1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910786113903321

Autore

Davis Wade

Titolo

Passage of darkness : the ethnobiology of the Haitian zombie / / Wade Davis ; [foreword by Robert Farris Thompson ; preface by Richard Evans Schultes]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chapel Hill : , : University of North Carolina Press, , 1988

ISBN

979-88-908793-4-9

0-8078-8758-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (367 pages) : illustrations

Disciplina

299/.65

Soggetti

Zombiism - Haiti

Bizango (Cult)

Tetrodotoxin - Physiological effect

Ethnography

Haiti Religious life and customs

Haiti Social life and customs

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-326) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The Historical and Cultural Setting; 2. The Haitian Zombie; 3. The Problem of Death; 4. The Poison; 5. The ""Antidote""; 6. Everything Is Poison, Nothing Is Poison: The Emic View; 7. Zombification as a Social Process; 8. The Bizango Secret Societies; Conclusion: Ethnobiology and the Haitian Zombie; Note on Orthography; Glossary; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; W; Z; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Interdisciplinary in nature, this study reveals a netowrk of power relations reaching all levels of Haitian political life. It sheds light on recent Haitian political history, including the meteoric rise under Duvalier of the Tonton Macoute. By explaining zombification as a rational process within the context of traditional Vodoun society, Davis demystifies one of the most exploited of folk beliefs, one that has been used to denegrate an entire people and their religion.