Research Project/OAR: Re-writing or Telling the Story from an Original Point of View
Many of the attitudes expressed on Indigenous and/or traditional African belief systems have been shaped by the accounts of biased and ignorant (of the peoples colonized) documentations. These poor accounts have been challenged throughout time, yet, there still remain misconceptions, falsehoods, misunderstandings, and other sentiments that have been left by the way in which traditional belief systems have been documented—in particular, the original way and lens from which they were documented. Some of the goals of this project are to:
- Provide a database of customs, traditions, theories and practical usage for African spiritual traditions that were brought to the Americas;
- Offer a matrix-style compilation of the information for easy cross-referencing by country and language;
- Give the voice of authority on these various belief systems back to the people from which it was taken. Seek out elders, families, communities who have visibly continued traditional practices without practicing Christianity or Catholicism;
- Explore the challenges posed by syncretized practices in the Americas in trying to complete the previous task; and
- Compare the original (colonial) documentation with that of the re-compilation and show where errors have been made and how to go about re-teaching the subject by those qualified to speak on the matter.