VODOU ROOTS

"Vodou Roots" is a mixed-media art project embraces the active living spiral of black identity and culture, while re-membering who we were and are as people of African descent living in the Americas. This racial justice work is an act of resistance, memory, cultural recovery and reconciliation. It offers an open invitation to students, educators and community members to explore issues of historical mis-representation, structural/institutional power and privilege, and internalized oppression in relation to African and Diaspora religions (ADR).  Vodou Rootsis curated through film, oral storytelling (podcast) and live performances to preserve Vodou’s cultural expressions and indigenous knowledge, dispel xenophobic biases toward it while promoting equity and tolerance of black indigenous ways of being.
 
"Vodou Roots" is an outgrowth of 25+ years of anthropological research, teaching and personal practice,
highlighted through:

·    "Brooklyn to Benin: A Vodou Pilgrimage," a short film chronicling Regine Romain’s three-year sojourn to Benin,  (formerly Dahomey)- the birthplace of Vodou, an ancient West African religion;

·    "Vodou Roots: A Love Story Musical"  is an intimate audio-narrative journey about Regine Romain’s life and her relationship with Vodou and other traditional African religions/spiritual practices. This 32 minute podcast explores Vodou’s historical survival, cultural impact, universal values, arts and healing modalities;

·     and WaWaWa Diaspora Centre, a mobile platform created in Benin (2016)  and incorporated in New York State as a not for profit (2018) advances racial harmony and healing for the black descendants of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean,  through inter-generational arts, education, and exchange programs.

www.REGINEROMAIN.com