AskHistorians Podcast 053 - Haitian Vodou

The podcast takes turn for the anthropological as Firedrops discusses Haitian Vodou, including some of her own fieldwork. This episode starts by asking what distinguishes it from "cousin" practices in the Caribbean and American South before moving into Vodou's role in Haitian society from the Colonial era to Independence and up through to today. We also look at the way American society has been exposed to Vodou, though the 1915 US Invasion of Haiti, sensationalist media, early scholarly works, and Haitian immigration. Zombies are discussed. (74min)