Donald Cosentino, a professor emeritus in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, delivered the keynote address at the International Colloquium X, which took place Oct. 18-20 at Harvard University.
The conference, titled "When Earth Meets Sky: Healing Rites & Sacred Knowledge in Haiti & Beyond," addressed the effects of holistic healing in Vodou following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti (now known as "Goudougoudou") and aimed to inspire conversation and discussion on healing practices and divine knowledge across the Atlantic.
Cosentino, on the UCLA faculty since 1988, has done extensive fieldwork on African and diasporic cultures in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Haiti. He is the author of "Defiant Maids and Stubborn Farmers: Tradition and Invention in Mende Story Performance" (Cambridge, 1982) and "Vodou Things: The Art of Pierrot Barra and Marie Cassaise" (University of Mississippi Press, 1998). He is co-editor of the UCLA African Studies Center's publication "African Arts," a position he has held since 1988.
On November 5, Cosentino will be in Quebec City for the opening of the "Haiti in Extremis" exhibition, which he co-curated, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
