KOSANBA is a scholarly association dedicated to the study of Haitian Vodou. The organization was founded in 1997 at Center for Black Studies of the University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

, then under the directorship of Dr Claudine Michel. Thirteen scholars met for a colloquium

Colloquium

Colloquium can refer to:* the Parliament of Scotland, called a "colloquium" in Latin records.* any musical piece celebrating birth or distribution of good news, a hymn...

 on Haitian Vodou, The Spirit and The Reality: Vodou and Haiti. At the end of the conference, they decided to institutionalize their efforts through a new association under the name, the Congress of Santa Barbara. Kosanba meets every two years. Their most recent colloquium was held at Mirebalais

Mirebalais

Mirebalais is a town in Centre Department, Haïti, approximately 60 km northeast of Port-au-Prince on National Road 3. The city was established in 1703....

, in Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

 July 13–17 to coincide with Saut-d'Eau

Saut-d'Eau

Saut-d'Eau is a municipality in the Mirebalais Arrondissement, in the Centre Department of Haiti. It has 34,885 inhabitants....

 pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

.