirrors: Mythos, Memories and National History.” Essay. In Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality, p. 19-31. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
- Racine-Toussaint, Marlene, Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, and Claudine Michel. “Chapter 7: From the Horses’ Mouths: Women’s Words/ Women’s Worlds.” Essay. In Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality, edited by Patrick Bellegarde-Smith and Claudine Michel, p.70–74. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
- Bellegarde-Smith, Patrick, Claudine Michel, and Gerdes Fleurant. “Chapter 5: Vodun, Music, and Society in Haiti: Affirmation and Identity.” Essay. In Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality, p.46-57. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.
Dayan, Colin. Haiti, History, And The Gods. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2008.
Asante, M. K., & Mazama, A. (Eds.) (2009). Encyclopedia of African religion. SAGE Publications, Inc., https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623
- Lundy, Garvey F. “Fatiman, Cécile.” In Encyclopedia of African Religion, edited by Asante, Molefi Kete., and Ama Mazama, 262-262. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623.n170.
- Michel, Claudine, and Patrick Bellegarde-Smith. “Vodou.” In Encyclopedia of Global Religion, edited by Juergensmeyer, Mark, and Wade C. Roof, 1365-68. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412997898.n775.
- Pogue, Tiffany D. “Bois Caiman.” In Encyclopedia of African Religion, edited by Asante, Molefi Kete., and Ama Mazama, 130-31. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623.n90.
Mazama, Ama. “Ezili Dantò.” In Encyclopedia of African Religion, edited by Asante, Molefi Kete., and Ama Mazama, 253-54. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623.n163
Lundy, Garvey F. “Fatiman, Cécile.” In Encyclopedia of African Religion, edited by Asante, Molefi Kete., and Ama Mazama, 262-262. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623.n170.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Pierrot
https://scalawagmagazine.org/2020/07/haitian-protest-miami/
https://the-toast.net/2015/04/18/unruly-women-are-always-witches-outlander-s1-e-10/
https://gay.medium.com/magical-thinking-for-girls-e04eaf934546
https://occult-world.com/marinette/
