target tradition
grounded in
The heritage relationship assertion that grounds this return event or reclamation movement. A TransAfroAtlanticReturn or ReclamationMovement is typically predicated on a claimed relationship between an Afro-Atlantic tradition and an African source tradition; this property links the event or movement to that formal assertion. The heritage claim may be widely attested, lineage-specific, or contested — the property records the claim without adjudicating it.
Tipos de movimento de reclamação
Validation-seeking
Historical influence
evidentiary sources
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.
Tipos de relación patrimonial
Published ethnographic sources
Direct descent (widely attested)
Afro-Atlantic practitioner receives divination or consultation from African authority figures.
Reconstruction based primarily on published ethnographic literature (Bascom, Farrow, Verger, Cabrera, Herskovits, etc.).
Tipos de retorno diaspórico
Informally recognized
Reclamation Movement Types
The documentary, scholarly, or oral sources used as the basis for reconstruction. Range: iroko:DocumentaryEvidence.
The relationship is based on reconstruction from historical evidence rather than surviving living transmission.
Décolonisation
contestation notes
Estado de reconocimiento
community recognition status
Purification / orthodoxy movement
Tradition reconstruction
return date
Heritage tourism / pilgrimage
Types de mouvement de réclamation
Trans-Afro-Atlantic Return
Ré-africanisation
Organized or individual Afro-Atlantic visits to African source sites for spiritual, cultural, or commemorative purposes. Distinguished from TransAfroAtlanticReturn in being primarily observational rather than initiatory.
Àwọn ọ̀nà ìtúnpadà
Formal exchange of liturgical, ceremonial, or governance knowledge between Afro-Atlantic and African communities.
The Afro-Atlantic house or community making the return. Range: iroko:House.
source tradition
return outcome
Afro-Atlantic practitioner participates in African ceremonies without receiving initiation.
Source tradition authorities have formally rejected or declined to recognize this practice or community.
The primary method used to reconstruct this practice. Range: iroko:ReconstructionMethodScheme.
Research / ethnographic
Movement type not covered by existing concepts.
reconstruction method
Efforts to restore African elements to Afro-Atlantic 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.
Return type not covered by existing concepts.
Reconstruction by synthesizing elements from multiple related surviving traditions to fill gaps in a fragmented one.
Iroko Framework: Sankofa Module (Reclamation Movements and Trans-Afro-Atlantic Returns)
Tipos de relação patrimonial
Whether and how this reconstructed practice has been recognized by source tradition communities. Range: iroko:RecognitionStatusScheme.
Reconstructed Practice
Types de retour diasporique
Reconstruction method not covered by existing concepts.
Efforts to create or restore a practice from documentary, archaeological, or cross-tradition scholarly sources where direct lineage transmission has been lost.
host community
How this return has been evaluated or contested within the broader tradition community.
Heritage Relationship Types
Community deliberation and consensus
An organized or semi-organized community effort to recover, revitalize, or Africanize a Afro-Atlantic 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 Afro-Atlantic 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.
evidence base
The Afro-Atlantic side of the claimed heritage relationship. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept.
Reconstruction based on oral transmission from living elders or communities with partial survival of the tradition.
Ceremony participation
The nature of the return encounter. Range: iroko:ReturnTypeScheme.
Oral tradition and living practitioners
Formally recognized
A formal assertion of the relationship between a Afro-Atlantic 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.
Reconstructed / claimed
The African tradition identified as the reclamation's reference point. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept.
Approximate date the movement began.
Domain module. Vocabulary for documenting revitalization and reclamation movements, Trans-Afro-Atlantic returns to African source communities, reconstructed traditions, and heritage relationships. Models semantic relationships between Afro-Atlantic 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.
Recognition exists through interpersonal relationships and mutual respect without formal institutional endorsement.
Types de relation patrimoniale
Decolonization
current practicing community
Heritage relationship type not covered by existing concepts.
Àwọn ìrú ìgbiyànjú ìpadàbọ̀
Méthodes de reconstruction
Recognition Status
Àwọn ìrú ìpadàbọ̀ ará ìjìnlẹ̀ ayé
The African tradition influenced the Afro-Atlantic tradition without a direct descent relationship. Elements were adopted or adapted.
Physical return of Afro-Atlantic people to African source communities, creating new hybrid communities and exchanges. Examples: Brazilian returnee (aguda/tabom) communities in West Africa who brought Afro-Atlantic Candomblé elements back to Benin and Nigeria.
The Afro-Atlantic tradition this movement seeks to reclaim or revitalize. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept.
Claimed but contested
Métodos de reconstrucción
The Afro-Atlantic tradition claims a relationship to the African source, but this claim is disputed by scholars, the African community, or other Afro-Atlantic communities.
Reconstruction based on primary archival sources: colonial records, religious registers, fieldwork notes, photographs.
African initiation
Cross-tradition synthesis
Other
The community practices without seeking external recognition, asserting autonomy over its own validity.
The Afro-Atlantic and African traditions share a common ancestor but developed in parallel rather than one descending from the other.
Protocol / knowledge exchange
Ipò ìdásílẹ̀
movement type
Notes on how this movement has been received, resisted, or debated within and outside the tradition community.
Àwọn ìrú ìbátan àṣà ìní
Reconstruction Methods
Parallel development from shared source
Principal practitioners, scholars, or leaders associated with this movement. Range: foaf:Person.
Heritage Relationship
Statut de reconnaissance
Not sought
Recognition process is underway; outcome not yet determined.
return type
Summary of the scholarly and community evidence supporting or complicating this heritage relationship claim.
The African source tradition claimed in this heritage relationship. Range: iroko:TraditionScheme concept.
The house or community practicing this reconstructed tradition. Range: iroko:House.
Consultation / divination
Afro-Atlantic practitioner or scholar conducts fieldwork in African source communities.
Métodos de reconstrução
Trans-Afro-Atlantic Return Types
Re-africanización
The name or designation of this reclamation or revitalization movement. Language-tagged.
Status de reconhecimento
The type of heritage relationship claimed. Range: iroko:HeritageRelationshipTypeScheme.
The typological category of this movement. Range: iroko:MovementTypeScheme.
Re-Africanization
The Afro-Atlantic tradition descends directly from the African source tradition through documented enslaved practitioner transmission. Widely recognized by scholars and both communities.
African source tradition
The documented result of this return: mutual recognition, initiation, rejection, or ongoing relationship. Free-text.
key figures
Efforts by Afro-Atlantic practitioners to obtain formal recognition, initiation, or endorsement from African source communities or their representatives. May involve travel, correspondence, or receiving African elders in Afro-Atlantic contexts.
Afro-Atlantic tradition
Specifically framed efforts to identify and remove colonial impositions (Catholic syncretism, colonial-era secrecy requirements, European naming conventions) from a Afro-Atlantic tradition. Overlaps with re-Africanization but emphasizes the political critique of colonialism.
Disputed
returning community
movement name
Archival / documentary sources
Afro-Atlantic practitioner receives initiation in Africa within a source tradition.
The African community or institution receiving the Afro-Atlantic visitors. Range: iroko:House.
Reconstruction through formal community process: elders and practitioners deliberating together to establish or restore practice.
origin date
Pending
A documented instance of a Afro-Atlantic 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 Trans-Afro-Atlantic 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.
relationship type
Tipos de movimiento de reclamación
Reclamation Movement
The documented or ongoing result of this movement. Range: iroko:MovementOutcomeScheme.
Some source tradition representatives recognize the practice; others do not. Contested.
Rejected
Descolonización
Repatriation
The reconstructed or Afro-Atlantic practice has received formal recognition from a source tradition authority.
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 Afro-Atlantic practice) or reformist (seeking African models).
movement outcome