A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites by Benjamin Hebblethwaite (review)

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Reviewed by:

• A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites by Benjamin Hebblethwaite
• Minjung Noh

Benjamin Hebblethwaite, A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2021. Pp. 288. $30.00, paper.

Hebblethwaite is already a renowned figure in the field of Haitian language, religion, and culture. Since the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Vodou Songs in Haitian Creole and English (Temple University Press, 2011), he has edited and translated several indispensable works in Haitian Studies and Caribbean religions. Notably, he recently co-translated the celebrated 1977 Haitian Creole classic, Stirring the Pot of Haitian History (Liverpool University Press, 2021) by Michel-Rolph Trouillot. The book under review, Hebblethwaite’s second solo-authored book, achieves two significant milestones. First, the author clearly traces the historical roots and divergences of Haitian Vodou from the history of West Africa. Second, he meticulously translates and comments on two complete sets of contemporary Haitian Creole Vodou song recordings. The importance of these outcomes cannot be overstated, considering the limited accessibility of historiography on West African politics and religion that directly influenced the Haitian Vodou tradition. Additionally, there is a scarcity of in-depth scholarly analysis and translation of contemporary Haitian Creole language Vodou rituals.

Chapters 1 and 2 of the book focus on the African side of the Atlantic during the nascent years of Haitian Vodou, when the transatlantic slave trade took place. While Hebblethwaite acknowledges his indebtedness to existing Haitianist scholars, whose focus has been on Haiti and Saint-Domingue, he suggests that the book is distinctive from previous scholarship “by building a case that a [End Page 143] deeper understanding of West African political, economic, and religious systems” that will “help account for the foundation of Vodou and Haiti itself” (p. 36). This promising and welcome methodological orientation indeed offers a significant contribution to filling the gap. For example, Chapter 1 depicts the complicated political dynamics and power struggles among multiple active stakeholders during the time of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, including the Dahomey, Hueda, and Allada kingdoms, as well as European traders. Chapter 2 also stays in Africa, but its focal point is on the spiritual foundations of the Aja-Fon and Gedevi-Yoruba religions. The author accounts for the sociopolitical background, rituals, deities, and practices of the two religions, which respectively influenced the Rada rite and the Gede rite in Haitian Vodou. Such specific historical accounts, which actively use research on West African religions, are neatly segmented and organized into smaller sections. Hence, these two chapters function in two ways: by defying the inaccurate assumptions about Vodou’s monolithic African origin by naming the particularity and heterogeneity of the African history therein, and by offering a long-awaited addition of an accessible West African history that can easily be navigated by readers from Haitian religions and other adjacent fields.

The book then explores the contemporary Haitian Vodou practices (Rada and Gede rites) in Chapters 3 and 4. The first two chapters were, in effect, the essential background for a fuller understanding of contemporary Vodou songs and rituals. Those buildups make the later chapters richer, historically contextualized, and highly enjoyable to read. Hebblethwaite analyzes two full-length studio-recording albums of Vodou songs, which were produced following the exact orders of a Vodou ceremony but in a condensed format—specifically, Rasin Figuier’s Vodou Lakay, and Rasin Bwa Kayiman’s album Guede, both released in 2004. Both albums are accessible to the public through online streaming platforms and CD’s. Hebblethwaite’s detailed and well-researched Vodou hermeneutics elucidate each ritual song’s contemporary backgrounds and African genealogy. I played the Vodou Lakay album on my laptop and was able to follow it word by word, thanks to the impeccable transcriptions of Haitian Creole and their translations into English. This incredible accessibility has formidable implications for dismantling the barriers to Haitian Creole language and culture for both academia and the public.

To conclude, the book is the result of Hebblethwaite’s decades of dedication to Haitian religious culture and language, accompanied by his unparalleled linguistic expertise. He...