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#2575: Dolls in Vodou : Craig comments
From:Alairdcraig@aol.com
It's interesting to me that the use of dolls in Vodou hasn't been
explored, or at least written about, with any real depth by scholars who
study the material culture of this religion. What's odd to me is that, though
dolls are, in fact, used in a variety of religious and magical contexts in
Vodou (as well as other New World African based
religions), serious scholarship has ecshewed this obviously fascinating
investigation.
Scholars such as Karen McCarthey Brown, Suzanne Preston Blier, Robert
Farris Thompson and, I believe, Marilyn Houlberg, have all touched on the use
of dolls but no one that I know of has really delved into the topic. Even in
light of the vast information provided to us on Vodou's material culture in
the Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou exhibitition and its amazing catalog, dolls
were not discussed in any depth. I have video footage of Donald Cosentino,
one of the curators of that exhibit, denying the existence of the"voodoo
doll." And he wrote the book Vodou Things about the late Pierrot Barra and
his doll assemblages!! The topic seems strangely taboo.
I realize that the "voodoo doll" has alot of terrible hype surrounding
it and that it is, in fact, the icon most commonly associated with all of the
racist misconceptions and misinformation about Vodou. Still, the doll is a
reality in Vodou and I wish that there was some concensus about this amongst
scholars and that more information was published about their true function
within the religious context.
In regards to dolls with pins jabbed into their bodies, I will suggest
that, more likely than European witchcraft sources, these "charms" are
derived from Dahomean Bocio forms ( see African Vodun by Suzanne Preston
Blier) and from Kongo Minkisi charms and Nkondi figures (see Robert Farris
Thompson's Flash of the Spirit and Wyatt McGaffey's Astonishment and Power)
which all have sharp pegs or nails driven into their surfaces to incite
and/or placate spiritual forces.
Alison Laird Craig
Alairdcraig@aol.com