n. fadeke castor.
digital ancestral altars
Digital Ancestral Altar’s goal is to commemorate Trinidad’s ancestral Ifá/Orisha elders and connect members of the transnational Isese l’agba (traditional Yorùbá religious community worldwide) through a media archive and website. This website showcases video clips from members of Trinidad’s Ifá/Orisha community as they reflect on the lives of two beloved elders: Iyalode Sangodasowande/Sangowunmi and Chief Alagba Baba Erinfolami.
A stand-alone website is in development that will include more videos, media objects from Dr. Castor’s multimodal ethnographic archive (Trinidad Ethnographic Research Archive- TERA) and materials collected from community members. These projects are one step in fulfilling an ethical commitment to the community by providing access for Trinidad’s community members to selections from Castor’s ethnographic archive (spanning a period of over twenty years). Future development will also include additional interviews and the expansion of the memorials to commemorate more elders.
We offer here these gathered remembrances of our elders...
invocation.
Eniola: “Mmm hmmm okay, Mama... We goin' again... from de top, uuhm....You could make brief salutations... rather than- we went down the...
Yeye Apesin: "The full, yeah... ... [list of deities in the invocation]"
Eniola: "Yeah. Make brief salutations... And tell me a bit about how you met and connected with Iya Sangowunmi."
Yeye Apesin: "Okay, uuuhm. I give praise and thanks to... the Six Houses: East, West, North, South, the Highest Heavens, the Deepest Earth. I give praise and thanks to those ancestors on the left and on the right. Those who went before us. Those who taught us all that we know of African Sacred Science. Because of our ancestors, we know how to live in the world. I give praise and thanks to Olodumare Oba-te-rere-kaye, to Eshu, to Ogun, to Obatala, to Orunmila Eleri-Ipin. To Iya Melvina Rodney, Baba Sam Phills, Iya...lorisha Louisa Catherine Toussaint, to Chief Alagba Erinfolami. I give praise and thanks to... Oloye Ologundudu who initiated me into Obatala. Oloye Adeyela Adelekan. And, [in] the land of the living, my teachers: Oloye Olakela Massetungi/Oloye Oramfe, and... continued blessings to Oba Aala Ifagbenjo.”
digital ancestral altars.
Iya Sangowunmi
(1941-2023)
Born Janice Patricia Price, Iya Sangowunmi Iyalode Sangodoasowande held many honorable titles, including Iyalode and Iyamode. She was an Ifá priest, diviner, and initiate of Shango and Egbe. As Chief Priest and founder of the Ile Eko Sango/Osun Mil’osa (IESOM) shrine and the Irentegbe temple in Santa Cruz, Trinidad, she became a guiding light in her community. Her journey into the Orisa tradition began in 1982. Over a decade later, she would be initiated to Shango in Oyo, Nigeria. Iya was a visionary who brought to life transformative projects, including the Osun Abiadama School and the IESOM shrine. Holding advanced degrees in physiotherapy, naturopathy, and more, Iya was a passionate advocate, educator, author, diviner, spiritual leader, and mentor. Her legacy of strength, wisdom, and compassion lives on through the countless lives she touched, empowering her community and inspiring future generations.
![[megan please crop] baba onile2005_0424AE.JPG](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/262761_c626f9ac3d57441788b57ba56bca9047~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_744,y_314,w_810,h_1012/fill/w_384,h_480,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/%5Bmegan%20please%20crop%5D%20baba%20onile2005_0424AE_JPG.jpg)
Baba Erinfolami
(1942-2018)
Born Esmond King, Chief Alagba Awo Ifa Tayese Baba Erinfolami was an elder, Ifá priest, and chief Egungun priest of the IESOM shrine, known for his deep connection to the spiritual realm and his unwavering commitment to the preservation of ancestral traditions. A cousin to all, Baba Erinfolami shared the wisdom of the ancestors and emphasized the importance of caring for those closest to the spirit world. His spiritual journey began at the age of 13, when he visited his first Sango shrine, sparking a lifelong journey towards the Orisa practice. Always curious, over decades Baba Erinfolami immersed himself in literature about Africa, continually seeking knowledge to better understand his roots. As a dedicated advocate for African people, he was a powerful, Afrocentric voice—one that spoke strongly with kindness and respect to all those he encountered.
iya sangowunmi.
Burton Sankeralli:“You can see she was a passionate person. For her, Shango really came through in what she did. She just did what she felt needed to be done, and I don’t think she cared what people had to say, which can be a strength and a weakness in a tradition marked by protocols as ours is. But she did what she felt needed to be done, and I think that was pure Shango. And the school came out of that impulse and drive of hers, I would say.”
Burton Sankeralli: “But when you meet her, she will come across as a very genteel person. And with me, she always had this very kindly way about her with me. So, there you have it.”
Yeye Olooya-Iyun: “Another thing she used to do was uuuhm... every time there's... whenever she's present in a ceremony or whatever and a certain chant comes along... [sings] 'A wole wo'le ku gba ni, wo'le wo'le je Oshun, wo'le wo'le ku gba ni, wo'le wo'le je. A wo'le wo'le ku gba ni, wo'le wo'le je Oshun, wo'le wo'le ku gba ni, wo'le wo'le je.' Whenever that comes, Ms. Lady would get up and you would see her and you would see the energy of Oshun, the energy, the strength of this woman - just moving. And she would just like raise the energy around. You know, that's, that's a memory that I remember of her."
Yeye Olooya-Iyun: “She used to like people to think for themselves, you know. Don’t just depend on others – what do you think? But then again, even with what do you think she was a little somehow within herself too, because these have a lot too because we used to have a lot of little disagreements to be honest with you. But uhm, I realize that was to strengthen my character, you know. And I mean, I just look back at those things and smile. And thank God for the experience, I thank Olodumare for that experience. Because, uhm, now I have to stand on my own. My mama is gone.”
Yeye Olooya-Iyun: “The gift that Iya shared with the world was to-- self-empowerment. Self-empowerment because I remember that she would always say that the shrine—that place—is for women and children, to empower women to be self-sufficient and independent. So I feel that her gift was really to empower women to become the best version of themselves.”
Yeye Apesin: “A lot of people do not realize, understand and appreciate that Oshun is a warrior. So... Iya Sangodasowande embodies both Shango and Oshun. And she's a warrior. So... Ose’turupon: 'Women must be respected.' That is Iya: Women must be respected. That's not her odu, but she finds a way to get things done. Iya would insist that uhm: 'Yes, I am the Shrine Leader, and if you have a problem, remember: Shango has no daughters. He only has sons. [laughs] He only has sons!'"
baba erinfolami.
Oba Kiteme: “I could hardly think of another person, that made... that really brought that, the Movement, the Orisha Movement to life in Trinidad, that brought life, more life to the Movement than Erinfolami. He had the charisma. He had the boldness, you know. And he was always ready, always ready to respond to people’s calls. And that’s what I admire him for the most—his response. His response was always immediate, always immediate, almost always instantly. That is how I see him, that is how I like to remember him. That is how I like to remember him.”
Oloye Oba Aala T&T: “I used to see him like, I think the term is 'Ologbohun.' He was like the loudspeaker for Orisha and Ifá. He was a man who would bring in the flock, so to speak, you know what I mean. It have some people like, some people who are the recruiters [noise] But Erinfolami bringing in the flock. You understand, 'Hey you, you need Ifá, alright come let’s go, let’s go. Aah, tomorrow seven o’clock.' He was on top of that type of thing. I always saw him as someone who would bring in the flock. That was the right term. [laughter] You know [laughter] That’s basically what it was. For me, that’s how I saw…in anything that he do. Cause he was involved in pan too. We were altogether in Phase II Pan Groove at one time. He held an office in Phase II Pan Groove. I was still an elder at that point in time. At that time I was more active in the band. So we, we accompany each other, don’t want to say cross roads. We accompany each other on different roads, at different times, you know.”
Oloye Oba Aala T&T: "Bringing in the flock. His steadfastness, you know what I mean. He liked Orisha. You understand? He was dedicated to Orisha. He was dedicated to this way of life. There is no mistake about it. He was dedicated to the liberation of Africa and Africans, the liberation of the African mind. He was dedicated to that kind of process. He himself had possessed a certain kind of mirror or, what you call it, memory you know, in terms of the history of St. James, the history of Africans in Trinidad and Tobago. He maintained a certain volume, you know. Right. Of stuff that he could, he could let go at any minute. So that that is important. You know, they talk about libraries dying and libraries, you know. And that is certainly a situation like that. And so you must, must pay important, pay attention to recording, pay attention to listening, pay attention to, you know, retaining some of the things that these guys, these elders talk about. Cause you know, they had good ideas. You know, they might not have lived to see things work the way they want, but they have good ideas, ideas that would stand firm, you know. So we just need to, kind of, continue the drive to keep things alive. Ase.”
[Burton] "What other memories would you like to share with us?"
[Avery] "Well, if we are speaking of memories, Baba Erinfolami, he assisted me a lot in getting my books displayed, displayed in places like uhm… first let me begin, he was a policeman, an active police. He was a sergeant down in Couva in the 90s, the early 90s. And I was working NGC, in Point Lisas, so anything it having related to the Police Credit Union, police… anyway he could put my books, he would pack a box, put a list, and he would take it, drop it back, and give me whatever he sold or didn’t sell. He wasn’t interested in money and all that thing. Sort of like me... I was more interested in getting out the books [... related to African history, culture and spirituality.]”
purpose.
One important reason for this project is the ephemeral nature of social media. The recent change in Twitter’s ownership and subsequently, shifts in many of its policies, started a conversation on Black Twitter about both the stability of our digital platforms and their ownership (including the ownership of intellectual property). Every year on Facebook, the anniversary of an elder’s passing is noted through numerous memorial posts and threads that include photos, videos, and tributes. As moving as this is, this memorial is subject to the whims of the “Meta-verse’ while making intellectual property claims to the material hosted on their site. Digital Ancestral Altars seeks to address these issues of ephemera and ownership by offering an alternative (likely to supplement and not replace) to social media sites. In doing so, it extends an ethics of care for community that is at the heart of Isese l’agba (Yoruba tradition and culture) for both embodied and disembodied beings. The central charge of actively remembering and honoring the ancestors can be facilitated through the digital, bringing transnational community together in their communications with the ancestral realm.
theory.
Theoretically, this project contributes to conversations on digital Black religions, spiritual praxis, transnational religious communities and the construction of the African diaspora. Dr. Castor’s approach to spiritual praxis and digital Black religions is visible in her recent article, “Ifá/Orisha Digital Counterpublics” where they state that “I do not see the virtual and the physical as distinct or separate, rather as different yet interrelated sites or spheres of engagement” (Castor 2022, 18). They continue to point out that moving between realms is a central ritual praxis in African diasporic religions that informs the shifting between the physical, spiritual, and virtual realms. Digital Ancestral Altars is situated at the intersection of these realms while also centered in the transnational religious community that informs African diasporic religions. As such, the digitally mediated veneration of ancestors offers opportunities to not only build communities across disparate geographies, but to also theorize how spiritual praxis and technology contribute to this building.
A series of questions undergird the ethics for this project including:
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What are the ethics of both care and memory when using digital platforms and social media to remember the community’s elders?
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How does digital space effect memory and complicate how communities memorialize those who have passed into the ancestral realm?
Impacting both questions is a global, transnational community with varying levels of relationship due to shifting affiliations and patterns of travel, impacted by internal and external factors (including the COVID pandemic). For example, many of the elders who used to travel and do ritual in Trinidad have changed to working with other communities. One goal of the project is to have them contribute historical media of ancestral elders to the archive. This is an important weaving together of transnational community. We involve community members, across differing geographies, in the drafting of an ethics and community standard agreement to govern the archive, digital repository, and website. This is circulated among community members and revised to incorporate their feedback. All media remains the intellectual property of the community member. Other materials may be archived in a secure manner that prevents their downloading and circulation outside of the site. (Note that technical details were worked out with the tech team.)
reflections.
Digital Ancestral Altars (DAA) is a collaborative digital and ethnographic project for the memorialization of elders from Trinidad's Ifá/Orisha community. Many conversations spanned the years of envisioning and manifesting this project. They focused on: how can we honor our elders and the community while creating a durable space for multiple voices to be heard? What you see here is an outgrowth from those conversations. And like many proposed projects where we started is not where we have landed (I'm deliberately not saying “ended” as this project is still unfolding).
While my work has always engaged communities (so central to the ethnographic endeavor) I’ve always wanted to do more collaborative work. Working collectively led to an important lesson. I was reminded while working on this project with a team that: the journey is the destination. Meaning that the very community we hoped to engage with occurred in our process of collaborating with each other. We are the community. Or rather, one small facet of a deep and broad community Isese l’agba (world-wide community of Yoruba tradition and culture) that is differentiated across time and space. Our collective efforts to remember and memorialize Trinidad’s beloved Ifá/Orisha elders have been (and continues to be) ancestral work that has brought us closer in relation with each other. The ancestral flows at the heart of this project have also brought us together with the elders in amazing ways. New connections were forged in Boston, in Trinidad, and between the two locations. Old connections were deepened and renewed. These relations contribute to the fabric of the Ifá/Orisha the community.
Ethics of relationality were important in informing our process and hours of reflective dialogue (starting in summer of 2023). This journey has brought many lessons in the form of blessings and challenges. Some of the challenges for this are reflective of being embedded in transnational networks. We are a community that spans multiple spaces from the academy to the palais (ritual space), from Trinidad to the US. While this presented challenges of temporal and communication and challenges it also offered unanticipated blessings. People whose life flows had taken them in different directions (even when sharing close geographic spaces) were brought together to remember and celebrate people (Iya and Baba) who had been so central to our community. As you see from the powerful video clips people generously shared their memories (these clips are a small sampling, more videos will be made available on the forthcoming project website).
The challenge of multiple temporalities also brought lessons, compounded by the ephemeral nature of doing a project that is meant to capture moments in time. Working with graduate students at Northeastern University has been a blessing. Their fresh energy and insightful perspective on a project and community has informed (for the better) much of how DAA has developed. And as it should be with graduate students, their own studies and research, have meant that their work on this project is often short lived. Likewise, the team members in Trinidad (or the “Trini crew” as I call them in my head) have full and busy lives. The timing of the academic calendar, and transitions in team members, were often in tension with deadlines. I am forever grateful to all the team members (past and present) for their willingness to make time for DAA meetings and engagements.
A third lesson was for me to step back and let others take the lead. This was a blessing where the strengths and talents of the project members truly shone. Burton Sankeralli and Eniola Adelekan stepped up to conduct these wonderful interviews in Trinidad. In that instance, my role became one of support providing resources (made possible by our generous funders the Crossroads Project/Luce Foundation and Northeastern’s NU Lab), support, and some limited guidance. Their challenges of equipment (borrowing most), scheduling (meeting up with other very busy people) and logistics (did that rental car break down?) were all faced with grace and fortitude. Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to them for exemplifying what it means to be in community. They truly embody and reflect the spiritual citizenship that I wrote about years ago (Castor 2017). Ese gaani (thank you very much).
A fourth lesson was more on the “digital” end than the “ethnographic” process in digital ethnography. None of this would have been possible without the mediation of technology. While the limits of the file transfer size, limited memory card space, and other hurdles were frustrating much of this project could not have happened (at least not with the available resources of time and money) without platforms that facilitated communication (such as WhatsApp and Google Drive). The technology enabled quick communication and collaborative work spanning the space between Trinidad and Boston. While we found some communication technologies that worked other platforms that we spent time on ultimately did not meet our needs, causing us to shift our tools. Another frustrating aspect of technology are the current limitations in digital transcription, especially with Trini English, Yorùbá and Trini accented Yoruba. Correcting auto-generated transcriptions (by example, from the generated “I’m every almond” to correction “I’m Avery Ammon”) is an ongoing project as we work through the extended interviews.
Next steps: We are working on a DAA website that will include expanded memorials with more video interviews, archival videos and photos, and other materials. In the next phases of the project we envision collecting and sharing more memories recognizing and honoring the lives of Trinidad’s Ifá/Orisha elders. The relations of community that bring us all together, spanning aye (the world) and orun (the spiritual realms) are woven, in part, through the coming together and honoring of our collective spirits – our histories and our energy in this world (and the next). DAA is a contribution to this larger community and a response to the charge from the ancestors, and from our elders, who say “keep doing the work!”
glossary.
àṣẹ/ase/ashe
babaláwo
babalórìṣà
ebo
Egun
Egúngún
Èṣù/Eshu
ẹgbẹ́
Ẹgbẹ́ Ọ̀run
ẹbọ
feast (Trini.)
Ifá
ilé
Ilé-Ifẹ̀
Ìyá
Odù
odù
Ògún Orisha
Olódùmarè
Orí
Òrìṣà/Orisha
Òrúnmìlà
Òṣogbo
Ọbàtálá
Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì/Oshosi
Ọọ̀ni
Ọ̀ṣun/Oshun
Ṣàngó/Shango
Yorùbá
Yorubaland
sacred life force energy; the power/ability/authority to make things happen, which is owned by Olódùmarè (the Supreme Being) and shared with all other beings; affirmative performative interjection meaning "May it be so!/ So be it!/ It is so!/ It must be so!"
father of the mysteries; title for male priest of Ifá
father of Orisha; title for male Orisha initiate; priest
in Trinidad, used as name for feast, multiday celebration of Orisha
ancestors
masquerade of collective ancestors
Orisha of communication, choices, crossroads, custodian of àṣẹ
group of people; an association or organization; society of coequals; age-mates
spiritual comrades from the spiritual realms, a group of all people on earth left behind when born; also heavenly mate
sacrifice or offering
an annual ritual gathering over several days to pray, sing, dance, and make offerings, including sacrifices, to Orisha; also called ebo
wisdom of Olódùmarè, the message of Òrúnmìlà
house, congregation, or lineage of Ifá/Orisha devotee
a city in Ọ̀sun State, Nigeria; historic ancestral home for all Yorùbá, also known as Ifé Oòdáyé; according to myth, ancient Ilé-Ifẹ̀ is the source of all humanity
literally “mother,” also honorific title for female priest
deity at the core of Ifá’s awo
one of 16 major sacred geomantic binary signs of Ifá that when combined in pairs forms 256 figures also known as odù Ifá
Orisha of iron, technology, war, and kingship
supreme being; God
personal divine consciousness; head
deities; divine emissaries of Olódùmarè (God); often seen as forces of nature or historical figures; also used as name for Yoruba-based religion in Trinidad
one of the Irúnmolè from the spiritual realms (Ọ̀run); deity of wisdom; chief custodian of Ifá
town in Ọ̀ṣun State, Nigeria dedicated to Ọ̀ṣun and home to the Sacred Ọ̀ṣun Grove
Orisha of wisdom and clarity and creator of humans; known as molder of heads in the spiritual realms
Orisha of the forest; tracker and hunter
title of kingship in Ilé- Ifẹ̀
Orisha of love, fertility, creativity, and fresh water; associated with women’s power; one of the Irúnmolẹ̀
Orisha of kingship, justice, lightning
Yorùbá ancient peoples largely in contemporary southwest Nigeria; also spread throughout West Africa across at least five other postcolonial nations; also refers to their language, culture, and religion
geographic and imagined cultural area encompassing the Yorùbá people in West Africa, cutting through parts of at least five postcolonial nations, from Nigeria to Sierra Leone
Glossary terms excerpted from Castor, N. Fadeke. 2017. Glossary, In Spiritual Citizenship: Transnational Pathways from Black Power to Ifá in Trinidad. Duke University Press, 191 - 196.
gratitude.
We would like to thank the Crossroads Project on Black Religious Histories, Communities, and Cultures and Northeastern University’s Lab for Digital Humanities and Computational Social Science for their generous support. Our gratitude extends to Prof. Judith Weisenfeld for their guidance and patience. Additional thanks at Northeastern Library’s Digital Production Services, especially Sarah Sweeney and Kimberly Kennedy. Thank you to all the community members in Trinidad who contributed to this project through their interviews and support behind the scenes, notably: Avery Ammon, Oba Kiteme, Oloye Oba Aala, Yeye Apesin, Yeye Olooya-Iyun. Additional thanks go to the incomparable Dr. Megan Goodwin for their digital wizardry.
team.
Eniola Adelekan (Trinidad)
Burton Sankeralli (Trinidad)
Burton Sankeralli is a philosopher, a vocalist, and a dissident. He teaches philosophy, religion and philosophy of religion at St Andrew's Theological College in his native Trinidad. There he has widely researched cultural traditions including extensive work on the local Orisha Tradition of which he is a devotee and elder.
Ayinde Jean-Baptiste (US/Trinidad)
Lead architect of the participatory media platform DuSable City, co-creator of the multi platform dance work Against Gravity: Flying Afrikans+ other Urban Legends, co-producer of the audio essay suite Carceral Fictions & Abolitionist Realities, & disciple of Kamau Brathwaite, Ayinsko (he/they/li) is a sanba/ keeper of memory & systems thinker who occasionally commits acts of journalism. 3rd culture seed of two Caribbeans --- one born in the 1st surviving republic in the Western Hemisphere to throw off the yoke of slavery, the other in a colony, Ayinsko uses voice to shift culture, engaging with communities of listening, memory-making, and movement.
L. Virginia Martínez (Summer 2024 - present)
L. Virginia Martínez (she/her/ella) is a third-year PhD Student in Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University. She is interested in two research foci at the intersection of race, gender, and health. Her research lies at the intersection of race, gender, and health. Her first line of research examines how institutional and structural racism and sexism influence medical practices, health outcomes, and policies, specifically among Black and Latina women. She draws connections between the legacies of slavery and medical sociological theories to explain the persistence of menstrual, maternal, and reproductive health inequities from the Antebellum period to the present. Her second area of focus explores healing practices and rituals, shedding light on their spiritual and cultural significance within the Caribbean diaspora. This includes oral histories of love, joy, nurture, maternity, and women's empowerment within Afro-diasporic religions, such as La Veintiuna División (Dominican Republic) and Lucumí/Regla de Ocha (Cuba).
Halima Haruna (Summer 2024)
Halima Haruna is a PhD student in World History at Northeastern University. Her research interests are in the decolonization of knowledge and epistemology through spiritual practice. Her scholarly practice begins with cultural theory based on Yoruba spirituality and expands to connect with lived experiences of Black people. Her video work has been shown internationally at Display Gallery, Prague; Narrative Projects, London and the 12th edition of the African Biennale of Photography. She received a MA in Research Architecture from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2018.
Titilayo Odedele (Summer 2023 - Fall 2023)
Titilayo F. Odedele (she/they) is a PhD student at Northeastern University, where they also received their MS in Criminology and Criminal Justice and MA in Sociology. Her research interests include political economy of the world system, decolonial Marxism, and the intersections of neoliberal capitalism and Pentecostalism in Nigeria and other parts of the Global South. Their current and forthcoming work can be found with the Hampton Institute and Bokutani: The Journal of the African Studies Association of Africa. She enjoys spending time with her family and dog.
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Citation: Castor, N. Fadeke. Digital Ancestral Altars. SPIRIT HOUSE: A Crossroads Project. January 2025. Date Accessed. https://www.crossroads-spirithouse.org/castor.
Dr. N. Fadeke Castor (she/they) is a Black Feminist ethnographer and African diaspora studies scholar with research and teaching interests in religion, race, performance and the intersectional politics of decolonization. Currently, she is Assistant Professor of Religion and Race at Northeastern University. They are the author of Spiritual Citizenship: Transnational Pathways from Black Power to Ifá in Trinidad (Duke University Press, 2017; Clifford Geertz Prize, 2018). Their recent writings can be found in Fieldwork in Religion, The Black Scholar, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, the Journal of World Popular Music and other leading journals. Their current research focuses on an exploration of the spiritual ontologies and epistemologies of Black spiritual praxis as shifting our centers of being and ways of knowing towards collective care, healing, and social transformation.
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