Nan Domi

"So Haiti, known for its natural and sociopolitical calamities, offers us a book about the immaterial, trans-rational spirituality of its Vodou, about the world beyond time and space. Most works about Vodou until now were, according to Madison Smartt Bell's superlative preface, about its "external" elements. Thus, Beaubrun's personalized account of her spiritual itinerary is even more valuable ... Such observations illustrate the fascination of this book, which enlightens us about Haitian spirituality and provides invaluable insights into Haitian culture."--Robert H. McCormick Jr., World Literature Today "For those looking for a first-person guide&mash;and importantly, a Haitian guide--into the ways of Vodou, Mimerose Beaubrun's Nan Domi is a unique, indispensable, and mysterious primer."--Amy Wilentz, author of The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier and Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti "Nan Domi stays localized in Haiti, yet its universality, like that of Buddhism or Hinduism or any of the enduring religious worldviews, becomes apparent from Beaubrun's instructive guidance into this transferable territory. She directly confronts the same questions that arise in every worldview, every philosophy, every religion, and every science ... Beaubrun takes us along the Vodou path to comprehending the nature of the universe, the nature of the ordinary and the divine, and also into the mired terrain of darkness and light, evil and suffering, and human frailty and strength, the twin threats of being and nothingness ... Her story courageously unfolds her personal extension and deepening of awareness, not as a substitute for ordinary Western ways but as expansion of comprehension and competency ... These are the lessons of this important book."--LeGrace Benson, Associate Editor, Journal of Haitian Studies "Reading Mimerose Beaubrun's Nan Domi: An Initiate's Journey into Haitian Vodou is like crossing the threshold into a dream-state of boundless mysteries. Beaubrun's training as an anthropologist is evident in this captivating book. Each page is replete with the intricate details which only a seasoned researcher can provide. What begins as an expedition to uncover the inner workings of a Lakou/community leads to acquiring the esoteric knowledge which only an initiate may gain."--Katia D. Ulysse, author of Drifting "What makes Nan Domi a standout from other texts on Haitian Vodou is Beaubrun's willingness to share her personal accounts of Vodou, and to resist the urge to justify Vodou's mysticism to a Western audience ... Nan Domi is not a Vodou apologist text. It neither deliberately recoups Vodou from an avalanche of negative portrayals and stereotypes, nor does it provide a base understanding of Vodou philosophy through a systematic and linear articulation of major themes and concepts in Haitian Vodou in a way that might be more digestible for Western readers. Instead, Nan Domi, posits Vodou's universality ... perhaps those with the most to gain from reading Nan Domi, are fellow scholars and academics of Haiti/Haitian Vodou who, similarly to Beaubrun believe they have a sufficient understanding of the theoretical concepts and workings of Vodou."--Haiti: Then and Now "Mimerose Beaubrun's Nan Domi opens the barriers between this world and Ginen anba dlo ("Africa beneath the waters"). What distinguishes Beaubrun's text from the many anthropological studies of Vodou previously published is that it eschews the public ritual aspects of the religion, to focus entirely on its private, inner, mystical elements as experienced by an initiated vodouist. Beaubrun allows her readers to accompany her on her path, with all its trials, terrors, dead-ends, frustrations, and revelations from the kalfou (crossroads) of this world, to the realm of Nan Domi (a state of lucid dreaming) and the mystic heart of Vodou, where in the state of possession ego is abandoned and the initiate incarnates as a divine spirit."--Simon Lee, The Caribbean Review of Books