1942: (De Pradines on the Distinction Between Practice and Performance — De Pradines Explaining Years After Her 1942 Performance “When I Am Doing It Vodou So…

1942: (De Pradines on the Distinction Between Practice and Performance — De Pradines Explaining Years After Her 1942 Performance “When I Am Doing It Vodou Songs and Dance It Is the Truth — It Is the Truth It’s Real Except There Is No Ceremony There Is No Calling the Spirits — So That’s the Folklore,” This Distinction Between Practice and Performance Often Allowing Urban Haitian Politicians Leftist-Organizers Intellectuals and Women’s Rights Activists to Use Professionally Choreographed Spiritual Performances as a Marker of Haitian Authenticity While Rejecting “the Truth” of These Practices): De Pradines explained years after her 1942 performance: when I am doing it, Vodou songs and dance, it is the truth — it is the truth, it’s real, except there is no ceremony, there is no calling the spirits, so that’s the folklore. This distinction between practice and performance often allowed urban Haitian politicians, leftist organizers, intellectuals, and women’s rights activists to use professionally choreographed spiritual performances and folklore as a marker of Haitian authenticity for their own ends in 1940s international relations, tourism, and political and professional advancement while rejecting the truth of these practices — de Pradines’s careful distinction preserved the sacred even as it made the sacred available for secular consumption.