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A historical play that moves between Barbados and England, African theatrical practices and Caribbean performance traditions, Voodoo: A Drama in Four Acts offers a glimpse into the understudied oeuvre of an important but neglected figure of Black internationalism, Henry Francis Downing (1846–1928).

Superhydrophobic surfaces display water contact angles greater than 150° in conjunction with low contact angle hysteresis. Microscopic pockets of air trapped beneath the water droplets placed on these surfaces lead to a composite solid-liquid-air interface in thermodynamic equilibrium. Previous experimental and theoretical studies suggest that it may not be possible to form similar fully-equilibrated, composite interfaces with drops of liquids, such as alkanes or alcohols, that possess significantly lower surface tension than water (γlv = 72.1 mN/m). In this work we develop surfaces possessing re-entrant texture that can support strongly metastable composite solid-liquid-air interfaces, even with very low surface tension liquids such as pentane (γlv = 15.7 mN/m). Furthermore, we propose four design parameters that predict the measured contact angles for a liquid droplet on a textured surface, as well as the robustness of the composite interface, based on the properties of the solid surface and the contacting liquid. These design parameters allow us to produce two different families of re-entrant surfaces-- randomly-deposited electrospun fiber mats and precisely fabricated microhoodoo surfaces--that can each support a robust composite interface with essentially any liquid. These omniphobic surfaces display contact angles greater than 150° and low contact angle hysteresis with both polar and nonpolar liquids possessing a wide range of surface tensions.

Understanding the complementary roles of surface energy and roughness on natural nonwetting surfaces has led to the development of a number of biomimetic superhydrophobic surfaces, which exhibit apparent contact angles with water greater than 150 degrees and low contact angle hysteresis. However, superoleophobic surfaces--those that display contact angles greater than 150 degrees with organic liquids having appreciably lower surface tensions than that of water--are extremely rare. Calculations suggest that creating such a surface would require a surface energy lower than that of any known material. We show how a third factor, re-entrant surface curvature, in conjunction with chemical composition and roughened texture, can be used to design surfaces that display extreme resistance to wetting from a number of liquids with low surface tension, including alkanes such as decane and octane.

Voodoo, ritual killing, sorcery and animism are four dominant themes in Nollywood filmic productions, particularly those that are of epic nature. The development of these themes in Nigerian films most often involves the inclusion of rituals, incantations and shrines scenes in which, specific actors enact black magic, occult and other esoteric practices in a bid to actualise dark or genuine purposes. To many African spectators with religious mindsets, these cinematic occurrences are far from being mere make-believe. Such spectators think cinematic magic is imperceptibly esoteric and vested with real spiritual effects that may, in some ways, be harmful to actors, crew or/and spectators. Using a critical exploitation of secondary sources, critical observations and semiotics, this paper seeks to understand and explain how the magic depicted in Nollywood films is taken for real by some viewers, actors and directors. Specifically, the paper does three things. Firstly, it provides a general theoretical discussion on filmmaking and film-watching as esoteric or religious experiences. Secondly, it shows how both audiences and specific filmmakers perceive the depiction of shrine, rituals and incantations as real. Thirdly, it attempts to explain the spectators and filmmakers’ perception of cinematic occultism as real.

Objective Zombification, a magical and religious process in Haiti, has been scientifically studied and remains relevant. Originating from the convergence of African, Caribbean, and Christian rites, it involves a comatose trance, transforming individuals into living dead through Voodoo practices. Haitian zombies consistently exhibit a preserved expression marked by a nasal voice, a result of nasalization—using nasal cavities as resonators during phonation. The aim of this study was to ascertain the mechanisms through which zombification could impact the voices of the subjects. Methods A comprehensive investigation was conducted using both primary and secondary sources. Primary sources involved direct or reported testimonies of individuals undergoing zombification, with audio or video recordings available from the collections of the Laboratory of Anthropology, Archaeology, and Biology (UVSQ/Paris-Saclay University), as well as on the internet. Secondary sources encompassed the entirety of existing literature regarding zombification in Haiti on one hand, alterations in the voices of subjects when mentioned on the other hand, and toxicological hypotheses or evidence available on PubMed/Medline and Google Scholar. Results Few post-zombification observations exist, but 20th-century studies clarified the physio pathological process, confirming its reality. Wade Davis demonstrated in 1983 that zombification results from poisoning, with effects ranging from reversible to fatal, implicating substances like tetrodotoxin and datura. Nasalization can be natural or pathological, affecting various phonemes. No mutilating acts or surgery have been reported related to Haitian zombification. Conclusion The pharmacological characteristics of tetrodotoxin, coupled with testimonials, present a medical hypothesis elucidating the biological mechanism underlying nasalization in this context. Given that tetrodotoxin induces flaccid paralysis as a neurotropic poison, its neurological impact could account for soft palate paralysis or spasms. Additionally, the severe hypotension induced by tetrodotoxin may elucidate oral and pharyngeal necrosis.

Intimate partner violence affects millions of people globally. One possible contributing factor is poor self-control. Self-control requires energy, part of which is provided by glucose. For 21 days, glucose levels were measured in 107 married couples. To measure aggressive impulses, each evening participants stuck between 0 and 51 pins into a voodoo doll that represented their spouse, depending how angry they were with their spouse. To measure aggression, participants competed against their spouse on a 25-trial task in which the winner blasted the loser with loud noise through headphones. As expected, the lower the level of glucose in the blood, the greater number of pins participants stuck into the voodoo doll, and the higher intensity and longer duration of noise participants set for their spouse.

Composite indicators aggregate a set of variables by using weights which are understood to reflect the variables' importance in the index. We propose to measure the importance of a given variable within existing composite indicators via Karl Pearson's 'correlation ratio'; we call this measure the 'main effect'. Because socio-economic variables are heteroscedastic and correlated, relative nominal weights are hardly ever found to match relative main effects; we propose to summarize their discrepancy with a divergence measure. We discuss to what extent the mapping from nominal weights to main effects can be inverted. This analysis is applied to six composite indicators, including the human development index and two popular league tables of university performance. It is found that in many cases the declared importance of single indicators and their main effect are very different, and that the data correlation structure often prevents developers from obtaining the stated importance, even when modifying the nominal weights in the set of non-negative numbers with unit sum.

This paper highlights the theoretical and methodological innovations of Le vaudou haïtien, and its originality for the study of cults of African origin in the Americas. Métraux achieves several key theoretical and methodological innovations in this book: 1. the search for a kind of ritual syntax; 2. a focus on real practices instead of lettered formations of the cult; 3. an acknowledgement that voodoo is unmistakably Haitian and that its roots are European as much as African; 4. a rejection of the assumption that the Catholicism of voodoo adepts would be mere deception; 5. the identification of a narrative level where stories of the gods’ avatars are replaced by tales of their interventions in the life of humans. At the same time, it explores Alfred Métraux’s relationships with some scholars that preceded him on the matter, with researchers that studied voodoo as well, and with the intermediaries that facilitated his investigation.