Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora

Record summary

Elizabeth McAlister’s Rara! studies Haitian processional performance, Vodou symbolism and the political uses of carnival-like music. Its relevance to boundary-crossing folklore lies in the movement between cemetery, street, religious space and public authority, especially around seasonal performances and spirits of the dead. The book can help compare how underworld imagery becomes embodied through procession rather than narrated as a solitary descent. It is a study of performance and social power, not a catalogue of paranormal incidents. Local chronology and regional differences should be verified in the cited fieldwork.