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Benjamin Hebblethwaite

2016-03-28_CLAS_Ben_Hebblethwaite-1061-Edit

Associate Professor in Haitian and Francophone Studies
Ph.D.

Office Hours — Fall 2023

I am an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. I am responsible for research, teaching, and service in Haitian Creole and French Studies, as well as the Humanities, Linguistics, and Literature. Since being promoted as an associate professor in 2014, I have published one sole author book, one co-edited book, one co-translated book, nine essays (three co-authored), and several shorter pieces.  

My sole author book, A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites (Hebblethwaite 2021), connects four centuries of political, social, and religious history with fieldwork and language documentation, analyzing Vodou’s West African origins, transmission to Saint-Domingue, and diffusion through songs in contemporary Haiti. Employing historical, linguistic, literary-critical, and ethnomusicological methods, the book reveals how Vodou’s Creole songs encompass a millennium of African, colonial, and post-colonial history. The first half reconstructs politics and religion in the Bight of Benin between 1600 and 1800 CE to understand the African underpinnings of Haitian religion. In the second half, Haiti’s Rada and Gede traditions are interpreted through the songs of major artists. 

Our edited book, Indigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas (Hebblethwaite and Jansen 2023), was published by the University of Nebraska Press.  

Our translated book, Stirring the Pot of Haitian History (Past and Hebblethwaite 2021), provides the English translation of Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s 1977 Haitian Creole historical study, Ti difé boulé sou istoua Ayiti, as well as a “Translators’ Note” and commentary, and it was published by Liverpool University Press. In 2013 we received an NEA Translation Award to support our effort and, after publication, it received two Honorable Mentions from the Lois Roth Award of the Modern Language Association and the Isis Duarte Book Prize of the Latin American Studies Association.  

Funding I received from the NEA, the NEH, and the DOE supported my publications, including Tézil and Hebblethwaite’s forthcoming book, Kreyòl pale: A Haitian Creole Textbook for Beginners (Indiana University Press).

Current Course Syllabi

Biography

I am an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. I am responsible for research, teaching, and service in Haitian Creole and French Studies, as well as the Humanities, Linguistics, and Literature. I have received funding from the NEA, the NEH, and the DOE, completing books for each award. I held a semester-long fellowship from the DAAD to teach at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Erlangen, Germany. I coordinate Haitian Creole in LLC, work that requires recruiting, mentoring, and supervising two graduate teaching assistants with funding from the Center for Latin American Studies’ Department of Education Title VI grant. I serve as the Coordinator of the Translation Studies Certificate (2023-) and I am editor-in-chief of the journal, Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature (2022-2023). I am a member of the University Press Committee (2016-) and an elected member of the CLAS Curriculum Committee (2023-24). I serve on LLC’s Curriculum, Website, and Merit Committees. I have served on 19 graduate committees and I welcome new students to reach out to me about collaborating at hebble@ufl.edu.

Recent Publications

Books

  • A Transatlantic History of Haitian Vodou: Rasin Figuier, Rasin Bwa Kayiman, and the Rada and Gede Rites. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 1-274.
  • Hebblethwaite, Benjamin and Silke Jansen (co-edited and co-introduced). 2023. Indigenous and African Diaspora Religions in the Americas. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 1-342. 
  • Past, Mariana and Benjamin Hebblethwaite (co-translated, co-introduced, and co-edited). 2021. Stirring the Pot of Haitian History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 1-269.

Selected articles

  • Rastafari Resurgence in Reggae’s Roots Revival Generation: Two Reggae Songs by Chronixx in Jamaican Patwa. Delos 34, No. 1, pp. 96–126.
  • Rap and the Islamic Lexical Field in Parisian French: A Study of Arabic Religious Language Contact with Vernacular French. In Le français dans les métropoles européennes. Edited by Françoise Gadet, pp. 167-184. Paris: Classiques
  • Sik salitasyon nan Rit Rada a: Patwon fondalnatal ak eleman patikilye nan salitasyon lwa Rada yo. Legs et littérature9, pp. 95-114.
  • Historical linguistic approaches to Haitian Creole: Vodou rites, spirit names and songs: the founders’ contributions to Asogwe In La Española – Isla de Encuentros / Hispaniola – Island of Encounters. Edited by Barzen, Jessica Stefanie, Geiger, Hanna Lene, and Jansen, Silke, 65-86. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
  • The Scapegoating of Haitian Vodou Religion: David Brooks’s (2010) Claim that “Voodoo” is a “Progress-Resistant” Cultural Influence. The Journal of Black Studies, 1-20.