Zora Neale Hurston, folklorist

A couple of years ago,  Chicago's Court Theater presented Spunk, a theater piece based on 3 of Zora Neale Hurston's short stories, accompanied by bluesy guitar and song. The stories and music beautifully evoke the early '20s Eatonville so powerfully described in Hurston's stories.

Seeing the stories on stage, Hurston's ease and fluency with African American folkore is evident. So it should  come as no surprise that her writing developed from a serious commitment to  anthropology. Professor D. Soyini Madison describes Hurston's unique field research this way:

"She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. "

 Hurston's life was her greatest performance, embodying both her research and her fiction. In reading Wrapped in Rainbows, we see a life spent witnessing, performing and immortalizing the cultures she knew best.

Join us for our discussion of Wrapped in Rainbows, The Life of Zora Neale Hurston on Tuesday March 12th, 7:00 pm, in the Small Meeting Room of Evanston Public Library.

D. Soyini Madison

he became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpu

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

he became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

he became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

he became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTOc.dpuf

She became what Dwight Conquergood called a “performative witness.” The performative part of this is that in her work in New Orleans, in Florida, and later in Haiti and Jamaica, she performed the performances of her interlocutors up close and with profound trust. She lived with them. She did the things they did. They told stories, she told stories. She went to the parties, they went to the parties. She became involved with voudon (voodoo) and took part in those rituals, went through trance, and danced the dances. So she was performatively engaged not only in documenting the rituals, but in putting her body on the line by performing rituals, being a student of her subjects, not only to observe them and write about what they did, but to learn from them and to do what they did. When we talk about this notion of “performative witnessing,” there is a level at which you embody the very thing you are there to witness, study, interpret, and report.  - See more at: http://www.courttheatre.org/season/article/zora_the_anthropologist_an_interview_with_d._soyini_madison/#sthash.JM5UNTO