Christian Vannier | University of Michigan - Flint (original) (raw)
Books by Christian Vannier
An Ethnography of a Vodu Shrine in Southern Togo Of Spirit, Slave and Sea, 2017
In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on ... more In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on the cultural meanings and practices surrounding the gods and metaphysics of Vodu, as they relate to daily life in an ethnic Ewe fishing community on the coast of southern Togo. The authors approach this spirit possession and medicinal order through " shrine ethnography, " understanding shrines as parts of sacred landscapes that are ecological, economic, political, and social. Giving voice to practitioners and situating shrines and Vodu itself into the history and political economy of the region make this text pertinent to the social changes and global relevance of Millennial Africa.
This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse s... more This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse set of ethnographic chapters with accompanying reflective essays that introduce and situate the chapters as representative of new directions in the field. Chapters cover NGO work in Tanzania, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, the United States, Peru, and India. The diverse institutional worlds and networks include feminist activism, international aid donors, USAID democracy experts, Romani activist, academic gender studies, volunteer tourism, Jewish philanthropy, Islamic faith-based development, child welfare, women's legal arbitration, and environmental conservation.
Journal Articles by Christian Vannier
Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, 2020
Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term... more Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term has been extensively problematized, anthropologists have kept the term, reading fetishes as cultural texts and searching to untangle the material assemblages and deep symbols that comprise them. This article contributes to our knowledge of fetishes by applying a practitioner-centric approach to their use and meaning in the matrices of Vodu. First, I elucidate meanings of these spiritual embodiments using ethnography of prayer and sacrifice in Gorovodu as practiced by ethnic Ewe and Mina communities in southern Togo. I then deploy the language of phenomenological anthropology to argue that fetishes bring intentionality into being and focus. Their filled presence directs consciousness towards the spirits and allows practitioners to sensuously experience spirituality and spiritual being. Rituals surrounding material fetishes are a means of intending reciprocal relationships with the divine into perceptual consciousness, and it is through these relationships that life and success are made possible.
Anthropos, 2019
Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizin... more Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizing and legitimating indigenous religious specialists that provide ritual services such as healing to congregations and communities. Drawing upon interviews with religious specialists and observations surrounding these organizations, this article ethnographically details a particular organization whose principal aim is to codify and enforce social sanctions that originate in Vodu law. The article concludes that in this case study processes of formalization and professionalization signify processes of “NGOization,” the adoption of the “NGO form” that allows for the representation of beliefs and people not typically represented by the state or market.
This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices sur- rounding Tchamba vodu among An... more This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices sur- rounding Tchamba vodu among Anlo-Ewe vodu adepts in southern Togo. Mama Tchamba, or Grandmother Slave, is a religious order devoted to the veneration of the spirits of slaves purchased by the ancestors of Tchamba adepts and sold or kept in the community as wives and mothers. This article documents Tchamba vodu through the authors’ interviews and observations in the community and situ- ates these beliefs and practices in the larger cultural context of slavery and ritual among the Anlo Ewe. Drawing on mimetic theory, we argue that Tchamba ceremonial practices represent performed memorializa- tions of the cultural experiences of slavery along the coast of the Bight of Benin and open culturally productive spaces and identities through mimetic bodily performance.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to document the empirical uses of the materia medica of v... more ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to document the empirical uses of the materia medica of vodu priest-healers and con-textualize these medicines in the religious matrices of southern Togo. Gorovodu is the dominant religion of the area and central to the physical and social well-being of ethnic Ewe vodu practitioners in the greater Volta region. Though ethno-pharmacological and anthropological research has focused on African medicine for quite some time, disciplinary boundaries frequently relegate the material dimensions to ethno-pharmacology and the symbolic di-mensions to anthropology, reinforcing nature-culture dualisms inherent to Western thought. This article seeks to unify empirical data stemming from the ethno-pharmacological literature on plant medicine and ethnographic data on etiology, diagnosis, and treatment to provide a more cross-disciplinary view of medicine and healing in West Afri-ca. Engaging community priest-healers and patients in a fishing community along the Bight of Benin, researchers gathered data on plant medicines and plant-based healing practices using videography and participant observa-tion from 2005-2006 and again in 2013. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on African herb-al medicine by expanding upon previous ethno-pharmacological codifications and supporting them by giving ethno-graphic treatment to values and beliefs of vodu religion in which these prescriptions are situated.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology …, Jan 1, 2010
Book Reviews by Christian Vannier
The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean …, Jan 1, 2010
Other by Christian Vannier
This is a review written by Randy Baier of our film, "Chasing the Spirit: Gorovodu in Southern To... more This is a review written by Randy Baier of our film, "Chasing the Spirit: Gorovodu in Southern Togo," published in "Comparative Studies in Society and History," July 2016.
Papers by Christian Vannier
Journal of Religion in Africa, 2018
This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse s... more This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse set of ethnographic chapters with accompanying reflective essays that introduce and situate the chapters as representative of new directions in the field. Chapters cover NGO work in Tanzania, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, the United States, Peru, and India. The diverse institutional worlds and networks include feminist activism, international aid donors, USAID democracy experts, Romani activist, academic gender studies, volunteer tourism, Jewish philanthropy, Islamic faith-based development, child welfare, women's legal arbitration, and environmental conservation.
Material Religion, 2020
Abstract Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though ... more Abstract Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term has been extensively problematized, anthropologists have kept the term, reading fetishes as cultural texts and searching to untangle the material assemblages and deep symbols that comprise them. This article contributes to our knowledge of fetishes by applying a practitioner-centric approach to their use and meaning in the matrices of Vodu. First, I elucidate meanings of these spiritual embodiments using ethnography of prayer and sacrifice in Gorovodu as practiced by ethnic Ewe and Mina communities in southern Togo. I then deploy the language of phenomenological anthropology to argue that fetishes bring intentionality into being and focus. Their filled presence directs consciousness towards the spirits and allows practitioners to sensuously experience spirituality and spiritual being. Rituals surrounding material fetishes are a means of intending reciprocal relationships with the divine into perceptual consciousness, and it is through these relationships that life and success are made possible.
Anthropos, 2019
Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizin... more Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizing and legitimating indigenous religious specialists that provide ritual services such as healing to congregations and communities. Drawing upon interviews with religious specialists and observations surrounding these organizations, this article ethnographically details a particular organization whose principal aim is to codify and enforce social sanctions that originate in Vodu law. The article concludes that in this case study processes of formalization and professionalization signify processes of “NGOization,” the adoption of the “NGO form” that allows for the representation of beliefs and people not typically represented by the state or market.
Journal of Africana Religions, 2016
This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices surrounding Tchamba vodu among Anlo... more This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices surrounding Tchamba vodu among Anlo-Ewe vodu adepts in southern Togo. Mama Tchamba, or Grandmother Slave, is a religious order devoted to the veneration of the spirits of slaves purchased by the ancestors of Tchamba adepts and sold or kept in the community as wives and mothers. This article documents Tchamba vodu through the authors' interviews and observations in the community and situates these beliefs and practices in the larger cultural context of slavery and ritual among the Anlo Ewe. Drawing on mimetic theory, we argue that Tchamba ceremonial practices represent performed memorializations of the cultural experiences of slavery along the coast of the Bight of Benin and open culturally productive spaces and identities through mimetic bodily performance.
An Ethnography of a Vodu Shrine in Southern Togo Of Spirit, Slave and Sea, 2017
In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on ... more In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on the cultural meanings and practices surrounding the gods and metaphysics of Vodu, as they relate to daily life in an ethnic Ewe fishing community on the coast of southern Togo. The authors approach this spirit possession and medicinal order through " shrine ethnography, " understanding shrines as parts of sacred landscapes that are ecological, economic, political, and social. Giving voice to practitioners and situating shrines and Vodu itself into the history and political economy of the region make this text pertinent to the social changes and global relevance of Millennial Africa.
This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse s... more This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse set of ethnographic chapters with accompanying reflective essays that introduce and situate the chapters as representative of new directions in the field. Chapters cover NGO work in Tanzania, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, the United States, Peru, and India. The diverse institutional worlds and networks include feminist activism, international aid donors, USAID democracy experts, Romani activist, academic gender studies, volunteer tourism, Jewish philanthropy, Islamic faith-based development, child welfare, women's legal arbitration, and environmental conservation.
Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, 2020
Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term... more Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term has been extensively problematized, anthropologists have kept the term, reading fetishes as cultural texts and searching to untangle the material assemblages and deep symbols that comprise them. This article contributes to our knowledge of fetishes by applying a practitioner-centric approach to their use and meaning in the matrices of Vodu. First, I elucidate meanings of these spiritual embodiments using ethnography of prayer and sacrifice in Gorovodu as practiced by ethnic Ewe and Mina communities in southern Togo. I then deploy the language of phenomenological anthropology to argue that fetishes bring intentionality into being and focus. Their filled presence directs consciousness towards the spirits and allows practitioners to sensuously experience spirituality and spiritual being. Rituals surrounding material fetishes are a means of intending reciprocal relationships with the divine into perceptual consciousness, and it is through these relationships that life and success are made possible.
Anthropos, 2019
Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizin... more Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizing and legitimating indigenous religious specialists that provide ritual services such as healing to congregations and communities. Drawing upon interviews with religious specialists and observations surrounding these organizations, this article ethnographically details a particular organization whose principal aim is to codify and enforce social sanctions that originate in Vodu law. The article concludes that in this case study processes of formalization and professionalization signify processes of “NGOization,” the adoption of the “NGO form” that allows for the representation of beliefs and people not typically represented by the state or market.
This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices sur- rounding Tchamba vodu among An... more This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices sur- rounding Tchamba vodu among Anlo-Ewe vodu adepts in southern Togo. Mama Tchamba, or Grandmother Slave, is a religious order devoted to the veneration of the spirits of slaves purchased by the ancestors of Tchamba adepts and sold or kept in the community as wives and mothers. This article documents Tchamba vodu through the authors’ interviews and observations in the community and situ- ates these beliefs and practices in the larger cultural context of slavery and ritual among the Anlo Ewe. Drawing on mimetic theory, we argue that Tchamba ceremonial practices represent performed memorializa- tions of the cultural experiences of slavery along the coast of the Bight of Benin and open culturally productive spaces and identities through mimetic bodily performance.
ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to document the empirical uses of the materia medica of v... more ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to document the empirical uses of the materia medica of vodu priest-healers and con-textualize these medicines in the religious matrices of southern Togo. Gorovodu is the dominant religion of the area and central to the physical and social well-being of ethnic Ewe vodu practitioners in the greater Volta region. Though ethno-pharmacological and anthropological research has focused on African medicine for quite some time, disciplinary boundaries frequently relegate the material dimensions to ethno-pharmacology and the symbolic di-mensions to anthropology, reinforcing nature-culture dualisms inherent to Western thought. This article seeks to unify empirical data stemming from the ethno-pharmacological literature on plant medicine and ethnographic data on etiology, diagnosis, and treatment to provide a more cross-disciplinary view of medicine and healing in West Afri-ca. Engaging community priest-healers and patients in a fishing community along the Bight of Benin, researchers gathered data on plant medicines and plant-based healing practices using videography and participant observa-tion from 2005-2006 and again in 2013. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on African herb-al medicine by expanding upon previous ethno-pharmacological codifications and supporting them by giving ethno-graphic treatment to values and beliefs of vodu religion in which these prescriptions are situated.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology …, Jan 1, 2010
This is a review written by Randy Baier of our film, "Chasing the Spirit: Gorovodu in Southern To... more This is a review written by Randy Baier of our film, "Chasing the Spirit: Gorovodu in Southern Togo," published in "Comparative Studies in Society and History," July 2016.
Journal of Religion in Africa, 2018
This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse s... more This book offers the first comprehensive examination of NGO anthropology by combining a diverse set of ethnographic chapters with accompanying reflective essays that introduce and situate the chapters as representative of new directions in the field. Chapters cover NGO work in Tanzania, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, the United States, Peru, and India. The diverse institutional worlds and networks include feminist activism, international aid donors, USAID democracy experts, Romani activist, academic gender studies, volunteer tourism, Jewish philanthropy, Islamic faith-based development, child welfare, women's legal arbitration, and environmental conservation.
Material Religion, 2020
Abstract Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though ... more Abstract Early encounters with Africa initiated a European fascination with the “fetish.” Though this term has been extensively problematized, anthropologists have kept the term, reading fetishes as cultural texts and searching to untangle the material assemblages and deep symbols that comprise them. This article contributes to our knowledge of fetishes by applying a practitioner-centric approach to their use and meaning in the matrices of Vodu. First, I elucidate meanings of these spiritual embodiments using ethnography of prayer and sacrifice in Gorovodu as practiced by ethnic Ewe and Mina communities in southern Togo. I then deploy the language of phenomenological anthropology to argue that fetishes bring intentionality into being and focus. Their filled presence directs consciousness towards the spirits and allows practitioners to sensuously experience spirituality and spiritual being. Rituals surrounding material fetishes are a means of intending reciprocal relationships with the divine into perceptual consciousness, and it is through these relationships that life and success are made possible.
Anthropos, 2019
Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizin... more Indigenous religious organizations in southern Togo represent organized means of professionalizing and legitimating indigenous religious specialists that provide ritual services such as healing to congregations and communities. Drawing upon interviews with religious specialists and observations surrounding these organizations, this article ethnographically details a particular organization whose principal aim is to codify and enforce social sanctions that originate in Vodu law. The article concludes that in this case study processes of formalization and professionalization signify processes of “NGOization,” the adoption of the “NGO form” that allows for the representation of beliefs and people not typically represented by the state or market.
Journal of Africana Religions, 2016
This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices surrounding Tchamba vodu among Anlo... more This article ethnographically documents beliefs and practices surrounding Tchamba vodu among Anlo-Ewe vodu adepts in southern Togo. Mama Tchamba, or Grandmother Slave, is a religious order devoted to the veneration of the spirits of slaves purchased by the ancestors of Tchamba adepts and sold or kept in the community as wives and mothers. This article documents Tchamba vodu through the authors' interviews and observations in the community and situates these beliefs and practices in the larger cultural context of slavery and ritual among the Anlo Ewe. Drawing on mimetic theory, we argue that Tchamba ceremonial practices represent performed memorializations of the cultural experiences of slavery along the coast of the Bight of Benin and open culturally productive spaces and identities through mimetic bodily performance.
An Ethnography of a Vodu Shrine in Southern Togo, 2017
In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on ... more In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on the cultural meanings and practices surrounding the gods and metaphysics of Vodu, as they relate to daily life in an ethnic Ewe fishing community on the coast of southern Togo. The authors approach this spirit possession and medicinal order through “shrine ethnography,” understanding shrines as parts of sacred landscapes that are ecological, economic, political, and social. Giving voice to practitioners and situating shrines and Vodu itself into the history and political economy of the region make this text pertinent to the social changes and global relevance of Millennial Africa.
Journal of Haitian Studies, Apr 1, 2009
Visual Anthropology Review, 2013
Michigan Academician, 2013
Indigenous development professionals in southern Haiti occupy an intermediary position between ac... more Indigenous development professionals in southern Haiti occupy an intermediary position between actors and institutions of the international development industry and the rural peasant beneficiaries of development projects and programs. Educated and trained as agronomists or development technicians, these professionals facilitate the transmission of northern development standards and ideologies to southern subjectivities. By first situating Haitian development into greater post-structural understandings of how the global south is produced, these agents of globalization will be oriented as rural intellectuals in the Gramscian sense. In the rural communes surrounding the city of Les Cayes in southern rural Haiti, indigenous professionals have a place in the social field that characterizes localized development practice, which itself is located in larger regimes of power and representation that typify development processes around the world. These frequently urban-based professional agent...
In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on ... more In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on the cultural meanings and practices surrounding the gods and metaphysics of Vodu, as they relate to daily life in an ethnic Ewe fishing community on the coast of southern Togo. The authors approach this spirit possession and medicinal order through “shrine ethnography,” understanding shrines as parts of sacred landscapes that are ecological, economic, political, and social. Giving voice to practitioners and situating shrines and Vodu itself into the history and political economy of the region make this text pertinent to the social changes and global relevance of Millennial Africa.
In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on ... more In this book, Eric Montgomery and Christian Vannier provide an ethnographically informed text on the cultural meanings and practices surrounding the gods and metaphysics of Vodu, as they relate to daily life in an ethnic Ewe fishing community on the coast of southern Togo. The authors approach this spirit possession and medicinal order through “shrine ethnography,” understanding shrines as parts of sacred landscapes that are ecological, economic, political, and social. Giving voice to practitioners and situating shrines and Vodu itself into the history and political economy of the region make this text pertinent to the social changes and global relevance of Millennial Africa.