February 23, 2010
The Role of Soulouquerie in Haiti's Notorious Bad Press (1)
With the publishing of "The Serpent and the Rainbow" in 1985 (2), Wade Davis soared onto best-seller lists in America and other parts of the world as the entrepreneurial Harvard anthropologist who journeyed into the heart of Voodoo-land (Haiti) and returned home with what can be called the Holy Grail of Haitian witchcraft: the much vaunted, supposedly magic formula used by Haitian sorcerers to bring the dead back to life. This daring tale of adventure couched as a genuine scientific investigation, and the aura of Harvard to boot, gave Davis instant recognition as the preeminent authority on the Haitian zombie, if not as an expert on life after death, in general. But, despite the worldwide acclaim and the warm accolades it ended up generating for the author, Davis's investigation of the Haitian zombie actually did nothing to clarify the zombie issue as it exists in the Haitian folklore. More than anything, it has solidified Haiti's reputation as a place where the strangest things happen, needlessly contributing to the negative portrayal of the country, a common fare in the international press. more...
December 01, 2009
What Davis Actually Said About the Haitian Zombie Creation.
The following bracketed annotation paraphrases what Wikipedia stages as an introduction to the Haitian zombie. more...
November 04, 2009
Church or Voodoo?
Scientology under Attack.
Once upon a time during the Hellenistic era, a multi-talented genius, Daedalus by his Latin name, inventor of the Arts and of many notable crafts, successfully transferred the human soul to external mechanical devices or machines, realizing what had been man's pipe dream for thousands of years: the idea that human beings could infuse a soul into inanimate objects, thereby giving them life. more...
October 01, 2009
What is Voodoo: An Assembly of Christians, or a Pagan Sect?
The very fact that this question has been raised is an indication of how controversial Voodoo continues to be, despite its official status, beside Catholicism and Protestantism, as one of the state-recognized religions in Haiti. more...
September 01, 2009
Is Voodoo, in Your Opinion, Evil?
Whenever the issue of the Haitian zombie is brought up, the question invariably arises: "Is Voodoo, in your opinion, evil?" This question is relevant inasmuch as the production of zombies is intimately linked to the practice of Voodoo. Unfortunately, it is also a loaded question since the query usually comes from a Haitian or someone with Haitian connections who surely has to know that Voodoo is officially recognized as a religion in Haiti. If one were to label Voodoo an evil enterprise or anything less than a dignified religious organization, wouldn't that make Haiti the laughingstock of the world? And what would that say about the state authorities who would have granted official recognition to an organization that is fundamentally evil according to the country's own laws? These are difficult if not painful questions to answer without offending anyone's sensibilities, or patriotic feelings. more...
August 06, 2009
What Exactly is a "Real" Zombie?
This question keeps recurring despite the plethora of literature dealing with the issue. People are generally thrown in a state of disbelief whenever they are told that "real" zombies or living-dead roam the streets in Haiti without causing the slightest disturbance amongst the general population. Surely, it is because the usual explanation that zombies are resurrected dead people - men and women brought back from the dead without being reunited with their departed soul - raises more questions than it answers. Indeed, repeating the often heard mantra that zombies are "soulless individuals," does not in any way convey a clear meaning of zombie, since the soul belongs to the realm of the Spirit or psychic reality, an esoteric area of knowledge that generally defies understanding. more...
July 27, 2009
US Law & The Haitian Zombie Threat
Given the dire existential conditions and the constant struggle for survival that characterize life in today’s Haiti, it is no surprise that even the zombie population there has begun to leave the country in search of greener pastures elsewhere. The US being the primary target of opportunity for those fleeing economic hardship or political strife at home, Washington politicians, then, seem to have good reasons to worry about a possible zombie invasion from Haiti. However, despite clear evidence that the zombie migration has already begun in ernest, no laws have so far been enacted and, consequently, no specific measures have been taken to deal with the emerging threat. more...
November 15, 2008
The European or Daedalus Zombie
Daedalus was an ingenious inventor and a skilled craftsman who called Athens his homeland. His most enduring and legendary creations were the wooden contraption he devised to enable Queen Pasiphae to have sexual intercourse with the bull that her husband, Cretan King Minos, had received in tribute from Poseidon, the Labyrinth he built in Knossos to house the Minotaur, the half-beast, half-human monster born out of the union of Pasiphae and the beast, the artificial wings he assembled, allowing him and his son Icarus to escape from their imprisonment in the Labyrinth. more...
November 01, 2008
The Metaphorical Zombie
In the series of articles published thus far on this site, I have argued that the idea of the existence of a real zombie in flesh and blood is just that: an idea, a figment of the imagination born out of the wholesale embrace of the supernatural notions found in Haitian mythology and related Voodoo beliefs. In the present article, I intend to show how metaphors, myths, truths , half-truths or plain ignorance of the facts, all merge in the seamless narrative that forms the walking-dead story, as chronicled in various anthropological studies, and taken for true around the world. more...
October 09, 2008
On the Misrepresentation
of the Haitian Zombie
Defining the Haitian zombie, James Dilworth writes, "A zombie is a dead person who is brought back to life by means of Vodoun or necromancy, destroying his mental faculties in the process." He then adds the following astonishing comment: "Most people consider zombies to be only the stuff of horror books and movies, but they do exist in the present-day Haiti. Thousands of people in Haiti are considered to be zombies, some leading normal everyday lives with families, jobs and are respected citizens." more...
August 25, 2008
Haitian zombies on the BBC
Surfing the net for publications on the Haitian zombie, I came across a BBC documentary titled “Supernatural Science—Buried Alive.” As it turned out, a more appropriate title for the narrated story would have been: “Crime Scene Investigation—The Haitian Zombie Case.” Indeed, as the story developed, it became more and more evident that it has nothing to do with the supernatural, and everything to do with people boasting about how, using their knowledge of the Haitian fauna and flora, they manage to poison their unsuspecting neighbors, eventually killing them and stealing their corpses to, supposedly, make zombies. more...
August 11, 2008
The Ethics of Zombification, Really!
Under Haitian law, zombification — the act or art of converting people into zombies — is regarded as a vile, heinous crime that is no less abhorrent to the conscience of civilized men than premeditated murder for profit. more...
August 10, 2008
On The Meaning of ‘Voodoo Death’
It was a windy, rainy, gloomy day. Definitely, not a good day for take-offs and landings! But life goes on, and following a steep, almost vertical ascent, the aircraft had finally reached cruising altitude. Still, it was bouncing up and down over the wet dark clouds when the passenger in the next seat suddenly put an end to my doomsday contemplations with this friendly introduction: more...
August 08, 2008
Connaissez-vous Narcisse?
And then, there was this fellow I met at Nicole’s Gallery in Chicago. The occasion: a showing of the latest works of Haitian artist Frank Louissaint. As always is the case at this kind of gatherings, the atmosphere was warm and informal. This fellow walked up to me, introduced himself as Charlie and, without missing a beat, he said—in French—“Connaissez-vous Narcisse?”(Do you know Narcisse?) more...
August 05, 2008
Understanding Zombies
“What exactly is a zombie?” I was asked by that lady at the “Gauguin’s Zombie” exhibit at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. She quickly followed up with an other question, adding, “You are Haitian, are you not?” more...