Sankofa Module — Reclamation Movements
Diaspora returns and reconstructed practice
Domain module. Vocabulary for documenting revitalization and reclamation movements, diaspora returns to African source communities, reconstructed traditions, and heritage relationships. Models semantic relationships between diaspora practice and African source traditions without adjudicating authenticity. All heritage relationship claims are modeled as iroko:RelationshipAssertion to reflect their contested and negotiated character. Use with iroko-authority to document who may authorize heritage relationship claims and recognition; iroko-narrative for movement histories, oral transmission chains, and contested origin accounts.
A documented instance of a diaspora practitioner or community making contact with, seeking validation from, or receiving initiation within an African source community. Examples: Cuban Babalawos traveling to Yorùbáland for Ifá validation; Haitian Vodouisants conducting ceremonies in Benin at Ouidah; Candomblé priests initiating in West Africa. A diaspora return may be documented as an event, a relationship, or a formal protocol exchange. The outcomes of such encounters — including mutual recognition or rejection — should be documented without taking sides.
A formal assertion of the relationship between a diaspora tradition and its claimed African source tradition. Subclass of iroko:RelationshipAssertion: the claim is documented with its source, asserter, and status (widely attested, lineage-specific, or contested) without requiring resolution. Examples: the documented Yorùbá–Lucumí relationship; the contested specificity of Fon vs. Ewe sources for Haitian Vodou Rada; the debated connection between specific Cuban Abakuá potencias and Cross River Ékpè lodges.
An organized or semi-organized community effort to recover, revitalize, or Africanize a diaspora religious tradition. Examples: the Candomblé re-Africanization movement beginning in the 1930s–70s (Mãe Aninha, Martiniano do Bonfim, and later the SECNEB research agenda); the Lucumí decolonization efforts removing Catholic syncretism from Ocha practice; the Ifá revival in Trinidad and other diaspora communities seeking direct Yorùbá validation; the African American Ifá reclamation beginning in the late 20th century. A movement is documented without adjudicating whether its claims of authenticity are correct.
A religious practice or tradition that has been assembled or restored from documentary sources, scholarly research, or cross-tradition synthesis rather than direct lineage transmission. Examples: reconstructed Yorùbá practice in communities without living initiatory lineage; synthesis traditions drawing on Farrow, Bascom, or Verger ethnographic documentation; Neo-African traditions developed from scholarly sources in North America or Europe. The reconstruction method and its evidentiary basis are the core data here; the framework makes no judgment about the resulting practice's validity.
| Property | Type | Domain → Range | Access | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| africanTradition African source tradition |
Object | Heritage Relationship → Concept | Public | The African source tradition claimed in this heritage relationship. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept. |
| communityRecognition community recognition status |
Object | Reconstructed Practice → Concept | Public | Whether and how this reconstructed practice has been recognized by source tradition communities. Range: iroko:RecognitionStatusScheme. |
| movementContestation contestation notes |
Datatype | Reclamation Movement → langString | Public | Notes on how this movement has been received, resisted, or debated within and outside the tradition community. |
| returnContestation contestation notes |
Datatype | Diaspora Return → langString | Public | How this return has been evaluated or contested within the broader tradition community. |
| currentCommunity current practicing community |
Object | Reconstructed Practice → House | Public | The house or community practicing this reconstructed tradition. Range: iroko:House. |
| diasporaTradition diaspora tradition |
Object | Heritage Relationship → Concept | Public | The diaspora side of the claimed heritage relationship. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept. |
| evidenceBase evidence base |
Datatype | Heritage Relationship → langString | Public | Summary of the scholarly and community evidence supporting or complicating this heritage relationship claim. |
| evidentiarySources evidentiary sources |
Object | Reconstructed Practice → DocumentaryEvidence | Public | The documentary, scholarly, or oral sources used as the basis for reconstruction. Range: iroko:DocumentaryEvidence. |
| hostCommunity host community |
Object | Diaspora Return → House | Public | The African community or institution receiving the diaspora visitors. Range: iroko:House. |
| keyFigures key figures |
Object | Reclamation Movement → Person | Public | Principal practitioners, scholars, or leaders associated with this movement. Range: foaf:Person. |
| movementName movement name |
Datatype | Reclamation Movement → langString | Public | The name or designation of this reclamation or revitalization movement. Language-tagged. |
| movementOutcome movement outcome |
Object | Reclamation Movement → Concept | Public | The documented or ongoing result of this movement. Range: iroko:MovementOutcomeScheme. |
| movementType movement type |
Object | Reclamation Movement → Concept | Public | The typological category of this movement. Range: iroko:MovementTypeScheme. |
| originDate origin date |
Datatype | Reclamation Movement → gYear | Public | Approximate date the movement began. |
| reconstructionMethod reconstruction method |
Object | Reconstructed Practice → Concept | Public | The primary method used to reconstruct this practice. Range: iroko:ReconstructionMethodScheme. |
| relationshipType relationship type |
Object | Heritage Relationship → Concept | Public | The type of heritage relationship claimed. Range: iroko:HeritageRelationshipTypeScheme. |
| returnDate return date |
Datatype | Diaspora Return → date | Public | returnDate |
| returnOutcome return outcome |
Datatype | Diaspora Return → langString | Public | The documented result of this return: mutual recognition, initiation, rejection, or ongoing relationship. Free-text. |
| returnType return type |
Object | Diaspora Return → Concept | Public | The nature of the return encounter. Range: iroko:ReturnTypeScheme. |
| returningCommunity returning community |
Object | Diaspora Return → House | Public | The diaspora house or community making the return. Range: iroko:House. |
| sourceTradition source tradition |
Object | Reclamation Movement → Concept | Public | The African tradition identified as the reclamation's reference point. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept. |
| targetTradition target tradition |
Object | Reclamation Movement → Concept | Public | The diaspora tradition this movement seeks to reclaim or revitalize. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept. |
ReturnTypeScheme
Diaspora practitioner receives initiation in Africa within a source tradition.
Diaspora practitioner participates in African ceremonies without receiving initiation.
Diaspora practitioner receives divination or consultation from African authority figures.
Return type not covered by existing concepts.
Formal exchange of liturgical, ceremonial, or governance knowledge between diaspora and African communities.
Diaspora practitioner or scholar conducts fieldwork in African source communities.
HeritageRelationshipTypeScheme
The diaspora tradition claims a relationship to the African source, but this claim is disputed by scholars, the African community, or other diaspora communities.
The diaspora tradition descends directly from the African source tradition through documented enslaved practitioner transmission. Widely recognized by scholars and both communities.
The African tradition influenced the diaspora tradition without a direct descent relationship. Elements were adopted or adapted.
Heritage relationship type not covered by existing concepts.
The diaspora and African traditions share a common ancestor but developed in parallel rather than one descending from the other.
The relationship is based on reconstruction from historical evidence rather than surviving living transmission.
MovementTypeScheme
Specifically framed efforts to identify and remove colonial impositions (Catholic syncretism, colonial-era secrecy requirements, European naming conventions) from a diaspora tradition. Overlaps with re-Africanization but emphasizes the political critique of colonialism.
Organized or individual diaspora visits to African source sites for spiritual, cultural, or commemorative purposes. Distinguished from DiasporaReturn in being primarily observational rather than initiatory.
Movement type not covered by existing concepts.
Efforts within a tradition community to establish or enforce a more 'authentic' or 'pure' practice, often by marginalizing innovations perceived as non-traditional. May be conservative (defending existing diaspora practice) or reformist (seeking African models).
Efforts to restore African elements to diaspora traditions that have been transformed by colonialism, syncretism, or assimilation. Exemplified by the Candomblé re-Africanization movement in Bahia and the movement to remove Catholic saint imagery from Lucumí/Ocha practice.
Physical return of diaspora people to African source communities, creating new hybrid communities and exchanges. Examples: Brazilian returnee (aguda/tabom) communities in West Africa who brought diaspora Candomblé elements back to Benin and Nigeria.
Efforts to create or restore a practice from documentary, archaeological, or cross-tradition scholarly sources where direct lineage transmission has been lost.
Efforts by diaspora practitioners to obtain formal recognition, initiation, or endorsement from African source communities or their representatives. May involve travel, correspondence, or receiving African elders in diaspora contexts.
RecognitionStatusScheme
Some source tradition representatives recognize the practice; others do not. Contested.
The reconstructed or diaspora practice has received formal recognition from a source tradition authority.
Recognition exists through interpersonal relationships and mutual respect without formal institutional endorsement.
The community practices without seeking external recognition, asserting autonomy over its own validity.
Recognition process is underway; outcome not yet determined.
Source tradition authorities have formally rejected or declined to recognize this practice or community.
ReconstructionMethodScheme
Reconstruction based on primary archival sources: colonial records, religious registers, fieldwork notes, photographs.
Reconstruction through formal community process: elders and practitioners deliberating together to establish or restore practice.
Reconstruction by synthesizing elements from multiple related surviving traditions to fill gaps in a fragmented one.
Reconstruction based on oral transmission from living elders or communities with partial survival of the tradition.
Reconstruction method not covered by existing concepts.
Reconstruction based primarily on published ethnographic literature (Bascom, Farrow, Verger, Cabrera, Herskovits, etc.).