Chair's Briefing Notes · Movement 3 · Afrikan Spirituality
African Spirituality in the Diaspora
Chaired by Felicia Dujon, St. Lucian/Barbadian Lecturer in Philosophy, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill
Topic Summary
This roundtable gathers practitioners and scholars to take stock of the living state of African-derived spirituality in the diaspora. Discussion will explore how diasporic traditions have been preserved, adapted, and innovated under conditions of displacement, the question of recognition and legitimacy relative to continental source traditions, and the relationship between diaspora and continent.
Speakers (alphabetical)
Dr. Janique Baker-Dennis
Participant
Trinidadian Coordinator of the Academic Literacies Programme, Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, UWI St. Augustine · Iyanifa & Iyalorisha Èṣù-Elegbara
Dr. Janique Baker-Dennis' research is based on the pataki from the 256 odu of The Sacred Oracles of Ifá, an ancient oraliterature emanating from the Yoruba pantheon of the Orisha. She is the mind behind the new literary theory, The Pataki Continuum, and the numerical methodology, the Tric(h)ord Formula, both grounded in the principles of the premier Orisha, Eshu–Elegbara.
Felicia Dujon
Chair
St. Lucian/Barbadian Lecturer in Philosophy, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill
Makhosi Asiya Nyame
Participant
Barbadian-born Sangoma Healer & Spiritual Practitioner · Makhosi Foundation / MA Temple
Makhosi Nyame (Tamisha) hails from Barbados. Her healing journey began in 2015 with alkaline electric nutrition for the melinated body, opening her to her gifts. The 'calling illness' revealed that healing is multidimensional.
Oloye Agba Esusegun Olaifa
Participant
Barbadian Priest & Chief Elder of The Orisha
Oloye Agba Esusegun Olaifa is a Barbadian Orisha elder who serves as Priest and Chief Elder of The Orisha. He delivered the invocation at Barbados' National Thanksgiving Service marking the country's first anniversary as a republic, in a multi-denominational ceremony that recognised the Orisha tradition among the nation's faiths.
Vernon Rex Archibold Taylor Jr.
Participant
Panamanian-born Oluwo-Babalawo-Oya · Yoruba Spiritual Leader & Educator
Vernon Rex Archibold Taylor Jr. is a Panamanian-born Oluwo-Babalawo-Oya with 50 years in the Yoruba tradition. For the past 25 years, he has been a member of the Ifá-Orisha of Iperu-Remo Ibodu, Nigeria.
Suggested Questions
- How have your tradition and community sustained African spiritual practice in the diaspora, and what conditions have most helped or hindered that survival?
- In what ways have diasporic practices necessarily innovated, and how do you understand the relationship of those innovations to continental African traditions?
- What recognition, legitimacy, or acceptance do diasporic practitioners currently have in your society, and what is still being contested?
- How do you navigate questions of authenticity, lineage, and initiation between diaspora and continent?
- What forms of exchange or solidarity with continental practitioners already exist, and what would strengthen them?
- What do you most want continental practitioners and the wider public to understand about African spirituality in the diaspora today?
Centre for Hybrid Studies · Global Freedom Festival 2026