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Conversations in Atlantic TheoryThese conversations explore the cultural, political, and philosophical traditions of the Atlantic world, ranging from European critical theory to the black Atlantic to sites of indigenous resistance and self-articulation, as well as the complex geography of thinking between traditions, inside traditions, and from positions of insurgency, critique, and counternarrative.. Author: Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy
These conversations explore the cultural, political, and philosophical traditions of the Atlantic world, ranging from European critical theory to the black Atlantic to sites of indigenous resistance and self-articulation, as well as the complex geography of thinking between traditions, inside traditions, and from positions of insurgency, critique, and counternarrative. Language: en Genres: Arts, Books, Philosophy, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Lauren Derby on Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands
Episode 118
Tuesday, 5 May, 2026
Dr. Lauren (Robin) Derby’s research has treated dictatorship and everyday life, the long durée social history of the Haitian and Dominican border, and how notions of race, national identity and witchcraft have been articulated in popular media such as rumor, food and animals. Her publications include the prize-winning The Dictator’s Seduction: Politics and the Popular Imagination in the Era of Trujillo, the co-authored Terreur de frontière: le massacre des Haïtiens en République dominicaine en 1937 (Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 2021) and the co-edited Dominican Republic Reader (Duke University Press, 2014). She is Bradford Burns Chair of Latin American history at UCLA where she teaches courses on modern Latin America and Caribbean history, cultural history and food studies. The focus of today’s conversation is her latest monograph, Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands (Duke University Press, 2025). In this work, Dr. Derby examines storytelling traditions in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, centering on shape-shifting spirit figures known as baka or bacá, and exploring how they embody layered histories of race, religion, repression, and resistance.
