Abstract
This session is a presentation of research in the category of sacred sources: sites, narratives, texts. It elaborates DOORS OF RETURN, (a documentary filmed in the Republic of Bénin), about the indigenous knowledge–spirituality and epistemology–lost during the trans-Atlantic trafficking of African people, a knowledge fundamental to the notion of reparations, rematriation, restorative justice, and psychological healing for the damage done to those deported to the Americas, as well as many who have become estranged from their heritage due to the imposition of colonialism and imperial religions. The documentary foregrounds the Béninese people’s agency, their efforts to revalorizes their Vodoun spirituality, and testimonies from members of the diaspora on their experience of this spiritual force which vehicled the local resistance to the slave trade and colonialism. Methodology: In anthropological and social science research, the emic and etic approaches represent contrasting perspectives for studying cultures. This project used an emic approach. It was two years in the making, which enabled us to participate in and focus on understanding the Béninese culture and Vodoun spirituality from the perspective of its members, and to appropriate their own terms and categories to describe and interpret their world. The session is designed to engage attendees in dialogue around the idea of repair and the notion that rematriation, psychological and spiritual healing (not just a check), are crucial for restorative justice and repair for slavery and centuries of violation and Black dispossession.
Presenters
Joyce Hope ScottClinical Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, African American and Black Diaspora Studies, Boston University, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2026 Special Focus—Indigenous Spiritualities in Global Perspective
KEYWORDS
African Indigeneity, Reparations, Rematriation, Spirituality, Vodoun
