7203: Re: 7187: SCHOLARS AND VODOUN, BEBE QUESTIONS. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Moibibi@aol.com

To Kosanba Members and others,

I was quite impressed (should I say honored?) by the list of scholars that 
constitute this academic association for the study of Haitian Vodun/Vodou. 

Knowing that I can be very repetitive, well I guess because I don't feel I 
ever got an answer… I shall address my questions to those scholars who belong 
to the list.

I do appreciate those who study Vodoun but the first question coming to my 
mind is why? 

-   Is it purely for ones own intellectual satisfaction?
-   Is it purely for ones own professional activity?

In any case, everyone has to refer to the sources. Everyone benefits from the 
tradition that his or her Haitian brothers and sisters have preserved for 
centuries.

What do those receive in return? Tou le jou kuiye al kay ganmel, ki le gamel 
pral kay kuiye? Everyday the sun rises, hundred of anthropologists, 
ethnologists, priests, pastors and simply curious individuals roam around the 
country, visit our hounfo, ask hundreds of questions to pick up valuable 
knowledge and to bring it back to their respective institutions. When will 
they understand that Vodoun also needs help, needs their help to form a more 
just society.

No one can say that the hounfo they have visited are abundant in material 
wealth. Some of those, particularly in the North, who were built before or at 
the beginning of our Independence are falling apart, no one seems to care but 
those, descendants of the original owner. They cling to their extraordinary 
past with total dedication, often in subhuman conditions. 

I, personally, think that those who have the chance to live in the "land of 
milk and honey" cannot stay indifferent to the conditions of Vodoun and 
Vodouists in Haiti. Intellectuals are badly needed to search for methods that 
could improve all conditions of Vodouists, to restore respect and see that 
new laws are passed in their favor.

We are all responsible for the birth of a new era of peace and harmony in 
Haiti for the benefits of all of us.

Bebe Pierre Louis

Note: I am not indifferent to the work of Patti Harris from the University of 
Oklahoma, among very very few others, who, in her case, is going back to 
Dereal, ancient hounfo that has been totally restored by the enormous efforts 
of ONE of the lakou inheritors.