Chair's Briefing Notes · Movement 3 · Afrikan Spirituality
Debating diasporic spiritual innovations to African continental traditions
Chaired by Dr. Anthony Richards, Barbadian Biotechnologist, Ethnobotanist & PDRA in Indigenous Ethnobotany of the Caribbean, University of Edinburgh
Topic Summary
This session debates the spiritual innovations developed in the diaspora and their relationship to continental African traditions. Presenters will explore questions of authenticity, lineage, adaptation, and the legitimacy of diasporic practice, considering whether innovations represent faithful continuations, necessary responses to new conditions, or departures from source traditions.
Speakers (alphabetical)
Dr. Anthony Richards
Chair
Barbadian Biotechnologist, Ethnobotanist & PDRA in Indigenous Ethnobotany of the Caribbean, University of Edinburgh
Dr. Yanique Hume
Presenter
Jamaican Senior Lecturer & Head of Cultural Studies, UWI Cave Hill
Dr. Yanique Hume is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. A multifaceted scholar, dancer and choreographer, she specialises in Caribbean cultural thought and the religious and performance cultures of the African diaspora.
Siphiwe Baleka
Presenter
American Global Afrikan Reparatory Justice Strategist · Afrodescendant Theocratic Special Envoy Extraordinary & High Chancellor of Lineage & Ancestral Return, Alafia High Council
Siphiwe Baleka is a former world-class swimmer and Yale graduate turned leading strategist and advocate for Global Afrikan Reparatory Justice. For more than two decades he has worked to develop the African Diaspora as the 6th Region of the African Union and to advance Afro Descendants' Right of Return and citizenship in their ancestral homelands on the African continent. He serves as Afrodescendant Theocratic Special Envoy Extraordinary & Reparations Expert and High Chancellor of Lineage & Ancestral Return of the Alafia High Council, and is President of the Balanta B'urassa History and Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA), which has secured citizenship in Guinea Bissau for its members and Afro Descendants of Guinea Bissau origin.
Vernon Rex Archibold Taylor Jr.
Presenter
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.
Centre for Hybrid Studies · Global Freedom Festival 2026