The Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti

Abstract

[...]chapter 4 takes up the folklorization of what were now recodified as "superstitious practices" in post-occupation haiti. ramsey traces the tension between ongoing efforts to eradicate Vodou by the church and successive haitian administrations versus the growing cultural nationalist sentiments championed by such seminal figures as Jean Price-mars and members of the elite haitian indigenisme move- ment. important American anthropologists, such as katherine Dunham and melville and Frances herskovits, make their cameo appear- ances, as do more dubious characters such as ex-marine Faustin wirkus.