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2. Messianism in French Caribbean Literature: Cesaire, Roumain, Glissant, and Schwarz-Bart
- Collection:
- Black Caribbean Literature (BCL)
- Contributers:
- Grantham,Awendela Oni (Author)
- Format:
- Dissertation/Thesis
- Publication Date:
- 2012
- Published:
- Connecticut: Yale University
- Location:
- African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Journal Title:
- ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
- Notes:
- 301 p., In many of the francophone Caribbean's most influential texts, a black messiah conquers his enemies and takes over the land. This man is a superman, who hears the cry of his people and delivers them from slavery and the Code Noir (a black code). He draws strength from Voodoo and Roman Catholicism to set his people free or die trying. Argues that scholars have not studied the extent to which the messiah figure dominates French Caribbean fiction and how this trend colors our perceptions of black leadership. After presenting messianism in the history of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Haiti, the author considers key messianic passages in francophone literature and highlight where rhetorical devices and figurative language transcribe metaphysical beliefs. These close readings correct the misconception that the French Caribbean and its religions are not messianic.
3. Of Moses, mules, and men : Zora Neale Hurston and the politics of folk art
- Collection:
- Black Caribbean Literature (BCL)
- Contributers:
- Young,Jason R. (Author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- Spring/Summer, 2009
- Location:
- African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Journal Title:
- Obsidian
- Journal Title Details:
- 9 (1): 9-19
- Notes:
- Writer Zora Neale Hurston notes the identity and culture of the Africans in the U.S., in which there is struggle in resisting with violence against the slave societies and racial discrimination to maintain the culture. Mentions the association of black ritual practices on Hurston's writings, "Mules and Men" and "Moses, Man of the Mountain," where slavery is considered as factor of spreading the folk arts.
4. Praying for a heretical year
- Collection:
- Black Caribbean Literature (BCL)
- Contributers:
- Livingston,J. Kojo (Author)
- Format:
- Newspaper Article
- Publication Date:
- Jan 25-Jan 31, 2010
- Published:
- New Orleans, LA
- Location:
- African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Journal Title:
- The Louisiana Weekly
- Journal Title Details:
- 20 : 10
- Notes:
- A special thanks goes out to evangelist Pat Robertson for illustrating the point of this series with his ignorant-@$$ed commentary on the Haiti earthquake. Notice that Pat is selective about which disasters just happen and which constitute the "judgment of God." Iowa and Florida faced terrible natural disasters with no such pronouncements. When bad things happen to people and areas that reflect Pat's values it's probably the devil. Haiti is supposedly guilty of 'making a pact with Satan' and using the Afrikan-based Voodun spiritual system to gain freedom from enslavement. Interestingly, Pat's god was not offended at all by the Christians who brutally oppressed these people. His god never is offended, especially when the victims are Black.
5. Spiritual Essence of Our People Missing from Aristide's Rule
- Collection:
- Black Caribbean Literature (BCL)
- Contributers:
- Zoboi,Ibi Aanu (Author)
- Format:
- Newspaper Article
- Publication Date:
- 2004-03-31
- Published:
- Dorchester, MA
- Location:
- African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Journal Title:
- Boston Haitian Reporter
- Journal Title Details:
- 3 : 11
- Notes:
- Who is it that speaks for our private face? Those of us who take communion at Mass on Sunday morning still intoxicated with the echoes of beating drums from the Vodun ceremony the night before. You know the saying: We are 95% Roman Catholic and 95% percent Vodun. What is it that makes a former Catholic priest more apt to run a country than say, a Vodun priest, a Hougan? To most of us, this would be an atrocity. The country would certainly fall into the wrath of hell if this were to take place. We are trying to move forward not backward, the voices of decency would say. And besides, you would not find a well-educated, well-traveled Vodun priest in the mountains of Ayiti. Ayiti's vision is found in Vodun. Not the religion that it has become, but the very essence of the spirituality. It is the essence of the Ayitian people. After all, these were the conditions under which Ayiti gained its independence. Our country was formed in a ritual - a ritual that called on the guidance and protection of our ancestors who survived the journey from Guinea, as they say in Vodun, and those who were indigenous to the land. The essence of Vodun is to give honor to those whose shoulders we stand on. It is a reverence to the unseen forces that truly determine our fate as a country and it is a time-tested method handed down to us to ensure a successful life.