Also known as: Folklore movement, Haitian folklore movement, Mouvement folklorique
Last updated: April 23, 2026
The Haitian folklore movement was a post-occupation cultural project that reframed Vodou dance, music, and ritual as national heritage worthy of state promotion rather than suppression. Figures like Jean Price-Mars, Jean-Léon Destiné, and Katherine Dunham participated in staging Haitian folklore for elite and international audiences. The movement's contradictions were stark: the state promoted folklore troupes while continuing to run anti-superstition campaigns against the actual Vodou communities from which that culture was drawn.
Jean Price Mars
Jean Léon Destiné
Katherine Dunham
Trained by Franz Boas and formed by the Black folklore movement of the 1920s-30s; her Haiti fieldwork was an extension of anthropological folkloric practice into the Caribbean diaspora.
Anti Superstition Campaigns
Haitian Folklore
Folklore Movement
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"Folklore Movement." Rasin.ai, 2026. https://rasin.ai/connections/concepts/folklore-movement. Accessed 2026-05-05.