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a1584: McAlister book on Rara
From: P D Bellegarde-Smith <pbs@csd.uwm.edu>
Elizabeth McAlister, Rara! Vodou, Power and Performance in Haiti and
its Diaspora. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. Book
and CD.
Rara is a vibrant annual street festival in Haiti, when followers of
the Afro-Creole religion called Vodou march loudly into public space
to take an active role in politics. Working deftly with highly
original ethnographic material, Elizabeth McAlister shows how Rara
bands harness the power of Vodou spirits and the recently dead to
broadcast coded points of view with historical, gendered, and
transnational dimensions.
"This is a startling, stunning, and fascinating book about the blend
of music, religion, and politics in Haitian culture. McAlister's
mastery of many different ways of knowing makes this study an endless
source of insight, intrigue, and inspiration. Rara! succeeds
magnificently as an exploration into Rara rituals and Haitian music,
but it also presents
original and generative insights into every aspect of Haiti's past,
present, and future."--George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads
"A rare in-depth look at an extremely popular, yet often
misunderstood phenomenon. With this book and CD, Elizabeth McAlister,
an involved observer, makes an incalculable contribution to our
musical and cultural literature."--Edwidge Danticat, author of The
Farming of Bones: A Novel
The link to the book's page at the Publisher is:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9291.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Elizabeth McAlister, <underline>Rara! Vodou, Power and Performance in
Haiti and its Diaspora</underline>. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2002. Book and CD.
Rara is a vibrant annual street festival in Haiti, when followers of
the Afro-Creole religion called Vodou march loudly into public space to
take an active role in politics. Working deftly with highly original
ethnographic material, Elizabeth McAlister shows how Rara bands harness
the power of Vodou spirits and the recently dead to broadcast coded
points of view with historical, gendered, and transnational
dimensions.
"This is a startling, stunning, and fascinating book about the blend of
music, religion, and politics in Haitian culture. McAlister's mastery
of many different ways of knowing makes this study an endless source of
insight, intrigue, and inspiration. Rara! succeeds magnificently as an
exploration into Rara rituals and Haitian music, but it also presents
original and generative insights into every aspect of Haiti's past,
present, and future."--George Lipsitz, author of Dangerous Crossroads
"A rare in-depth look at an extremely popular, yet often misunderstood
phenomenon. With this book and CD, Elizabeth McAlister, an involved
observer, makes an incalculable contribution to our musical and
cultural literature."--Edwidge Danticat, author of The Farming of
Bones: A Novel
The link to the book's page at the Publisher is:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9291.html
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Elizabeth McAlister, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Religion
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT 06459-0029, USA
Tel: (860) 685-2289
Fax: (860) 685-2821
Internet home page: http://www.wesleyan.edu/religion/mcalister.htm
Rara book page: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9291.html
Faculty Research Fellow
Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion
Yale University
New Haven, CT 06520, USA
*************************