Lewis A. Clorméus, *Le Vodou, le prêtre et l'ethnologue: Retour sur la polémique Joseph Foisset / Jacques Roumain (Haïti, 1942)*. Paris: Hémisphères éditions, 2020. 164 pp.
(Paper €20.00)

This volume by Lewis Ampidu Clorméus (who is, according to his publisher, a sociologist, professor at the State University of Haiti [UEH], and associate researcher at the Center for Studies in Social Sciences of Religion [CéSor] at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris [EHESS]), like his *Duverneau Trouillot et le vodou: Réflexions d'un intellectuel haïtien du xixe siècle* (2016), is in large part the edition of rare and important texts on religion in Haiti. Opening with a preface by Brother Gilles Danroc of the Catholic Institute of Paris, and a foreword by the author, the book consists of two parts and an appendix.

The first part narrates a history of the Catholic presence in Haiti and offers intellectual portraits of Father Foisset and Jacques Roumain. If the intellectual biography of the latter is known to Haitians and to a good part of the French-speaking and Black African intelligentsia, that of Foisset, which is not, constitutes one of the most significant contributions of this volume based on a rich bibliography. The corpus of some 130 titles constitutes an invaluable resource for future research.

The five chapters of the second part present a detailed analysis, bordering on a certain pedantry, of the Foisset/Roumain controversy over Haitian Vodou, and more broadly over superstitions, in the wake of the 1939–42 antiperstition campaign. This unfortunate initiative of the Catholic clergy against Vodou's followers is well known as the Foisset/Roumain controversy. On the other hand, rare are those who have read Foisset's texts; also rare are those who have read Roumain's articles, which are not all included in his *Œuvres complètes*, edited by Jean-François Hoffmann and Yves Chemla (2018).

In fact, in the *Œuvres complètes*, at least two articles by Roumain are missing (those of March 11 and 13, 1942). Clorméus gives us access to these in the book's "Appendix"—a selection of texts by Foisset and Roumain. Even though the series of nine articles by Roumain published between June 25 and July 31, 1942, which Hoffman and Chemla group together under the title "Réplique finale au révérend père" (Final reply to Reverend Father Foisset), are missing, these articles of the Foisset/Roumain controversy are undoubtedly an important contribution of the volume.

It is regrettable that such a capital work on the history of Haitian thought, the result of in-depth research, did not benefit from rigorous editing. Indeed, why use such a small character (10 points), and leave such a large spacing between the lines (18 points, if not more), especially in indented quotes? Why
repeat in notes bibliographical references given at the end of the volume in
the bibliography? It would have been more efficient to facilitate the reading
to lighten an already very specialized text tackling questions in diverse fields
such as philosophy, ethnography, politics, medical sciences, or religions. It is
also inexplicable why the front cover is illustrated with a rather anachronistic
Vodou object whose authenticity is disputed. For sure, such gaps may affect the
readability of the book in the basic deciphering of the signs on the page, and
its dissemination.

The problem raised here is very common in the current scholarly publish-
ing world, where getting a book out expeditiously seems to be taking more and
more precedence over the arduous work of producing and manufacturing it as
an object. It is true that academic publications are often poorly edited and that
the employees of these imprints are badly paid. To cut costs, authors are often
asked for a camera-ready document. As a result, the typographical work, like
the revision of the texts, can be sloppy. These remarks are not reproaches to
the researcher-author, nor even the publishers, but rather a sad observation on
a system that is collapsing under the increasingly decisive pressure to "publish
or perish" in a cyber world where a few lines of a tweet, however insane, can
bring fame for a day, or banishment for life.

Jean Jonassaint

French and Francophone Studies, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, U.S.A.

jjonassa@syr.edu