Curriculum Vitae
1995 Ph.D. American Studies, Yale University
1993 M. Phil. American Studies, Yale University
1992 M.A. History, Yale University
1990 M.A. African and Afro-American Studies, Yale University
1985 B.A. summa cum laude, Anthropology, Vassar College
Scholarly Books Published
Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and its
Diaspora. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2002.
Race, Nation and Religion in the Americas.
co-edited with Henry Goldschmidt. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004, 249-255.
Scholarly Books in Progress
Transnational Pentecostalism: Spiritual
Warfare at the Crossroads. Prospectus for
monograph reviewed by University of California
Press, manuscript in progress.
Scholarly Articles Published
"Globalization and the Religious Production of Space." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,
Vol. 44, No. 3, September 2005.
"Teaching September 11th," Bulletin of the Council of
Societies for the Study of Religion, Vol. 30,
No. 4, November 2001. Click
here to view the full text as a .pdf file. You'll
need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file, and you can
get that
here.
"The Rite of Baptism in Haitian Vodou." In Colleen McDannell, ed.,
Religions of the United States in Practice.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001:
354-363.
"Love, Sex, and Gender Embodied: the Spirits of Haitian Vodou."
In Nancy Martin and Joseph Runzo, eds.,
Love, Sex and Gender in the World Religions.
Oxford: Oneworld Press, 2000: 129-145.
--[This essay also translated into French and reprinted as "
Amour, sexe et genre incarnés; les esprits du vaudou haitien"
in the French journal Africultures No. 58 (Jan. 2004).]
"The Jew in the Haitian Imagination: Premodern Anti-Judaism in the Postmodern
Caribbean." In Yvonne Chireau and
Nathaniel Deutch, eds.,
Black Zion: African-American Religious Encounters
with Judaism. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000: 203-227. Click
here to view the full text as a .pdf file.
You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file,
and you can get that
here.
"The Madonna of 115th Street Revisited: Vodou
and Haitian Catholicism in the Age of Transnationalism"
in R. Stephen Warner, ed.,
Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and
the New Immigration. Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1998, 123-160.
--[This essay was reprinted in a collected volume
titled African American Religious Thought: An
Anthology, edited by Cornel West and Eddie S.
Glaude Jr., Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2003, 942-977.]
"New York, Lavalas, and the Emergence of Rara."
Journal of Haitian Studies, Vol. 2, Number 2
(Autumn 1996): 131-139.
"A Sorcerer's Bottle: The Visual Art of Magic in Haiti."
In Donald J. Cosentino (ed.)
Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou.
UCLA
Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995:
304-321.
--[This essay was translated into French and republished as " une bouteille de sorcier: L'Art
visuel de la magie en Haiti" in Vaudou,
co-edited by the Abbaye de Daoulas et les Editions
Hoebeke in Brittany, France, 2003.]
"Sacred Stories from the Haitian Diaspora: A
Collective Biography of Seven Vodou Priestesses in
New York City."
Journal of Caribbean Studies,
Vol. 9, Nos. 1 & 2 (Winter 1993): 10-27.
Magazine Articles, Essays
"The Lucky Ones," a mother-daughter story of love
and war by Lovely Nicolas and Liza McAlister,
published on Oxygen.com. Click
here to view the full text as a .pdf file.
You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file,
and you can get that
here.
"Haitians Make Some Noise in Brooklyn," on Rara
in New York, The Beat, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Summer
1991): 28-29.
"Ton Ton Club," on music in Haiti since Duvalier,
Mirabella and New York Woman, January
1990.
"Voodoo," New York Woman, March 1988.
Media Presentations
Producing and Consulting,
Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery.
4-part television series for WGBG/Boston. Compact disc
published by Rykodisk and WGBH, RCD 90444, 1998.
Producer and Editor,
Angels in the Mirror: Vodou Music of Haiti.
Book and compact disc. Roslyn, NY: Ellipsis Arts, 1997.
Consultant and guest, Songs of Resistance.
Documentary for CBS Under Fire. May 1997.
Producer and compiler,
Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou,
Compact Disc published by Smithsonian/Folkways,
1995. [Reviewed in the New York Times, Sunday
February 18, 1996, L.A. Times, November 11, 1995,
Esquire January 1996].
Ethnographic field producer for television
documentary on cross-cultural spirituality:
Mystic Lands, produced by The Duncan Group
for The Learning Channel, 1995-1996.
Liner Notes and song translations. Libete Pran
Pou Pran 'l/Freedom Let's Grab It. Compact Disc by
Boukman Eksperyans published by Island Mango, 1995.
Production and field research, News From Haiti.
Afro-Pop Worldwide,
National Public Radio, December, 1993.
Co-Producer, The White Darkness, Radio essay on Vodou in New York for
All Things Considered, National Public Radio, April 1988
Selected Papers, Lectures and Conferences
"Religion and its Insiders and Outsiders"
workshop in Ethnography of Religion at Harvard University, December 7, 2005.
"Luck and Magic in the Caribbean: Ontologies of Divination."
Rutgers University symposium on "Luck, Chance, and Destiny: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Divination," organized by T. J. Jackson Lears at the Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture, March 4, 2005.
"Moral Geography, Oral Media" presentation at NYU Center for Religion and Media, January 21, 2005.
Public interview onstage of Bernice Johnson Reagon at Brooklyn Academy of Music,
opening night of Robert Wilson and Bernice Reagon collaboration of "The Temptation of Saint Anthony", October 19, 2004.
"Haitian Revolution or Pact with Satan? Evangelical Media, Myth, and the Haitian Bicentennial",
"Media, Religion and Culture Conference," Louisville, Kentucky, September 3, 2004.
Presenter, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, "Haiti: Freedom and Creativity From the Mountains to the Sea,"
on the National Mall, Washington, DC, June 23 to July 4, 2004.
"Caribbean Religions in New York," lecture at the Interfaith Center for New York, June 21, 2004.
Discussant on panel at conference on "Women, Religion and the African Diaspora," Center for the Study of Religion,
Princeton University, April 23, 2004.
"Rara Festivals and the Haitian Bicentennial: Vodou and Politics on Parade",
public lecture sponsored by Black Studies Program at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, April 17, 2004.
"Who Writes Haitian History?", lecture at the annual Haitian Student Conference,
Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey, April 3, 2004.
"Religion and History, Religion and Race: The Spanish Inquisition in Haiti,"
lecture for David Carrasco's class on "Method and Theory in the Study of Religion," Harvard University, March 16, 2004.
"Winning the Land for Jesus: The Contest for the National Body of Haiti,"
Plenary Address at the Society for Pentecostal Studies Conference,
Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 13, 2004.
"Mapping the Place of Religion in America: American Civil Religion and its Moral Geography."
A plenary speech for Northeast American Studies Association annual conference, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford, CT, April 26, 2003.
"Transnational Popular Black Culture: Religion and Festival in Haiti and Brooklyn."
Talk sponsored by the Wood Lecture Series, Dept. of Religion, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, February 6, 2003.
"Haiti's Musical Religious Culture and its Legacy in Louisiana." Delivered at symposium entitled "Contact of Cultures:
The Haitian Factor in the Louisiana Purchase and Beyond," Louisiana State University Dept. of Geography and Anthropology, Baton Rouge, LA, January 31, 2003.
"Representations of Vodou/Voodoo." Panel Organizer for American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, LA, November 21, 2002.
"Voodoo in Hollywood: Race, Religion, Film, and the Politics of Demonization."
Paper for American Anthropological Association annual meetings, New Orleans, LA, November 21, 2002.
"Rara Festivals and Evangelical Revivals: Spectacle, Video, and the Politics of Repression in Haiti."
Invited talk at New York University and Rutgers University co-sponsored closed conference
on "Hemispheric Religiosities: Media and Performance." New York University, November 15, 2002.
"Reflections on Method and Theory in New Immigrant Religion Research."
Conference of the "Religious Incorporation among Immigrants in New York" project, International Center for Migration,
Ethnicity and Citizenship, New School University, May 10, 2002
"Rara in Haiti and its Diaspora." Guest class in African American Studies Department, Harvard University, May 1, 2002.
"Religion and Migration: Historical Comparisons." Public lecture at Baruch College, sponsored by Anthropology Dept.,
New York, NY, April 23, 2002.
"Vodou Spirits, Rara Queens and Small Men: Gender, Vulgarity and Slavery in Afro-Creole Religion."
Public lecture at Princeton University, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion, April 24, 2002.
"Afro-Caribbean Religions in New York." Talk at a Public Forum, The Interfaith Center of New York, February 5, 2002.
"Pentecostal Narratives and Transnational Migration." Haitian Studies Association,
St. Michael's College, Burlington, VT, October 2001.
"The Shape of Haitian Immigrant Religions in New York."
Public Lecture for the International Center for Migration, Ethnicity and Citizenship at the New York School University, March 8, 2001.
"Medieval Christianity and Caribbean Anti-Judaism."
Lecture for Department of Romance Languages, University of Florida at Gainesville, March 2, 2001.
"Religion and Migration." Working group at the Social Science Research Council December 2000.
"Spiritual Warfare: Transnational Connections." Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion faculty seminar at Yale, December, 2000.
"Pentecostalism and the Haitian Diaspora." Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Washington, DC July 2000.
"African Ginen to American Zion: American Diffusions and the rise of Pentecostalism in the Haitian Context."
Conference of the Pew Program in American Religious History, Yale University, May 2000.
"Sexualized Speech, Political Repression." American Anthropological Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, November 1999.
Panel Organizer: "Bodies and Spirits: Race, Religion and Identity Formation in the Americas."
American Anthropological Association conference, (Society for Cultural Anthropology Section), Philadelphia, PA, December 5, 1998.
"Jews, Jesus and Vodou: Roman Catholic Demonization of Pagans in Haiti." American Anthropological Association conference,
Philadelphia, PA, December 5, 1998.
"Displaying Catholicisms in America." American Academy of Religion Conference, Orlando, Florida, November, 1998.
"Roots, Rock, Rasin: Haiti and World Music." Guest Lecture, New York University Performance Studies Department, October 15, 1998.
"Teaching African-based Religions in the U.S." American Museum of Natural History, New York City, September 28, 1998.
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