Syllabus and Grading Procedure for Course in Haitian Voodoo Religion --2001

HAITIAN VOODOO RELIGION

RELG 2030.52

FALL (II) 2001

Bob Corbett, instructor

Meets: 6-10 PM Tuesday evenings.

BELOW YOU WILL FIND INFORMATION ON:

Various essays and pointers on Haitian Voodoo

Course Objectives
Readings
Syllabus
Course Requirements and Grading

Course Objectives (short version).
Haitian Voodoo, the dominant religion of the country of Haiti is a religion pure and simply. It is a religion just as Christianity, Judaism, Islam or Hinduism are. Yet it is often treated not as a religion but as black magic, a superstition, even the cause of Haiti's misery.

This course will attempt to introduce the student to the religion as religion and to examine and dispell many of the false myths which exist in Hollywood movies and popular views of Haitian Voodoo.
Readings
We will read numerous pieces from Bob Corbett's web site on Haitian Voodoo and selected items found on other web sites devoted to Haitian Voodoo.
The Syllabus

As you can see, the syllabus is not yet complete. However, the daily schedule (left column) is worked out in detail. I just have to detail the work and reading expectations. That's coming soon.

Date	General Class Activity	Class	Assignments and Expectations
Tues Oct. 30	General introduction to the course and to both Haiti and Haitian Voodoo	1A	General introduction to the course and to both Haiti and Haitian Voodoo
Tues Oct. 30	Film: Waters of Sorrow. Documentary by Jacques Cousteau	1B	Film: Waters of Sorrow. Documentary by Jacques Cousteau
Tues Oct. 30	Conclusion of general introduction and discussion of the Cousteau film	1C	Conclusion of general introduction and discussion of the Cousteau film
Tues Nov. 6	Discussion of Corbett's paper: Introduction to Haitian Voodoo	2A	Read Corbett's paper: Introduction to Haitian Voodoo. Turn in assignment 1 which asks questions about the reading.
Tues Nov. 6	Film: Dreams of Democracy. Documentary by Jonathan Demme.	2B	Watch Demme film.
Tues Nov. 6	Conclusion of discussion of Corbett's paper, discussion of the Demme film and discussion of Corbett's second paper.	2C	Read Corbett's paper: Why is Haiti So Poor?. Turn in assignment 2 which asks questions about the reading.
Tues Nov. 13	Voodoo and Christianity: The Syncretism with Roman Catholicism	3A	Read: Short list of lwa, also read The short paper on historical notes about Haitian Voodoo
Tues Nov. 13	Two films: Michele and Haitian Pilgrimage	3B	Also read A list of the Catholic saints who match Haitian lwa There is now an added reading on Islamic Influences on Voodoo But no writing on that paper.
Tues Nov. 13	Voodoo and Christianity: Catholicism concluded and The Protestants since 1980.	3C	Assignment due on readings: Question of today's readings.
Tues Nov. 20	Voodoo and Healing: Discussion of Bonnie Thomas-Stevenson paper and Paul Brodwin thesis	4A	Read: Bonnie Thomas-Stevenson paper The written assignments for all three readings for tonightQuestions of today's readings.
Tues Nov. 20	Two films: Black Dawn and To Serve the Gods	4B	Also read: Bob Corbett's review of Paul Brodwin's book.
Tues Nov. 20	The Spelling of the name of the Haitian religion.	4C	Read: Bob Corbett's essay on the spelling of Voodoo.
Tues Nov. 27	The Priesthood and Ceremonies. The questions of hierarchy, uniformity, morality and theology	5A
Tues Nov. 27	Film: The Divine Horsemen. Also the beginnings of disucssion of Voodoo art.	5B	Hand in and prepare materials on art and or music
Tues Nov. 27	Discussion of possession	5C
Tues Dec. 4	Music and Art related to Haitian Voodoo: Discussion, images and sounds	6A	Hand in and prepare materials on art and or music
Tues Dec. 4	Film: Haitian Song	6B
Tues Dec. 4	Music and Art related to Haitian Voodoo: Discussion, images and sounds	6C
Tues Dec. 11	Petro Voodoo and Zombification	7A	Read: Corbett's notes on Serpent and the Rainbow and also read Corbett's review of Davis' "Passage" book.
Tues Dec. 11	Film: Legacy of the Spirit	7B	Read: Handout of internet discussion of Wade Davis' work.
Tues Dec. 11	Petro Voodoo and Zombification	7C	Read: How Are Zombies Made? Assignments for the 6th week.
Tues Dec. 18	Film: The Serpent and the Rainbow	8A	Film: The Serpent and the Rainbow
Tues Dec. 18	Discussion of the film: The Serpent and the Rainbow	8B	Discussion: The Serpent and the Rainbow

Course Requirements and Grading
Grading: While I will grade each individual assignment, the grade of the course will not be merely the sum of the individual grades. Rather, I will take into account an overall sense of quality in the general tone of one's work. However, the sum of one's individual grades will certainly be a strong indication of where one stands. In a rough sense the assigments will be valued in this fashion:
- Attendance: This will be only a negative possibility. You begin will full credit.
  - If you miss more than 1 class your grade will be lowered one full letter grade.
  - If you miss more than 2 classes your grade will be lowered two full letter grades.
  - If you miss more than 3 classes your grade will be lowered three full letter grades.
  - If you miss 4 classes you will receive a grade of F.
  - Special note on being late: Our class begins at 6 PM, sharp. That doesn't not mean 6:01 or after. I will count everyone present who is in the room at 6:00 PM when we begin. Others will be counted as late. Were a person to be more than 10 minutes late then they are regarded as having missed the entire first hour, which we count as double grade of late. Three grades of late will count as having missed an entire 1/2 class.
  - Special note on breaks.I will two a TEN MINUTE breaks each class. I have had serious problems in classes in Vienna in starting up again after 10 minutes. At EXACTELY 10 minutes after the break begins I will once again take attendance and the same policy will be used as at the beginning of class. More than three times being at ALL late in return, counts as having missed an entire 1/2 class, and being more than 10 minutes late from break also counts as having missed the entire 1/2 class.
- General work required and system of grading:
  The grading for the Voodoo course will be progressive. That is, depending upon which grade you would like to earn you will be expected to do different things.
  - First: For all. The attendance requirement will be RIGOROUSLY enforced. This is detailed above but note:
    - Only ONE missed class is acceptable.
    - Any three marks as LATE = 1/2 missed class.
  - Second: For a grade of C each of the 6 required papers on the readings must receive a grade of acceptable.
    
    Papers are due each of 6 classes at 6 PM. If the paper is in on time, then a grade of acceptable will mean that EACH question is regarded as an acceptable reply to the question.
    
    If the paper is in on time, but some question is not graded as acceptable, then it may be re-written for credit, but any re- written question must be graded as EXCEPTIONAL to be accepted.
    
    Any paper turned in after 6 PM in order to be acceptable must have each and every question graded as EXCEPTIONAL before the paper itself is acceptable.
  - Third: For a grade of B one must first earn the C and then write three acceptable short papers on an APPROVED essay from the web which you find, read and write about. Before you may write about an essay you must get PRIOR approval from Corbett by e-mail. I will need the url and name of the essay. Only one person may use any one article and it will be first come first serve on essays.
    
    An acceptable paper must be a two page paper, one page being a summary of the paper you read and one page being an evaluation of it in terms of how it fits with what we are doing in class and what the import of it is to learn about the Voodoo religion.
    
    Papers may be re-written to become acceptable if necessary.
  - Fourth: For a grade of A a student must first have earned a B. Then you are eligible to turn in a paper on the last evening which is 5 full pages long and addresses the following situation:
    
    You meet a friend who is fairly intelligent and educated but knows nothing of Haitian Voodoo. The friend asks you to tell him or her about this study you are doing and what it is that Haitian Voodoo is. This paper is your reply.
    
    Papers will be graded acceptable or not acceptable and ON-TIME papers may be rewritten if needed.
  - Note: Failure to satisfy the requirements for the C will result in a grade of either D or F depending on just how far short the student has fallen of the C.
  - Please note: If you are not a student who attends ALL classes and does so on-time, and if you are not able to limit your breaks to 10 minutes, then I HIGHLY recommend you not take this course.
  - Note on original work. All written work for this class is assumed to be 100% your own work and absolutely no work of any sort which is done in conjunction with any other student is at all acceptable. I will be carefully on the look out for any phrases in papers which are too much like phrases in some other student's paper and if I become convinced that students have IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER consulted on the paper with another student, then BOTH students will be in a situation in which the highest grade possible will be a D, and that only if the attendance record were acceptable and all other papers were accepted.
Three important additional notes:

I will only give a grade of incomplete in a very unusual circumstance, one in which the student was doing all work in a timely and acceptable fashion and then some major catastrophe strikes, one for which the student can give evidence of and which is seriously debilitating. Even then, an incomplete would be negotiated toward the shortest reasonable time to fulfill the work with no extensions. In only the rarest occasions would a grade for a fulfilled incomplete ever be higher than a C.

Alternative grading procedure is possible: Were any student unhappy with the above grading procedure, the student is welcome to begin discussion with Corbett toward forming an alternative grading procedure. This would take an initial discussion with the Corbett which would be initiated by the student. Were an agreement reached then the student has the responsibility to write up the new grading contract and have it signed by both Corbett and the student. Such a contract would have to be signed and finished, and a copy given to Corbett, before the third week of classes had ended.

A statement on plagiarism. Plag1arism is turning in any written work as one's own which was written by someone else. This is a completely unacceptable behavior in the academic world and is counted as a clear case of cheating. Any student caught plagiarizing in this class will be given an F for the entire course. No second chances will be given. The policy is firm and absolute.

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