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The study of Haitian Vodou—imagining its historical development, interpreting the poetics of its mythology, analyzing its social functions—leads, almost invariably, to the consideration of the effects of hegemony. The symbolic representations and actual manifestations of local and global power have continually impacted Vodou. The aesthetics and ritual implications of Vodou flags (drapo Vodou) in many ways encapsulate the social and political history of Haiti; a past marked by displacement, fragmentation, simulation, and hybridization. This dissertation is presented as a focused study of drapo Vodou in which I examine how the flags embody or signify the adaptive merging of African and European cultural behaviors. In my analysis, I concentrate on evolution and iconography of drapo Vodou and the stylized ways that banners are paraded during ceremonies. These foci offer perhaps the most direct means of getting at the full historical, social, and theological implications of the flags. My central thesis is that, in both form and function, drapo Vodou are patterned after the banners used by the institutional centers of power (e.g. the military and the church) that have dominated Haitian society since the colonial period. I argue that the national and regimental standards carried by colonial and post-colonial military forces, the processional banners employed by Catholic religious orders, and the ensigns used by Masonic lodges have all served, to varying degrees, as models for drapo Vodou. Each of these root traditions, it can be argued, is patently European in origin. Nonetheless, as used in Vodou rites, ceremonial flags play a crucial role in the continued recognition and worship of African or African-inspired deities (lwa ) within Haiti. For this reason, I believe that the study of drapo provides a unique opportunity to delve into the processes by which Vodou practitioners (Vodouists) have transformed European material representations of power (both mundane and otherworldly) into symbolic manifestations of the lwa. The hypotheses regarding the evolution, iconography, and ritual significance of drapo Vodou presented in this dissertation are based on data generated from library and museum research in the United States and fieldwork in Haiti.
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The chapter provides semiotic analysis of national flags in Russia in historical perspective and describes legal regulation of the use of flags as state symbols on federal and federal entities’ levels. Contemporary white-blue-red national flag, Soviet red flag and imperial black-yellow-white flag are analyzed in different contexts, as official state symbols and as unofficial symbols of different political movements; the evolution of their meaning with time is shown. Subjects of the Russian Federation also have their flags, which reflect their aspiration for self-identification and sovereignty within the limits of common political identity of the nation. The right to establish their own official symbols is a part of their constitutional status, and they realize this right for the construction of their regional identity within the semiotic space of Russia as a whole.There is no unity in approaches to the fixation of the legal status and description of flags on the level of federal entities, though main legal rules concerning the use of flags and subordination between the national flag and the flags of federal entities are stipulated by the federal law. Most of regional flags have been created since 1991, because these regions had no status of federal subjects before that. By their visual representation the flags differ depending on the cultural and historic characteristics of the regions. Some of them resemble the regional coat of arms, some of them try to follow the federal model by using bars of different color, some include religious symbols.Legal regulation of the use of flags includes constitutional standards, statutory standards and also provisions of criminal and administrative law on desecration of flags and on inappropriate use of the national flag, which may humiliate or publicly demonstrate disrespect for it. The judicial practice in application of these standards is, however, confusing, because the provisions lack legal certainty.
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Beyond their official documentation, the design and colours of Grenada’s national flag show a strong relationship to Grenada’s history, particularly its African heritage, whether unintended or deliberate. While Prime Minister Eric Gairy and designer Anthony Conrad George disclaimed direct connections, the fundamental colours and field-division of the flag ultimately derive from Africa—the colours from Ethiopia and the adinkra “wind-blown” house symbol, representing resistance, from the Akan people—and from Grenada’s own history. The national flag has become a talisman to Grenada’s people, a symbol which symbolizes the resilience of the country and her people. This article may be the first systematic study of the design of the flag beyond the official documents.
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- flag histories
- adinkra symbols (1)
- African influences (1)
- Anthony Conrad George (1)
- coats of arms (1)
- color symbolism (1)
- colour symbolism (1)
- cultural anthropology (1)
- cultural identity (1)
- drapo Vodou (1)
- Ethiopian-influenced flags (1)
- flag colors (1)
- flag colours (1)
- flag display (1)
- flag history (2)
- flag use (1)
- flags and religion (1)
- flags as art (1)
- flags in religion (1)
- folklore (1)
- Grenada flag (1)
- group identity (1)
- Haiti (1)
- Haitian Vodou (1)
- heraldry (1)
- Lwa (1)
- Mframadan (1)
- national identity (1)
- nutmeg (1)
- religious ceremonies (1)
- religious flags (1)
- religious rites (1)
- religious use of flags (1)
- rituals (1)
- Russia (1)
- Russian Federation (1)
- Russian flags (1)
- Russian regional flags (1)
- Russian symbols (1)
- semiotics of flags (1)
- Semiotics of state symbols (1)
- state symbols (1)
- subnational flags (1)
- symbolism (1)
- Vodou flags (1)