Elizabeth McAlister
Wesleyan University
Department of Religion
Middletown, CT 06459
Telephone : (860) 685-2820
Fax : (860) 685-2821
 
1995 Ph.D. American Studies, Yale University
1993 M. Phil. American Studies, Yale University
1992 M.A. History, Yale University
1990 M.A. African and Afro-American Studies, Yale University
1985 B.A. summa cum laude, Anthropology, Vassar College
Scholarly Publications

"The Jew in the Haitian Imagination:  Premodern Anti-Judaism in the Postmodern Caribbean."  In Yvonne Chireau and Nathaniel Deutch, eds., Black Zion:  African-American Religious Encounters with Judaism.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2000.

"Spirits of Haitian Vodou: Love, Gender and Sexuality Embodied."  In Nancy Martin and Joseph Runzo, eds., Love, Sex and Gender in the World Religions.  Oxford Oneworld Press, 2000.

"Vodou and Catholicism in the Age of Transnationalism:  The Madonna of 115th Street Revisited."  In R. Stephen Warner (ed.)  Gatherings in Diaspora:  Religious Communities and the New Immigration.  Philadelphia:  Temple University Press, 1998, 123-160.

"A Sorcerer's Bottle: The Visual Art of Magic in Haiti." In Donald J. Cosentino (ed.) Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995: 304-321.

"'Men Moun Yo; Here Are The People:" Haitian Rara Festivals and Transnational Popular Culture in Haiti and New York City." Ph.d. Dissertation, Yale University, 1995.

"Sacred Stories from the Haitian Diaspora: A Collective Biography of Seven Vodou Priestesses in New York City." Journal of Caribbean Studies, Vol. 9, Nos 1 & 2 (Winter 1993): 10-27.

"Vodou in New York City: New Creolizations: The Economizing of Ritual Time and Space in Haitian Religion." M.A. Thesis, Yale University, 1990.
 

Magazine Articles, Album Notes, Essays
 

Angels in the Mirror:  Vodou Music of Haiti. Roslyn, NY: Ellipsis Arts Publications, 1997. [CD and Booklet]

"Vodou Music and Ritual Work." Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou,. Liner notes to Compact Disc published by Smithsonian/Folkways, 1995.

"Walking with the Mardi Gras Indians." FACES: The Magazine About People, (American Museum of Natural History Magazine for Children) Vol 10, No. 4 (February 1993): 30-33.

"Rara Demonstrations: Traditional Ritual Turns Political Weapon in Haitian New York." International Forum at Yale, Vol 12, No. 1 (1992): 10-13.

"Serving the Spirits Across Two Seas: Vodou Culture in Haiti and New York," Aperture, Vol. 126 (Winter 1992): 40-47.

"Home Away From Home: Haitian Life in New York." FACES: The Magazine About People, (American Museum of Natural History Magazine for Children) Vol 8, No. 6 (February 1992): 32-37.

"Haitians Make Some Noise in Brooklyn," on Rara in New York, The Beat, Vol 10, No. 4 (Summer 1991): 28-29.

"Ton Ton Club," on music in Haiti since Duvalier, Mirabella, January 1990.

"Voodoo," New York Woman, March 1988.

Media Presentations

Producing and Consulting,  Africans in America:  America's Journey Through Slavery.  4-part television series for WGBG/Boston.  Compact disc published by Rykodisk and WGBH, RCD 90444, 1998.

Producer and Editor, Angels in the Mirror:  Vodou Music of Haiti.  Book and compact disc. Roslyn, NY:  Ellipsis Arts, 1997.

Consultant and guest, "Songs of Resistance." Documentary for CBS "Under Fire."  May 1997.

Producer and compiler, Rhythms of Rapture: Sacred Musics of Haitian Vodou, Compact Disc published by Smithsonian/Folkways, 1995. [Reviewed in the New York Times, Sunday February 18, 1996, L.A. Times, November 11, 1995, Esquire January 1996]

Guest, "Fresh Air," with Terry Gross, National Public Radio, February 20, 1996.

Ethnographic field producer for television documentary on cross-cultural spirituality: "Mystic Lands," produced by The Duncan Group for The Learning Channel, 1995-1996.

Liner Notes and song translations. Libete Pran Pou Pran'l/Freedom Let's Grab It. Compact Disc by Boukman Eksperyans published by Island Mango, 1995.

Production and field research, "News From Haiti." Afro-Pop Worldwide, National Public Radio, December, 1993.

Co-Producer, "The White Darkness," Radio essay on Vodou in New York for "All Things Considered," National Public Radio, April 1988.
 

Grants and Fellowships
1999-2000 Pew Program Faculty Grant in Religion and American History, Yale University.

1999  Faculty Fellow, Spring Term, Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University.
1997-1998 Fellow, Program for Young Scholars in American Religion, at The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana University.
1996-1997 Visitor, Mellon Seminar on Transnational Approaches to the Study of International Migration and Refugee Movements, Yale University Center for Global Migration.
1995-96 Post-doctoral Fellow, Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, New Brunswick.
1994-95 Dissertation Fellow, New Ethnic and Immigrant Congregations Project, University of Illinois at Chicago.
1993-1994 Dissertation Fellow, McNeil Award in Material Culture Studies, Yale University
1992-1993 Henry Hart Rice Advanced Research Fellow, Yale University, for field research in Haiti

 
Selected Papers, Lectures and Conferences

Panel Organizer:  "Bodies and Spirits:  Race, Religion and Identity Formation in the Americas."  American Anthropological Association conference, (Society for Cultural Anthropology Section), Philadelphia, Pa, December 5, 1998.

"Jews, Jesus and Vodou:  Roman Catholic Demonization of Pagans in Haiti."  American Anthropological Association conference, Philadelphia, Pa, December 5, 1998.

"Displaying Catholicisms in America."  American Academy of Religion Conference, Orlando, Florida, November, 1998.

"Roots, Rock, Rasin:  Haiti and World Music."  Guest Lecture, New York University Performance Studies Department, October 15, 1998.

"Teaching African-based Religions in the U.S."  American Museum of Natural History, New York City, September 28, 1998.

"Transnational Black Popular Culture: The Case of Haitian Rara Rituals in New York City." Lecture for the Mellon Lecture Series on Global Migration at Yale University, May 7, 1997.

"Haitian Traditional Religion: Music and Dance Workshop." Choate Rosemary Hall School, Diversity Day. April 12, 1977. (With Ti Aiyti Dance Troupe)

"The Religious Landscape of Haitian New York." Invited Conference on Immigrant Catholicism at Catholic University, Washington, DC, March 6-9, 1997.

"Syncretism or Creolization? Catholicism and Afro-Caribbean Religion." Invited Conference on Religious Transformations: Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters." Rutgers University, October 25-27, 1996.

"The Jew in the Haitian Imagination." Northeast Seminar on Black Religions, Princeton University, December 1995.
 

     Languages
Haitian Kreyol, fluent speaking and reading ability

French, reading and speaking knowledge
Academic Associations
American Academy of Religion
American Anthropological Association
American Studies Association
Arts Council of the African Studies Association
Society for Ethnomusicology