Who is Karen McCarthy Brown from Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn and what is their importance?

Karen McCarthy Brown is the author of this work. Through the writing of the piece, which took approximately 12 years, the author not only becomes close friends with Alourdes, a.k.a. Mama Lola, she goes almost as far as any individual can go into the realm of Vodou. She begins her contact with Mama Lola essentially on the basis of observer and subject but the two quickly become friends, and Karen comes to understand that to fully know the world of Vodou, one must plunge themselves thoroughly into its waters. Thus, over the next decade and beyond, Karen McCarthy Brown immerses herself into the life of Alourdes, her daughter Maggie, and their extended Vodou family. She participates not only in the home-spun ritualizing that is essential to pleasing the various spirits, she also undergoes ritual marriages to the spirits Ogou and Danbala and completes the initiation process one must undertake in order to become a manbo.