I found the
article “Haiti and the distortion of its Vodou religion” written by Millery
Polyné and Elizabeth McAlister extremely interesting. It focuses on the misrepresentation of Vodou
in American media as a black magic cult called voodoo. Polyné explains how this misrepresentation
and misunderstanding by most people has affected his sense of self as a
Haitian-American.
In the Cultural
Anthropology class I took last semester we read a book called Mama Lola, which is a study of Vodou
through the life of a priestess living New York. The class discussed the background of the
religion as well as its beliefs and practices.
We also talked about how the reality of Vodou differs so much from the
sensationalized, media constructed voodoo.
However, because Mama Lola was so comfortable in herself and strong in
her beliefs we never talked about how it must feel to be a Haitian American who
is confronted constantly by misrepresentation of his or her culture in the
media. So it is interesting to read
Polyné’s article and hear his perspective of Vodou. When he saw the movie that depicted Haitians
as evil magicians, he was extremely uncomfortable. While he did not know much about Vodou, he
knew that the depiction in the movie was false and defamatory to Haitian
culture and people. It was disturbing
for Polymé to see such an ignorant representation of practitioners of Vodou
and, by association, all Haitians, including himself. To constantly be confronted by false beliefs about his culture and excessive judgement of Vodou as superstitious and despicable, Polyné was led to question the validity of the religion and what it means to be Haitian.
Voudu is a rich,
complex system of beliefs and practices that focuses of reciprocity, community,
and equality, not the evil sorcery that American media makes it out to be. It is shameful that true depictions of the
religion are not being presented for everyone to encounter.
