Currently working between two seminal books:
LEFT: Image from Diálogo Entre Filhos De Xangô of Fieldwork carried out in Ouidah, Benin by Pierre Verger in 1949. The book comprises letters between Pierre Verger and Roger Bastide (with References to Alfred Métreux`s field findings during the same period). It gives insights into the nascent academic formulation of Afro Atlantic religions.
Bastide, Roger and Pierre Verger. Diálogo Entre Filhos De Xangô: Correspondência 1947-1974. Edited by Françoise Morin and Regina Salgado Campos. EDUSP, 2017.
RIGHT: Returning to Robert Farris Thompson for the differentiation within Haitian Vodun. Chapter III, “The Rara of the Universe. Vodun Religion and Art Haiti”, explains Vodun practices in Haiti based on their origin:
“Both Rada and Petro partake of these sources of African influence; neither is traceable to just one source. Both are at once African-inspired and indigenously created. Rada, predominantly Dahomean and Yoruba, is the “cool” side of vodun, being associated with the achievement of peace and reconciliation. Petro, predominantly Kongo, is the hot side, being associated with the spiritual fire of charms for healing and for attacking evil forces” (p.164).
Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. New York: Random House, 1983.