Narrative Module — Sacred Story Systems
Transmission chains, variant relations, kinship claims, interpretive stances
Governance Layer module. Full narrative modeling for Afro-Atlantic sacred knowledge systems. Covers story transmission chains, contested kinship claims, testimonies, fieldnotes, interpretive stances, and narrative variant relationships. Builds on the thin narrative spine in iroko-core v2.0.0. Researcher voice (Fieldnote) is kept structurally distinct from community voice (Testimony). Use with iroko-authority to govern who may assert transmission claims, iroko-agency to link sacred agents to narrative appearances, and iroko-epistemic to constrain access to sensitive narrative content.
Researcher-authored note, observation, or analytic memo. Treated as a NarrativeVariant with explicit authorship and interpretive stance to keep researcher voice distinct from community voice.
A hermeneutic or epistemological approach to reading a narrative or variant. Tags the reading frame rather than the content.
A claim about relationships between entities (spirit-father, spirit-sibling, ancestor, etc.) that may be contested and authority-scoped. Implemented as an iroko:Assertion subtype so it inherits full assertion governance: authorizedBy, accessLevel, contestedStatus, assertionStatus.
A transmission chain for a narrative — who transmitted the story to whom, in what context. Separate from biological kinship. Models oral transmission provenance.
A narrated account offered by a participant or witness. A Testimony is a NarrativeVariant with an identified speaker whose presence or role is itself the epistemic claim — the content derives its authority from the speaker's position.
| Property | Type | Domain → Range | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| aboutEntity about entity |
Object | — → — | Public | Links a narrative or variant to entities it concerns — a spirit, plant, place, ritual, person, or any other resource. |
| claimObject claim object |
Object | Kinship Claim → — | Public | The entity to whom the subject is related by this claim. |
| claimSubject claim subject |
Object | Kinship Claim → — | Public | The entity about whom the kinship claim is made. |
| featuresSacredAgent features sacred agent |
Object | — → SacredAgent | Public | Links a narrative or variant to a sacred agent (spirit, ancestor) who appears as an actor within the narrative content. |
| hasStoryLineage has story lineage |
Object | — → Story Lineage | Public | Links a Narrative or NarrativeVariant to a StoryLineage node documenting its transmission chain. |
| interpretiveStance interpretive stance |
Object | — → Interpretive Stance | Public | Tags a NarrativeVariant or Commentary with an interpretive hermeneutic frame. |
| narratedBy narrated by |
Object | NarrativeVariant → Agent | Community Only | The person or agent who narrated this variant. Range: foaf:Person or prov:Agent. For sovereignty-aligned archives: consider access governance on the identity of narrators. |
| narrativeLanguage narrative language |
Datatype | NarrativeVariant → string | Public | BCP 47 language tag of the language in which the variant is expressed. |
| narrativeRole narrative role |
Object | — → Concept | Public | The role played by a participant in a narrative event — narrator, elder, witness, chorus, officiant, etc. |
| narrativeText narrative text |
Datatype | NarrativeVariant → langString | Community Only | The text of this narrative variant. Language-tagged. Access governed by iroko:accessLevel on the variant instance. |
| relatedAs related as |
Object | Kinship Claim → Concept | Public | The type of kinship or relational bond asserted. Range: concepts from iroko:KinshipTypeScheme or tradition-specific kinship schemes. |
| supportsAssertion supports assertion |
Object | NarrativeVariant → Assertion | Public | Links a NarrativeVariant to iroko:Assertion nodes it supports or motivates. The narrative is the evidentiary basis for the assertion. |
| transmissionDate transmission date |
Datatype | Story Lineage → date | Community Only | Date or date range of this transmission event. |
| transmissionFrom transmission from |
Object | Story Lineage → Agent | Community Only | The agent who transmitted this story to the next link in the chain. |
| transmissionNote transmission note |
Datatype | Story Lineage → langString | Community Only | Free-text note on context, mode, or conditions of transmission. |
| transmissionTo transmission to |
Object | Story Lineage → Agent | Community Only | The agent who received this story. |
| variantAuthority variant authority |
Object | NarrativeVariant → RitualAuthority | Community Only | The Authority context recognized for this variant. Which lineage or house endorses this telling as authoritative. |
| variantCreatedOn variant created on |
Datatype | NarrativeVariant → date | Public | Date on which this narrative variant was recorded, transcribed, or published. |
| variantEvent variant event |
Object | NarrativeVariant → FieldworkEvent | Public | The FieldworkEvent or ritual event that captured or generated this narrative variant. |
| variantPlace variant place |
Object | NarrativeVariant → — | Public | Place where the telling occurred or was recorded. |
| variantRelation variant relation |
Object | NarrativeVariant → NarrativeVariant | Public | Typed relationship between two NarrativeVariants. Range: iroko:VariantRelationTypeScheme concepts. |
| variantRelationType variant relation type |
Object | — → Concept | Public | Classifies the nature of a variant relationship — close variant, contested, derived, harmonized, lineage-bound. |
Hermeneutic approaches to reading or transmitting a narrative.
stance-allegorical
Researcher or scholarly reading, necessarily outside community interpretive authority.
Reading the narrative as a diagnostic tool — for divination, consultation, or situational assessment.
Reading reserved for or shaped by initiatory context.
stance-literal
Narrative produced or shaped by an argument about tradition, authority, or lineage legitimacy.
Relational categories for kinship and lineage claims, particularly in sacred genealogies and spirit family assertions.
kinship-ancestor
kinship-brother
kinship-child
kinship-father
kinship-mother
Describes the relationship between an orisha or lwa and the practitioner over whom they have primary claim.
Describes a relationship between aspects of a spirit or between a spirit and a tradition-specific manifestation.
kinship-sister
Roles of participants in narrative events.
Collective voice responding to or accompanying the narrator.
Collective community voice or assembled participants.
Primary teller or transmitter of the narrative.
Ritual officiant whose role shapes the telling.
Ethnographer, archivist, or scholar whose authorship must be distinguished from community voice.
Types of addressable narrative segments.
segType-chant-line
segType-episode
An explanatory note or translation embedded within the narrative.
segType-praise-name
segType-prayer
A stated prohibition or interdiction within the narrative.
A heading, liturgical direction, or structural marker in the narrative.
segType-verse
Classification of the relationship between two narrative variants.
Two variants sharing the same core content with minor differences.
Two variants that contradict each other on a key claim.
One variant clearly derives from or expands upon the other.
A variant produced by reconciling two or more divergent tellings.
A variant that applies only within a specific lineage — not a deviation, but a legitimate lineage-specific telling.
A variant that is a translation into another language, which may introduce interpretive differences.