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ABSTRACT Title of Document: NOU LA, WE HERE: REMEMBRANCE AND POWER IN THE ARTS OF HAITIAN VODOU Leslie Anne Brice, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Directed By: Professor Sally Promey, Department of Art History and Archaeology Haitian Vodou is vast, accumulative, and constantly in flux, drawing from many sources and traditions as it adapts to changes in the world, as well as to the needs and imaginations of its adherents. With its origins in west and central Africa, along with the strategies for transformation that are at the heart of many religions there, Vodou developed into its current form as a response to forced transatlantic migration, enslavement, encounters with Amerindian traditions, Catholicism, Freemasonry, the complications that emerged in the quest for liberty, the consequences of a successful slave revolt, and the establishment of an independent state. It is largely the last three points that contribute to Vodou’s strong military ethos, and with that, Vodou’s focus on liberation. Based on field research between 2000 and 2004, in Washington, D.C. and in Haiti, this dissertation examines Vodou visual arts in relation to Haiti’s revolutionary history, and how the arts articulate related themes of militarism, liberation, and resistance. Central to this study is remembrance, or the active and purposeful remembering of diverse lived experiences that practitioners evoke, express, and promote through visual and performing arts. Remembrance includes the historical, socioeconomic, political, and sacred realities that shape Vodou practice today and thereby provides a larger context for interpreting visual expressions. Equally important to this interpretation is the sacred world, which includes the spirits, the ancestors, and Vodou cosmological principles. Along the lines of remembrance and the sacred world, this dissertation examines the sacred spaces, altars, and power objects that practitioners create with their own aesthetic sensibilities and cosmological interpretations. It considers how practitioners actively remember and engage the past to empower themselves and their communities in the present. By weaving together the historical, social, the political, and the cosmological, along with an emphasis on practitioner agency, this dissertation underscores the transatlantic scope of Vodou visual creations. In doing so, it brings into focus just how pragmatic this religion and its objects are, and suggests how visuality offers people a sense of self-determinism in their lives. NOU LA, WE HERE: REMEMBRANCE AND POWER IN THE ARTS OF HAITIAN VODOU By Leslie Anne Brice Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2007 Advisory Committee: Professor Sally Promey, Chair Assistant Professor Renée Ater Assistant Professor Shannen Hill Associate Dean and Associate Professor Phyllis Peres Assistant Professor Yui Suzuki © Copyright by Leslie Anne Brice 2007 This dissertation document that follows has had referenced material removed in respect for the owner’s copyright. A complete version of this document, which includes said referenced material, resides in the University of Maryland, College Park’s library collection. Dedication For Nova ii Acknowledgements I remember a particularly hot July afternoon in 2003 I decided to escape the dust, heat, and bustle of Port-au-Prince to seek refuge in the home of the Beauvoir family down the coast in Mariani. After I finished lamenting about the day’s frustrations, my friend Elisabeth Beauvoir smiled sweetly and said reassuringly, “In Haiti, we say ‘lese koule,’ let it flow, dear.” Those words helped enormously throughout my remaining fieldwork and at home in Maryland, where I tried to piece it all together, grappling with the difficulties. Since my last trip to Haiti in January 2004, I had regrettably forgotten these words for long spans of time. But gratitude to remembrance, for when they reemerged I was able to loosen what had been so constricted. During the last several months of writing this dissertation I have tried to envision, understand, and articulate what for me has seemed opaque, ambiguous, and distant. It has been a most confounding and yet enriching experience, one that has forced me to expand, alter, or dismantle my long-held and stubborn conceptions of spirituality, history, expression, healing, community, and self. I have many people to thank who gave me immeasurable support and encouragement through the years, and who have helped me to “let it flow” through these experiences. First, I would like to express gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee, all of whom helped bring this project to fruition. My advisor, Dr. Sally Promey, an outstanding scholar and teacher, has been unwavering in her support of me and this dissertation. I am most fortunate to have had an advisor with such depth of understanding and patience. I wish her much success and happiness in her new roles at Yale. It is also my privilege to have had Dr. Renée Ater on my committee and for iii sharing her sharp insights. I thank Dr. Shannen Hill for all her valuable comments and kind encouragement, as well as graciously agreeing to be on my committee when asked at the last minute. I also thank Dr. Yui Suzuki for providing me with helpful feedback and expanding my thinking on ritual. Finally, I am grateful to Dr. Phyllis Peres, who agreed to serve as my Dean’s Representative. Seven years ago I took Dr. Peres’s seminar on the Atlantic world, which gave me some much needed grounding to understand the extraordinary adventure I was about to begin. I have received significant support from the Department of Art History and Archaeology. The department provided me with four years of funding to pursue my doctoral studies, including the Guy C. McElroy Fellowship and a travel grant to conduct archaeological work in Nigeria. Some of the department’s current and former members have also been extremely helpful over the years. Dr. Ekpo Eyo invited me to Nigeria, provided numerous letters of recommendation, and served on my examination committee. Dr. Quint Gregory and Dr. Lauree Sails of the Visual Resource Center have helped me with all things technical and provided much encouragement and good humor over the years. Former Graduate Director Dr. Meredith Gill was extremely helpful in answering my questions about Graduate School requirements and also provided thoughtful advice. I am enormously grateful to Deborah Down who helped me navigate those requirements, managed the paperwork on my behalf, and provided a welcome air of calm. I am also grateful to all the hard work and wonderful company of Kathy Canavan, who passed away suddenly in 2004. She was the heart and soul of the department and I miss her dearly. I am indebted and grateful to several organizations whose generous funding enabled me to complete this dissertation. At the University of Maryland I would to thank iv the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora for granting me a predoctoral fellowship and the opportunity to meet other scholars working in Diaspora studies. My fieldwork was made possible through the generosity of the Cosmos Club Foundation, the Samuel H. Kress Travel Fellowship in the History of Art, and the University of Maryland Ilene H. Nagel Travel Grant. I also thank the members of the former Committee on Africa and the Americas, who gave me travel grants to work in Haiti and Nigeria. At the University of Maryland I would also like to thank the College of Education where I received funding as a graduate assistant and contractual employee. There I worked for two wonderful and encouraging people, Darcelle Wilson and Andrew Sheehy. I also received considerable encouragement from my former colleagues there: Rochella McKoy, Patricia Costantino, Maria Sian, Rhonda Fleming, Dr. Irene Zoppi, and Thomasina McLeish. From the beginning of my studies in Haitian Vodou, the Beauvoir family has provided me with immeasurable help, guidance, and laughter. Max Beauvoir, a famous and well-respected oungan (priest), has been a most knowledgeable and generous teacher. His breadth of knowledge, strength, and conviction inspire me still. Elisabeth Beauvoir, a manbo (priestess) and Max’s wife, has also been a wonderful teacher and friend. I learned great lessons from her, not just about Vodou, but about the larger themes of life—and also not to take any of it too seriously. Max and Elisabeth opened their home to me in Mariani, Haiti, and opened so many possibilities during my stays in Haiti. Their daughter, Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique, has also been extremely generous and opened many doors to me. I benefited enormously from her incisive scholarship and have been amazed by her brilliance, determination, and resolve. Not only did she and her v husband Didier Dominique lend me their car during my stay in Cap Haitian, they rented their house to me in Fontamara, Port-au-Prince for three of my visits. I have many fond memories of my time in that very special house overlooking the bay—it truly felt like home. I am so grateful to this family for all the knowledge they imparted, help they provided, possibilities they opened, and kindness they bestowed. I am most grateful to all the manbo and oungan who shared their spiritual worlds with me, allowed me to document them, and to express their words throughout this dissertation: Evelt Mondesir, Jean Robert Celestin, Suze Jean Baptise, Augustin Saint Cloud, Silva Joseph, Tifré, Mercius Joclin, Christophe Joseph, Jean Eliz Civil, Michel Marc, and Jean Max Simplus. Jean Robert Celestin (Sonson), not only explained so much to me and allowed me to photograph his sacred spaces, but also insisted upon conducting healing work on my behalf. Yayi was always extremely helpful during my stays in Mariani, and she also created a most beautiful plumed satin bundle (pakèt kongo) to bring me protection and good luck.
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