Seminar | The songs and prayers of Sèvis Ginen: Historical linguistic approaches to Haitian Vodou | Benjamin Hebblethwaite
February 6 @ 15:30 - 17:00
Songs and prayers are the basis of oral and printed sacred literature in the African diaspora religion of Sèvis Ginen (African Service), one of Haiti’s best documented traditions of Vodou. The songs and prayers of Vodou are among the oldest known Kreyòl language documents given their multiple entry points into an encyclopedic and millennium-spanning record of Atlantic history and language.
These texts are the best sources for reconstructing a three-part linguistic history of Haitian Vodou’s lexicon comprised of pre-colonial African, Indigenous, and European strata (1000-1789 CE), a colonial Saint-Domingue stratum (1650-1803 CE), and a post-colonial Haitian stratum (1804-today). Historians of Saint-Domingue and Haiti have relied on French colonial archives out of necessity, yet the emergence of Sèvis Ginen’s Kreyòl textual corpora from centuries of orality is a revolution in sources.
Benjamin Hebblethwaite’s presentation highlights the historical linguistic significance of Max Beauvoir’s (2008a and 2008b) collections of Kreyòl songs and prayers, demonstrating how they form a corpus that allows for a historical linguistic analysis that segments Vodou’s lexicon into three major historical periods of Atlantic history. Hebblethwaite’s focuses on how the Kreyòl-language corpora of Vodou songs and prayers represent a panoramic historical linguistic archive, one that necessitates a revision of the history of Saint-Domingue and Haiti.
Speaker
Benjamin Hebblethwaite is a professor in the department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Florida, where he teaches courses on linguistics and culture focused on Haitian Creole and French, and a visiting fellow at KITLV. He is currently working on his book project, The songs and prayers of Sèvis Ginen: Historical linguistic approaches to Haitian Vodou. Ben’s journey into Netherlandic studies began with Afrikaans in 1993, including a year in South Africa studying the language in 1995-96, a semester at the KU Leuven in 1999, and decades of reading inspired Dutch-language books. At KITLV Ben will focus on writing the historical analysis of the Kingdom of Hueda and its main Vodun temple, the Slangenhuis (Snake House) and its Slangendienst (Snake Service), based on the singular observations of Willem Bosman.
Moderator
Tom Hoogervorst is a senior researcher at KITLV and an adjunct professor at the Department of Indonesian at the State University of Malang. As a historical linguist, Tom has focused on language contact in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, viewing the past through the lens of language.
Discussant
Sony Jean (to be confirmed) is a researcher at the Institute for History (Leiden University) and affiliated researcher at KITLV. As an archaeologist, his work focuses on the longue-durée landscape transformation of Haiti from the Amerindian occupation to the contemporary society. Sony combines ethnographic research material culture studies, visual and textual documents, interviews, and participant observations in his work.
Format, date, time & venue
This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 6 February from 15.30 – 17.00 PM (CET).
Registration
If you want to join this seminar on location, please register via: [email protected].
If you wish to join this seminar online, please register here.
Image
Practitioners of Haitian Vodou at Société Makaya in Miami, Florida. Photographer: Richard Freeman.
