African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and PowerBeads, bones, rags, straw, leather, pottery, fur, feathers and blood—these are the raw materials of vodun artworks. The power of these images lies not only in their aesthetic, and counter-aesthetic, appeal but also in their psychological and emotional effect. As objects of fury and force, these works are intended to protect and empower people and cultures that have long been oppressed. In this first major study of its kind, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the artworks of the contemporary vodun cultures of southern Benin and Togo in West Africa as well as the related voudou traditions of Haiti, New Orleans, and historic Salem, Massachusetts. Blier employs a variety of theoretically sophisticated psychological, anthropological, and art historical approaches to explore the contrasts inherent in the vodun arts—commoners versus royalty, popular versus elite, "low" art versus "high." She examines the relation between art and the slave trade, the psychological dynamics of artistic expression, the significance of the body in sculptural expression, and indigenous perceptions of the psyche. Throughout, Blier pushes African art history to a new height of cultural awareness that recognizes the complexity of traditional African societies as it acknowledges the role of social power in shaping aesthetics and meaning generally. This book will be of critical importance not only to those concerned with African, African American, and Caribbean art, but also to anthropologists, African diaspora scholars, students of comparative religion and comparative psychology, and anyone fascinated by the traditions of voudou and vodun. "An extraordinary tour de force."—Choice "Extraordinarily detailed....Blier's examination of the entire, often mysterious history of vodun is...in a word, definitive."—Booklist "A serious study that concentrates on the hidden power of objects and the meaning behind that potency is long overdue. Welcome Susan Blier's African Vodun....Certainly a must for...those concerned with the psychology of art."—Janet L. Stanley, Art Documentation "[Blier] is usually sensitive to the need to resist imposing Western artistic values and academic methodologies inappropriately upon such art. But she offers the reader a gift even more precious; she offers rare insights into how various art forms—sculpture and home architecture in particular—yield meanings for the African users of such art.—Norman Weinstein, Boston Book Review |
Contents
Vodun Art Social History and the Slave Trade | 23 |
Audiences Artists and Sculptural Activators | 55 |
Transference and the Arts of Bocio | 95 |
Anatomy Anamnesis and Representation | 133 |
The I and NotI in Artistic Expressions of the Self | 171 |
Matter Mind and Sculptural Meaning | 205 |
Surface Parergon and the Arts of Suturing | 239 |
Sculptural Tension and Typology | 271 |
Power Art and the Mysteries of Rule | 315 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abomey accordingly Adandozan additive aesthetic African Art Agbanon Agbidinukun Agonglo alchemy animals artistic associated Ayido explains aziza Ben Heller bo and bociɔ bocio arts bocio sculptures body Bohicon calabash called carved cloth commoner bocio concerns contexts cord cowries danger Danhome death deity destiny Dewui discussed divination sign emotional employed empowered empowerment Evhe expression eyes Fa-bocio figure frequently function genre geomancy Glele gourd head Herskovits Herskovits 1967 human ideas identified identity important incorporated individual iron jɔtɔ Legba linked malevolent materials Maupoil Mawu means Merlo Mono River Montilus Musée Musée de l'Homme Nondichao objects offer one's Pazzi pegs person Photograph Porto-Novo protect psychological Republic of Benin Rivière roan antelope role royal bociɔ Sagbadju noted signifiers similarly someone sorcery stomach suggests surface Suzanne Preston Blier Tegbesu term things tion Togo traditions tree visual vital vodun Wood words Yoruba