The Serpent and the Rainbow [Paperback]

While not a reference work on the Voudoun religion, "The Serpent and the Rainbow" sheds new light on Voudoun practice and theology, and it's ubiquitous presence in all levels of Haitian society. This is not a horror story of "devil drums" and "Voodoo dolls" but an exploration of how history has shaped the lives and culture of the people of Haiti.

In a nutshell, this is a real life adventure that is, if anything, more entertaining, and interesting than the fictional adventures of Indiana Jones, and far more satisfying than the Wes Craven film which is loosely (very loosely) based on this book.

Davis' quest began with a commission to investigate anesthetic drugs from plants and animals. His mentor, Richard Schultes, was considered the founder of ethnobotany, the study of plant chemistry as a cultural artifact. Davis is sent to Haiti in 1982, a time of growing awareness of the numbers of natural products overlooked for medicinal use. Davis is sent to Haiti to investigate the zombi myths. He learns of the use of "magic powders" to bring about a catatonic state. People are declared dead, buried, but are exhumed and led away, often to a life of near slavery. Davis, using Schultes' work as background, investigates the Datura genus of plants. Datura in various species, ranges across the Western Hemisphere and is widely used by Amerindian and other peoples for various rituals. So, too, are the excretions of Bufo marinus, the Central American "cane toad," that today is the scourge of vast reaches of Australia. Its poison was adapted for various uses in Europe within years of Columbus' voyages.

This pharmocopoeia of toxins and anesthetic drugs have been a part of many cultures, but in Haiti, they prove to be a mechanism of social justice. Wade's account of the structure of Haitian society is worth the price of the book. The classic picture of hierarchical society, resembling so vividly that of our own, is dissected carefully by Davis. Haiti, with its history of dictators and oppression, foreign rule and harsh slavery so vividly depicted by North American media, retains a hidden but powerful underlying structure. While the government seems to sit dominant in Port-au-Prince, in the rural areas an almost independent organization of communities flourish. These local structures reflect accepted norms, deal with local conflict and provide an underlying enforcement mechanism for the maintenance of social order. Their foundation is derived from African roots, modified by Roman Catholic ritual, and remain unheralded except by those who decry their secretiveness. Wade argues these community establishments are not truly "secret societies," but instead reflect the needs of people for whom bombastic pronouncements have no place in their daily existence. The houngans ["vodoun priests"] are little more than Haitian parsons supporting their local populations.

Although focused on Haiti, Davis' book cannot but evoke how much we have yet to learn about other "hidden" or "clandestine" societies. If the method of "zombification" of malefactors seems extreme in our view, it may be simply because we hide our criminals away in concrete tombs at taxpayer's expense. Davis explains that no victim of zombification has been selected arbitrarily. Each situation is carefully examined to assess whether the victim has offended family or the community. Catatonic drugs are administered to render the culprit to a state where they may be transported from the community they've offended. To Davis, it's simply the quiet application of justice. Is this a technique we could apply in our own society? Probably not, since we don't possess the cultural background. But the rendering of justice at the local level for local offenses is surely something we might consider as a behavioural innovation. Davis leaves this question open, but if we engage in the type of investigation he relates, there might be other examples in other societies from which we can learn. This book offers much information and interesting examples of lives different from our own. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]