Bêtes Noires: Sorcery as History in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands

By Lauren Derby

In B tes Noires, Lauren Derby explores storytelling traditions among the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, focusing on shape-shifting spirit demons called baka/bac . Drawing on interviews with and life stories of residents in a central Haitian-Dominican frontier town, Derby contends that bac s--hot spirits from the sorcery side of vodou/vod that present as animals and generate wealth for their owners--are a manifestation of what Dominicans call fuk de Col n, the curse of Columbus. The dogs, pigs, cattle, and horses that Columbus brought with him are the only types of animals that bac s become. As instruments of Indigenous dispossession, these animals and their spirit demons convey a history of trauma and racialization in Dominican popular culture. In the context of slavery and beyond, bac s keep alive the promise of freedom, since shape-shifting has long enabled fugitivity. As Derby demonstrates, bac s represent a complex history of race, religion, repression, and resistance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1478032782
• ISBN13: 9781478032786
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"