As part of its Conferencias Caribeñas 10 lecture series for January-May 2012, the Institute of Caribbean Studies of the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPR-RP), invites the academic community and the general public to a lecture “Gade nan mizè-am tonbe: Las prácticas del Vodou en Haití ante la crisis ambiental” [Gade nan mizè-am tonbe: Vodoun Practices in Haiti before the Environmental Crisis] by by Dr. Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (Professor of Hispanic Studies; Randolph Distinguished Professor Chair; Director of Environmental Studies; and Director of Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Vassar College). Jean Ourdy Pierre (PhD candidate, Hispanic Studies Graduate Program, School of Humanities, UPR-RP) will comment the lecture.

The activity will be held on Thursday, April 12, 2012, from 1:00 to 3:00pm in Amphitheatre Manuel Maldonado Denis (CRA 108) of Carmen Rivera de Alvarado (CRA) Building, School of Social Sciences, UPR-RP.

Description: “Gade nan mizè-am tonbe” is a religious song dedicated to the lwa Bwa Nan Bwa [Tree in the Woods spirit] in which the faithful implore the gods to observe the misery in which they are living. With this prayer as a starting point, this study explores the impact of the environmental crisis—especially the acute Haitian deforestation and loss of the sacred mapous—on Vodoun practices. The discussion includes an analysis of the ways in which the January 2010 earthquake has exacerbated this impact, particularly in practices and beliefs related to death.

This lecture will be broadcast LIVE online through the following website: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cc71***

Comments and suggestions on the presentation will be welcome at iec-ics@upr.edu

For further information, you may call Dr. Humberto García Muñiz, Director, at (787) 764-0000, extension 4212, or write to iec@uprrp.edu

Also see the Institute of Caribbean Studies on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#%21/pages/Instituto-de-Estudios-del-Caribe-UPR/146169468754542?ref=sgm

Painting (“Namn nan Bwa”) by Alex Destiné from http://faculty.goucher.edu/mbell/namnnan.htm