{"product_id":"bztes-noires-sorcery-as-history-in-the-haitian-dominican-borderlands-9781478032786","title":"Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands","description":"In \u003ci\u003eBêtes Noires\u003c\/i\u003e, Lauren Derby explores storytelling traditions among the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, focusing on shape-shifting spirit demons called \u003ci\u003ebaka\/bacá\u003c\/i\u003e. Drawing on interviews with and life stories of residents in a central Haitian-Dominican frontier town, Derby contends that bacás-hot spirits from the sorcery side of \u003ci\u003evodou\/vodú\u003c\/i\u003e that present as animals and generate wealth for their owners-are a manifestation of what Dominicans call \u003ci\u003efukú de Colón\u003c\/i\u003e, the curse of Columbus. The dogs, pigs, cattle, and horses that Columbus brought with him are the only types of animals that bacás become. As instruments of Indigenous dispossession, these animals and their spirit demons convey a history of trauma and racialization in Dominican popular culture. In the context of slavery and beyond, bacás keep alive the promise of freedom, since shape-shifting has long enabled fugitivity. As Derby demonstrates, bacás represent a complex history of race, religion, repression, and resistance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLauren Derby is Professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is author of \u003ci\u003eThe Dictator's Seduction: Politics and the Popular Imagination in the Era of Trujillo\u003c\/i\u003e and coeditor of \u003ci\u003eThe Dominican Republic Reader: History, Culture, Politics\u003c\/i\u003e, both also published by Duke University Press.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51807239373074,"sku":"9781478032786","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c5759bf4-f52c-45e5-90f5-33ee5cdf36bf.jpg?v=1766047238","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/bztes-noires-sorcery-as-history-in-the-haitian-dominican-borderlands-9781478032786","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}