Katherine Dunham received a fellowship to study both dance and
anthropology in Haiti in 1936. She has never separated the
two...with evident reason in this intriguing memoir. She operated
out of a fierce, almost frightening curiosity, seeking out secret
rites in the back country and finally was actually initiated into
the vaudum (voodoo) sect. An event recounted at much length in the
most fascinating section of the book. She was also an intimate of
Dumarsaes, the reform president who was ousted after a relatively
short time and died a pitiable death in exile. She's had her run
ins with Papa Doc and the rigidities of the "class" color system.
She's slept directly beneath an enormous snake, watched the corpse
of a witchdoctor sigh and raise an arm to point out his successor,
observed the effects of possession and exorcised a haunted
plantation. And in the interim she's taken dance groups all over
the world. Like the island she's a weird, unforgettable mixture.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Just as surely as Haiti is "possessed" by the gods and spirits of
vaudun (voodoo), the island "possessed" Katherine Dunham when she
first went there in 1936 to study dance and ritual. In this book,
Dunham reveals how her anthropological research, her work in dance,
and her fascination for the people and cults of Haiti worked their
spell, catapulting her into experiences that she was often lucky to
survive. Here Dunham tells how the island came to be possessed by
the demons of voodoo and other cults imported from various parts of
Africa, as well as by the deep class divisions, particularly
between blacks and mulattos, and the political hatred still very
much in evidence today. Full of the flare and suspense of immersion
in a strange and enchanting culture, Island Possessed is also a
pioneering work in the anthropology of dance and a fascinating
document on Haitian politics and voodoo.
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