InsidetheOunfò:MakingVodouVisible,1928-1940

“Is a religion that doesn’t evangelise a religion at all?”mused Katherine Dunham in Haiti, as she

struggled to gain access to the practices of Haitian Vodou. “(I was) frustrated at the sudden

knowledgethatbecauseIwasnotaHaitianIwouldneverreallyseebehindthatblandmask,though

Iattendathousandceremonies.”1

Therewereconvincingreasonsas towhydevoteesofVodouchosetohidetheirpractices inplain

sight,renderingthemselvesinvisibleinfrontofthegazeofcuriousforeigners.Vodouisthepopular

religionofHaiti,inwhichpractitionershonourtheonegodBondyèthroughworshipofintermediary

spirits, or lwa, who inhabit the space between the Earth and Nan Ginen.2 This devotion is

exemplifiedbytheceremony,wherethelwaarereveredintheounfò(temple)throughsong,dance

and sacrifice. If the lwawish to pass on a message they will come into the temple through the

medium of spirit possession. The leaders of Vodou worship are the ougan and manbo

(priest/priestess), who preside over the ceremony, and provide spiritual services for the local

community,includinghealinganddivination.

ThepracticeofVodouwasillegalinHaitiuntil1987,yet,asdocumentedinKateRamsey’sexcellent

bookTheSpiritsandtheLaw,until1915Haitianauthoritieswereunabletoenforcethisprohibition,

or otherwise turned a blind eye to illegal ceremonies.3 Yet at this time foreign travel-writers

subjected Vodou to gross exaggerations, spinning accusations of cannibalism and sexual abandon

occurring inside the ounfò to denigrate Haiti, the first black republic of the modern world, and

proclaim the incapacity of the black race for self-determination.4 Correspondingly, Haitian

intellectuals such as Hannibal Price and Jacques Léger, defending Haiti against its international

detractorsbymanufacturinganalternativeimageofHaitiasthe“MeccaoftheBlackRace,”denied

the very existence of Vodou as a practiced religion. Instead they framed theougan as amedical

charlatan–aquackherbdoctorwhomadeafortuneoutoftheignoranceofakindlypeasantry.5

1KatherineDunham,“HaitiNotes”,undated,KatherineDunhamPapers,SouthernIllinoisUniversitySpecialCollections,79/4.2NanGinenlooselytranslatesto“farawayAfrica,”andrepresentsaheavenlyrealminthephilosophyofHaitianVodou.3KateRamsey,TheSpiritsandtheLaw:VodouandPowerinHaiti,(London,2011),pp.14-15.4J.MichaelDash,HaitiandtheUnitedStates:NationalStereotypesandtheLiteraryImagination,(Basingstoke,1997),p15HannibalPrice,delaRéhabilitationdelaRaceNoireparlaRepubliqued’Haïti,(Port-au-Prince,1900),pp.419-425;JacquesAntoineLeger,Haiti,HerHistoryandHerDetractors,(Port-au-Prince,1908),PartII,ChaptersIVandV.

HaitiwasinvadedbytheUSAin1915,aftertheassassinationofPresidentVilbrunGuillameSam,and

wassubjecttomilitaryoccupationforthefollowingnineteenyears.TheAmericansenforcedtheold

anti-Vodou laws with renewed vigour. For the Marine Corps, Vodou was an alternative locus of

power, a threat, a way of life that fuelled Haitian resistance to military control and American

economicprojects.TheMarinesbecameagentsoficonoclasm,burningthesacreddrumsthatdrive

the ceremonies in huge fires, and chasing Vodou into the furthest reaches of the Haitian

countryside.6

Intheshadowsofthesoldierscamemissionariesofhealthandeducation,seekingtomouldHaitian

societyintotheirownvisionsofhowtheblackrepublicshouldlook.Theseagentsof“development”

outstayed the Marine bayonets. Over the following decades, control of Haitian affairs gradually

slipped outside its borders. Alongside came the travel writers, the Voodoo-Seekers, armed with

unprecedented access to the countryside. Vodou remained blurred at best in the gaze of these

writers,butW.B.Seabrook’sTheMagic Island filled inwhatremained invisiblewithsensationalist,

indulgentanderoticiseddescriptionsoftheVodouceremonydesignedtocaptivatethereader.

In the red light of torches whichmade themoon turn pale, leaping, screaming, writhingblack bodies, blood-maddened, sex-maddened, god-maddened, drunken, whirled anddancedtheirdarksaturnalia,headsthrownweirdlybackasiftheirneckswerebroken,whiteteethandeyeballsgleaming,whilecouplesseizingoneanotherfromtimetotimefledfromthecircle,asifpursuedbyfuries,intotheforesttoshareandslaketheirecstasy.7

6MaryRenda,TakingHaiti:MilitaryOccupationandtheCultureofU.S.Imperialism,(ChapelHill,2001),pp.53-57.7W.B.Seabrook,TheMagicIsland,(London,1929),p.41.

Figure1.AlexanderKing’saccompanyingillustrationtotheabovepassage.8

It was in images such as these that Vodou’s reputation left Haiti behind and festered in global

imaginations as something lurid, backward and strange. In Haiti, a growing indigèniste school,

headedbyDr.JeanPrice-Mars,aimedtocelebrateHaiti’sAfricanheritageandincorporateVodouas

acentralpartofHaitian folklore, indirectoppositiontothe iconoclasmof theoccupationandthe

disparagingwordsofSeabrookandhisilk.9Morenuanced,detaileddescriptionsofreligiouspractice

and amove towards dispassionate analysis followed, although Vodouwas still treated by Haitian

intellectualswithanairofcynicism.10However,sucheffortswentunnoticedoutsideofHaiti,whilst

TheMagic Islandbecameabestseller. For anoccupiednation,whose socioeconomic affairswere

increasingly under the yoke of agents of international development, the way in which foreigners

viewedHaitiancultureheldgreat influence.Simplyput,foreigninterventionthatwasmorecynical

aboutthestateofHaitianlifewasmoreauthoritarianandlessco-operativeinitsactions.

8Ibid,p.42.9SeeMagdalineW.Shannon,JeanPrice-Mars,theHaitianElite,andtheAmericanOccupation1915-1935,(NewYork,1996).10Forexample,JacquesRoumain,ethnographicnovelistanddiscipleofJeanPrice-Mars,soughttocelebrateHaitianpopularcultureinhisnovels,mostfamouslyMastersoftheDew(NewYork,1971),butstillcastacriticaleyeuponthesocialimpactofVodou,whichhefeltcausedthepeasantrytoviewtheirtroubleswithadismissivefatalism.GaillardwritesthatforRoumain,Vodouwas“thecharmandthehorrorofcountrylife.”RogerGaillard,L’UniversRomanesquedeJacquesRoumain,(Port-au-Prince,1965),p.20.

CrossingtheBarrier

AgroupofAmericananthropologistscametoviewthewordsofSeabrookandotherswithsuspicion.

TheysoughttoheedPrice-Mars’wishthat“otherswillplowthesamefurrow”ashedidand“spread

even more seeds.” 11 The ethos of Melville and Frances Herskovits, George Eaton Simpson, Alan

Lomax,KatherineDunhamandZoraNealeHurstonwasoneofculturalrelativism;atheoryheavily

influencedbytheworkofFranzBoas,thatassertedthatso-called“other”cultureswerenotworse

than thoseof Europe,onlydifferent.12But theyweremotivatedbymore than justdemonstrating

thatpreviouswritingsonHaitiwere“VoodooNonsense,”theseculturalrelativistscametoHaitito

seekevidencethatproved,insomewayoranother,theirtheoriesthatblackpeopleoftheAmericas

had the same capacity for self-determination and societal progress as any other.13 Melville

Herskovits, forexample, studiedHaiti aspartofhisgrandprojectdocumentingAfricancultures in

theAmericas,andusedhisconclusionstocommentuponthe“Negroproblem”intheUnitedStates.

The methodology of this school was participant-observation, a method in which the researcher

immerses themselves within a society, and developed by Bronislaw Malinowski to “grasp the

native’s point of view, his relation to life, his version of the world.” 14 Thismethodwas open to

multiple interpretations as to the appropriate extent of participation and observation within a

society, additionally affected by the race, gender, epistemology and equipment of the

anthropologist.Thisaffectedhowaresearchercouldparticipate,andhowHaitiansfeltaboutbeing

observed.

Thesewereprojectswithmultipleaims thatdesired to influenceaffairs inHaiti, theUnitedStates

andelsewhere.HaitianVodoubecamethefocusoftheseprojects,foritscentralpositioninHaitian

peasantsocietyanditsinfamousstatusoutsideofthenation.Tosucceed,theseanthropologistshad

togoinsidetheounfòandmakeVodouvisible.ButtoentertheVodoutemple,captureitspractices,

and disseminate it across the world held numerous problems. All the anthropologists saw

themselves in some form or another as “collectors,” in that through participant-observation the

truths of Vodouwould reveal themselves for documentation. For example, inMirebalais,Melville

Herskovitsaimedtobecomean“undigestedlumpofthebodypolitic”ofthetown,whereinhecould

“quietlyobservelifeasitdriftedbythedoor.”15Yetthecontingencyofparticipant-observationupon

11JeanPrice-Mars,SoSpoketheUncle(translationbyMagdalineShannon),(ColoradoSprings,1994(1stedition1928),p.9.12Dash,HaitiandtheUnitedStates,pp.74-79.13“VoodooNonsense”wasanarticlepublishedbyMelvilleHerskovitsinTheNationonthe11thSeptember1935,inresponsetoRichardLoederer’ssensationalisttravelogueVoodooFireinHaitithatmimickedSeabrookinmanyways.14QuotedinKarenO’Reilly,EthnographicMethods,(Padstow,2005),p.9.15MelvilleHerskovits,LifeinaHaitianValley,(London,2007),p.325,pp.330-331.

the anthropologists’ choices and status within Haitian society affected that which they deemed

worthyof collection,how this informationwasgathered, andwhatelementsofVodou theywere

abletowitnessandreproduce.AsJohnBergerwroteinWaysofSeeing,“Weonlyseewhatwelook

at.Tolookisanactofchoice.Asaresultofthisact,whatweseeisbroughtwithinorreach–though

notnecessarilywithinarm’s reach…Wenever just lookatone thing,wearealways lookingat the

relationbetweenthingsandourselves.”16The“thing”inquestionwasapeople,aculture,areligion

that itself had a highly developed relationship with foreign visitors. Berger asserts that vision is

reciprocal–“soonafterwecansee,weareawarethatwecanalsobeseen.”17

Toaccesstheounfòasaforeignermeantcrossingabarrier,firstconstructedinthedaysofslavery,

andreinforcedovercenturiesinthefaceofforeignandelitehostility,theiconoclasmoftheMarine

Corps, and thedisfigurationsof Seabrook.Within the templewasa sacred space, and the foreign

researcher was therefore required to gain a spiritual as well as a political trust to attend the

ceremony.AserviceusuallybeginswithaninvitationtoPapaLegbato“openthebarrier”between

the earthly and spiritual planes. Papa Legba, ouvre bayè pou mwen. If Legba approves, he will

appearandallowtheotherlwaaccesstotheceremonythroughspiritpossession.Anunauthorised

foreign presence could therefore jeopardise the success of the evening, for bothworshipper and

anthropologistalike.

George Eaton Simpson found that his very presence at ceremonies had the potential to derail

events,despitehiscompanionshipwithesteemedHaitianethnologistJ.B.Cinéas.

InJuly,1937,CinéasandIwereinvitedtoattendamajorvodunceremonyconductedbyaneighty-eightyearoldhoungan(vodunpriestess).Aftersendingaheadseveralgifts,includingenough cloth for a dress, rum, and a goat to be used as the principal sacrifice to the loa(vodungods),wearrivedbyhorsebackatMadameTi-Nomme’scompoundinaremoteruralarea several miles from Plaisance in the late afternoon. Holding ceremonies with animalsacrificeswasagainstthelaw,andMadameTi-Nommelosthernerveandusedthegoattomakealargestew.Asguestsofhonour,CinéasandIwereservedenormousportionsofthestewinenamelbowls.Aboutdusk,theceremonybeganandcontinuedallnightbutwithoutanyanimalsacrifices,notevenchickens.18

ItwasnotonlytheVodouizanofNorthernHaitiwhofoundSimpsonacurioussight;healsoattracted

theattentionof“nationalandlocalpoliticalofficials.”Inordertoattendaceremony,Simpsonthus

had tonavigateawebof suspicion frombothpractitionersof the illegal religion, and themilitary

policewhosentareporteachweektotheir“superiors inthecapitalonmyactivities inthevillage

16JohnBerger,WaysofSeeing,(London,1973),pp.8-9.17Ibid,p.9.18GeorgeEatonSimpson,“LifeHistoriesofGeorgeEatonSimpsonandEleanorBrownSimpson,1986”,senttoRonaldSimpson,25thApril1986,pp.21-22,OberlinCollegeArchives,GeorgeEatonSimpsonCollection,Box1,Folder“Biographies,autobiographies,1960-1995.”

and thecountryside.” 19Ononeoccasion,he invited the localChiefofPolice toa ceremony inan

attempttosmooththingsover,withdisastrousconsequences.

I invited the chief of police, who was also the lieutenant of the Gard (Haitian army) inPlaisance,tocometotheceremony.Hiswifebecamehystericalwhenthefirstchickenwassacrificed, and he ordered the rural policemen to break up the ceremony. These menproceeded to use clubs to scatter right and left on the ground the lighted candles,chromolithographs of Catholic saints, fruit and other sacrifices to the loa, and the localpeopledispersedimmediately.20

Afewyearsearlierin1934,MelvilleandFrancesHerskovits,farfromwatchinglifeonthedoorstep,

enteredthemselvesintoMirebalaissocietybymimickingtheroleofagwonèg(“bigman”),oreven

occupationofficial,duringthesummer inwhichtheMarineCorpsdepartedHaiti.Theyoccupieda

staffed large house, complete with “cook” and “boy” in the affluent section of the town; their

neighboursincludedtheheadoftheGarded’HaitiandtheretiredGeneralLeonardCantave,anold

strongmanfromthedaysbeforetheAmericanscame.21Moneyandsocialcapitalthereforebecame

the tool with which the Herskovitses gained access to the ounfò. Ramsey has written how the

Herskovitses and Simpson relied upon “staging” Vodou ceremonies to witness the religion’s

particularities. 22 Yet it was not just the illegality of Vodou that made this preferable to these

researchers, but additionally their participation in Haitian society as wealthy white foreigners –

objectsofbothsuspicionandopportunity -affectedhowtheywereable toobserveevents inside

the ounfò.Melville Herskovits additionally came to Mirebalais “looking for Africa,” as it was his

intentiontodocumentAfricanculturesintheNewWorld.23

I showed [the ougan] the pictures from the Dahomean religion monograph, and he wasfascinated,especiallywiththecultofLegba.Hetoucheditagainandagain(theownerofthehousesangalittleLegbasong)andsatforoveranhourlookingatit.24

Herskovitsalso, inamannerofspeaking,“staged”his interactionswith localVodouizan, triggering

reactionsthroughtheuseofWestAfricanitemsthathetheninterpretedasthatwhichhecameto

seek.Otheranthropologistsweremorescepticaltowardsuchpractices,andinsteadsearchedfora

more authentic experience of Haitian religion. Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston and Katherine

19GeorgeEatonSimpson,“Lecture:Fieldwork–CaribbeanandWestAfrican”,toMen’sGroup,FriendshipVillageofColumbusOH,2ndMarch1988,OCAGESBox3,“LecturespertainingtoReligionsoftheCaribbeanfieldwork,1987-1988,p.220GeorgeEatonSimpson,“LifeHistoriesofGeorgeEatonSimpsonandEleanorBrownSimpson,1986”,senttoRonaldSimpson,25thApril1986,pp.22-23,OCA,GES,Box121MelvilleHerskovits,“Diary–HaitianFieldTrip1934(June-Aug)”,MelvilleandFrancesHerskovitsPapers,SchombergInstitutefortheStudyofBlackCulture,Box13,Folder68,pp.5-6.22Ramsey,SpiritsandtheLaw,pp.219-221.23RichardPriceandSallyPrice,TheRootofRoots:Or,HowAfro-AmericanAnthropologyGotitsStart,(Chicago,2003),pp.18-21.24Herskovits,“Diary–HaitianFieldTrip,”27thJune1934.

DunhamallspenttimeatthePontBeudetInsaneAsylum,between1935and1937.Theasylum,set

upundertheoccupation,wasrunbyanAmerican,StanleyReiser,whohadmarriedamanboCecile

and gained initiation into the religion. The local Vodouizan were therefore able to worship from

within this official institutionwith a relative degree of impunity. Reiser’s presence alsomade the

asylumafriendlyplaceforforeignresearcherstoattendandobserveVodouinaction.However,the

uniquesettingsofPontBeudetprovidedaveryspecificlensthroughwhichtheanthropologistcould

viewVodou,anddidnotinitselfprovidethe“authenticity”thattheseresearcherssought.

ItwasatPontBeudetthatAlanLomaxandhisresearchassistantRevoliPolinicecapturedthefirst

ever Vodou ceremony put to record. 25 Technologies such as Lomax’s recording equipment, or

camerascarriedbySimpsonandHurston,werefrequentlydeployedinanattempttocaptureVodou

in amanner that avoids the selective, interpretative process of anthropological witnessing, note-

takingandpresentationaswrittenethnography.Herskovits’LifeinaHaitianValley,forexample,in

following a traditional ethnographical format that presentedHaitian culturewith little political or

social context, rooted in the “salvage” anthropology of Amerindian study, has been accused of

obscuring the realities of Haitian life to the extent that it presents a fiction that lacked the

ethnographical authority to overwhelm previous sensationalist descriptions of Vodou.26 However

technological capture of cultural detail is as prone to “mystification” as other forms of

anthropologicaldocumentation.Bartheswritesthat“thePhotographispurecontingencyandcanbe

nothingelse (it is always something that is represented)….it immediately yieldsup those “details”

whichconstitutetheveryrawmaterialofethnologicalknowledge,”yet inthis thephotographhas

thepowerto“turnsubjectintoobject”andobscuretheverycontingencyoutofwhichitismade.27

ThesameideascanbeappliedtoLomax’srecordings.Thesinginganddrummingheputtorecordat

theseremonikasegatoonthe6thJanuary1937,soundslikeitcouldhaveoriginatedfromanyounfò

inHaiti,butthesesoundsdeletetherigging,themicrophonesandthesilenceoftheinsaneasylum

thatpermittedLomaxtohearthesesoundsinthefirstplace.

InitiationintoVodou

KatherineDunhamandZoraNealeHurstonattemptedtocircumventthedifficultiesofcrossingthis

culturalborderbyseekinginitiationintothereligionitself.Toachievethis,a lwamustfirstchoose

25GageAverill,AlanLomaxinHaiti:AnnotatedHaitiRecordings,p.93,AlanLomaxHaitiCollection,AmericanFolklifeCenter,LibraryofCongress.26StephanPalmié,“Afterword”,inDianaPatonandMaaritForde,eds.,ObeahandOtherPowers:ThePoliticsofCaribbeanReligionandHealing,(London,2012),pp.332-333.27RolandBarthes,CameraLucida:ReflectionsonPhotography,(TranslatedbyRichardHoward;NewYork,1981),p.13,p.28.

youasa“horse”(andundergospiritpossession),beforeanouganormanboinvitesyoutopartakein

trialsthatenteryouintothehierarchyofVodou.AsblackAmericanwomen,HurstonandDunham

wereabletoparticipateinVodouinawaythattheHerskovitses,SimpsonandLomaxwereunable

(and/or unwilling) to do so. Aswomen alone in a highly patriarchal society, theywere unable to

cultivate researcher/informer relationships that the male anthropologists relied upon in their

research, and every action they took was subject to scrutiny from Haitian elite society. 28 They

thereforehad to seekalternativemeans togather their information.TheVodouizanofHaitiwere

willingtoacceptthemintotheirreligion, forasblackAmericans,theywereviewedas lostcousins

whorequiredreconnectionwiththespirits.29

Dunham herself was initiated at Pont Beudet. Although this allowed her access into the daily

practiceofVodoutherebeyondReiser’sshowcaseceremonies,shebecameamemberofoneofthe

mostuniqueVodousocieties inallofHaiti. Furthermore,Dunhamheldacomplicated relationship

withVodou,claiminginhermonographTheDancesofHaitithatsheusedherconsiderableskillasa

dancertosimulatethecontortionsofspiritpossession.30 In later life,sherevealedthatthemanbo

Cecile,DegrasseandTéolinewereawareofherambivalenceand“theyaccepted that.”31Dunham

andHurstonwerestilltreatedasforeign initiates,andcertainelementsofVodouremaineddistant

fromthem,asDunham’sfrustrationwithwhichwebeganthispaperdemonstrates.Hurstonherself

wasdeterredfromgaininginitiationintothehigherranksofVodouaftershereceivedthreats(from

undeterminedsources)whichHurstonbelievedweremotivatedbyasuspicionthatshewouldreveal

thesecretsofthereligiontotheworld.32

The dissemination of this research was also contingent on the politics of Vodou and foreign

intervention in Haiti. Hurston and Dunham, as initiates, were able to view what was invisible to

manyothers,butwereboundbythecodesofinitiationnottorevealthesespecifics,andHurston’s

subsequentpublicationTellMyHorsewascriticisedforarelativelackofdetail.33Butbothwomen,

withamoreintimateknowledgeofthereligion,andadiscomfortwiththeexclusive,dispassionate

nature of traditional anthropological writing, sought alternative means to make Vodou visible

outsideofHaitiandreachawideraudience.TellMyHorsemixedtraveloguewithethnographyand

storytelling,inanattemptto“giveatruepictureofNegrolife…atthesametimeasitentertains.”34

28LetterfromKatherineDunhamtoMelvilleJ.Herskovits,23rdJune1935,p.4,MJHNWSC7/1229KatherineDunhamOralHistory,c.2004,conductedbyReneePoussaint,,Video2,AmericanFolklifeCenter,LibraryofCongress.30KatherineDunham,TheDancesofHaiti,(London,1983),pp.xxiv.31DunhamOralHistory,Video2.32ValerieBoyd,WrappedinRainbows:TheLifeofZoraNealeHurston,(London,2003),p.322.33Ibid,pp.296-297.34Ibid,p.285,p.309.

However, Hurston’s literary riddling was occasionally so complex that, as Mary Renda writes, it

“reinforcedexoticdiscourseswhilecritiquingtheminthesamebreath.”Indeed,W.B.Seabrooksaw

it as an endorsement of his work! 35 Dunham travelled the world performing Vodou dance,

recreating the sacred movements in performance to showcase the deep religious and social

meaningsofthedances.YetDunham’sshowswereoftenbookedincorrespondencetotheenduring

interest in the “VoodooNonsense”peddledbySeabrook,and it isdifficult togauge theextent to

whichDunhamchallengedthepreconceptionsoftheaudience.36

VisibilityandObscurity

TheworkofMelvilleandFrancesHerskovits,GeorgeEatonSimpson,AlanLomax,KatherineDunham

andZoraNealeHurstondidmuchtopresentanalternativeimageofVodoutotheworldoutsideof

Haiti.Theywereabletoachievethisduetotheiradherencetothephilosophiesofculturalrelativism

and the methods of participant-observation. However, their aim to overcome the hegemonic

sensationalism associated with the religion by making Vodou visible not only reinforced such

narrativesas they tore themdown,butalsoobscuredVodou innewways.Curiously, a significant

legacy of representingVodouon an international scalewas a resurgence in interest inHaiti from

foreign agents of development in the 1940s, now persuaded that Haitian culture was not the

roadblock to progress itwas previously thought to be.37Yet the impact of the political and social

peculiarities in which the researchwas conducted and their subsequent deletionmeant that the

Vodoupresentedtotheoutsideworldappeared innumerousforms,noneofwhichwereproperly

equippedtodismantle thesensationalist rhetoricwithwhichVodou isstillassociated,evento the

presentday.

However,theworkofthesepioneeringresearchersbeganatraditionofamorecritical,formaland

reflexiveattitudeforthosewhocrossthe invisibleborder intotheCaribbeantobetterunderstand

itscultures.AsMelvilleHerskovitsoncewrote,“itisafirststatement,notafinalone.”38Theirwork

demonstratesthatitisveryimportanttospeak“truth”topower,bothinthepastandpresent,when

examininghiddenculturesthataresubjecttodamaginglies,butitisnotsufficient,norisitpossible,

35Renda,TakingHaiti,p.299.36Dunham’spublicistLeeMasonwouldcourtpotentialvenuesbyaccentuatingDunham’sexperiencesinHaiti.TooneclienthewrotethatDunham“wasinitiatedintothevoodoocultthereandcantellsomeprettygraphicstoriesabouttheirpractices.”LetterfromLeeMasontoFredWoltman,27thJanuary1940.KDSIU.37Forexample,theMarbialValleyPilotProject,organisedbyUNESCOinanattempttodevelopaholisticmodelofglobaldevelopment,wasdesignedaroundananthropologicalsurveyperformedbyAlfredandRhodaMétraux,disciplesofMelvilleHerskovits.SeeUNESCO,“TheHaitiPilotProject:PhaseOne,”inUNESCOMonographsonFundamentalEducationSeries4(Paris,1951).38LetterfromMelvilleJ.HerskovitstoAlanLomax,10thMarch1937,MJHNWSC13/2

toachievethisbysimplymakingtheseculturesvisible.Rather,thereareproblemsandcomplexities

in re-presenting such cultures across borders of which we must be aware, for the political

significanceforthosewhoexperienceitsconsequencescanbegreat.