7187: PRESS RELEASE/KOSANBA (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>


	The Congress of Santa Barbara (KOSANBA) is a scholarly
and academic association for the study of Haitian Vodun/Vodou. Members
of the Board of Directors may be contacted via Headquarters, c/o Center
for Black Studies/University of California/Santa Barbara, CA 93106. Fax
805-893-7243/Tel. 805-893-3914/Executive Director
<michel@alishaw.ucsb.edu>/Vice-President <pbs@uwm.edu>




MAX BEAUVOIR
A houngan, a priest in the Haitian Vodun tradition, Mr. Beauvoir has
established temples in Mariani, outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti and in
Washington, D.C. in the United States. He is fluent in French, Haitian and
English. His academic training is in chemistry from the Sorbonne in Paris,
France. He has appeared in numerous television programs on Haitian Vodun.

FLORENCE BELLANDE-ROBERTSON
Her PhD is in the fields of francophone literatures. She teaches
at La Sierra University, in California. She addresses the issue of the influence
of Vodun in Haitian literature. She has written critical essays in
this area. Born in Haiti, she is fluent in French, Haitian and English.

PATRICK BELLEGARDE-SMITH
He is a houngan, a priest in the Haitian religious tradition. He has a PhD
in international politics with specializations in history and political 
science. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His recent
scholarship is about the Vodun religion within Haitian cultural
 identity. He speaks English, French and Haitian.

LEGRACE BENSON
She has a doctorate in fine arts and has extensively researched and
published on Haitian artistic creations as they connect to Vodun, notably
on Islamic motifs in the religion. She has studied French, Haitian,
Spanish, German and Italian.

MARC-A. CHRISTOPHE
Professor Christophe has a PhD in French literature and has written
critical essays in this field and in the fields of Haitian arts and
literature. He is a noted poet with several books. Haitian-born, he researches the connections between
art and religion. He is fluent in Haitian, French and English. 

RENALD CLERISME
He has a PhD in anthropology from Yale University where he did his
research on Haitian peasant associations. Presently, he is a diplomat
representing Haiti at various United Nations agencies in Geneva,
Switzerland. He is fluent in French, Haitian, English.

LESLIE DESMANGLE
He has written a seminal book on Vodun, "Faces of the Gods," and
heads the Department of Religion at Trinity College. His doctorate is
in field of religious studies. Haitian-born, he speaks both official 
languages of his country and English.

JACQUELINE EPINGLE
She is a manbo, a [female] priest in the Vodun tradition, originally from
the city of Leogane in west-central Haiti. She resides in Canada and  
speaks Haitian and French.

GERDES FLEURANT
He is the President of the Congress of Santa Barbara (KOSANBA), and has a
PhD in musicology. He teaches at Wellesley College in Massachussetts. Dr.
Fleurant is a houngan and a musician as well as a musicologist. He has
written an important book on Vodun music. He speaks French, Haitian,
English.

REGINE LATORTUE
She has a doctorate in literature and teaches in the fields of African
diasporic literature and Black studies at Brooklyn College. She has
written extensively on Haitian feminism. She speaks French, Haitian and
English.

KAREN MCCARTHY BROWN
McCarthy Brown has a PhD in anthropology and is the author of the
acclaimed, "Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn." She has done
extensive work on Haitian Vodun. She speaks English, French and Haitian.

CLAUDINE MICHEL
Haitian-born, she has a PhD in the fields of education and educational
psychology. She has published on Vodun and on the transformation of
Haitian education. She heads the Center for Black Studies at
the University of California, Santa Barbara. She speaks French, Haitian,
Spanish and English fluently.

NANCY MIKELSONS
Her areas of specialization are Haitian Vodun in Cuba, with particular
emphasis on the Province of Oriente. She does comparative work between
Vodun, Espiritismo and Santeria.

GUERIN MONTILUS
He has a PhD in anthropology from the Sorbonne, and has done extensive
field work in Benin, Nigeria, Cuba, Brazil and Haiti. Haitian by birth, he
speaks French, Haitian and English. 

VIVIANE NICOLAS
She has trained as a psychologist at the Universite d'Etat d'Haiti
and at the University du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM). Her field work spanning
three decades in the Haitian countryside and in Canada, is about Vodun   
as psychological discipline. She also addresses the issue of Vodun in
Haitian arts, and resides in the countryside in Haiti. She is fluent in both
languages of Haiti and in English. 

MARLENE RACINE-TOUSSAINT
She has a doctorate from Union Theological, in New York City, and has
published on Haitian women of the working class. She speaks French,
Haitian and English.

FLORIENNE SAINTIL
She is a Haitian-born teacher in the Massachussetts schools and, together
with her husband, has established a school in Haiti's Plateau Central. Her
specialties are about the transmission of values that are anchored inside
Haitian culture. She speaks French, Haitian and English.