ISLAND POSSESSED

by Katherine Dunham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1969

Katherine Dunham received a fellowship to study both dance and anthropology in Haiti in 1936. She has never separated the two...with evident reason in this intriguing memoir. She operated out of a fierce, almost frightening curiosity, seeking out secret rites in the back country and finally was actually initiated into the vaudum (voodoo) sect. An event recounted at much length in the most fascinating section of the book. She was also an intimate of Dumarsaes, the reform president who was ousted after a relatively short time and died a pitiable death in exile. She's had her run ins with Papa Doc and the rigidities of the ""class"" color system. She's slept directly beneath an enormous snake, watched the corpse of a witchdoctor sigh and raise an arm to point out his successor, observed the effects of possession and exorcised a haunted plantation. And in the interim she's taken dance groups all over the world. Like the island she's a weird, unforgettable mixture.

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1969

ISBN: 0226171132

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION