Vodou harmonizes the head-pot, or, Haiti’s multi-soul complex
Haiti’s multi-soul complex proves a deeply enigmatic aspect of Vodou cosmology. This essay examines Haitian concepts of personhood and ‘plural soul’ philosophy in relationship to Vodou’s figurative mystic vessels, specifically the body-pot and head-pot. I introduce several African philosophies of mu...
| Published in: | Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
2022
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| In: |
Religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Haiti
/ Voodooism
/ Soul
/ Pluralism
/ Self
/ Head
/ Spirits
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| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements BS Traditional African religions KBR Latin America |
| Further subjects: | B
comparitive themes
B Indigenous Religions B Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean religions B Haitian Vodou B fieldwork / ethnography B Personhood B multi-soul complex B Africana Studies |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Haiti’s multi-soul complex proves a deeply enigmatic aspect of Vodou cosmology. This essay examines Haitian concepts of personhood and ‘plural soul’ philosophy in relationship to Vodou’s figurative mystic vessels, specifically the body-pot and head-pot. I introduce several African philosophies of multiple souls to contextualize Haiti’s multi-soul complex as a legacy of African indigenous thought regarding plural personhood. I argue that the physical body and head serve as primordial sacred vessels in Vodou, ‘filled’ with a collective of many soul-selves (i.e., gwo bon anj, ti bon anj, lwa mèt tèt, etc.). Drawing from historical and ethnographic research, I investigate a person’s ‘private souls’ and the ‘plural/public spirit pantheon’ to explain the dynamics between inner soul-selves and communal guiding spirits. Ultimately, a person’s sacred body-pot and divine head-pot reveal how Haitian devotees exist as a multitude of souls, as Vodou initiation harmonizes relationships between their private soul-selves and the community’s public spirits. |
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| ISSN: | 1096-1151 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/0048721X.2021.1963877 |