Sacred Roots: a Journey from Hayti to Allada

Sacred Roots: a Journey from Hayti to Allada (directed by Duvilaire and produced with a West African-based team) , documents Haitian Vodou practitioners of Sosyete Nago (Haiti | U. S.) traveling to Benin on a sojourn of ancestral reclamation. The film powerfully shows the meaningful ways African spiritual practices unite people of African descent, and portrays Vodou (Haiti) | Vodun (Benin) as contemporary living sister traditions. While Vodou, the seedbed of Haitian culture and liberatory consciousness, has long been mischaracterized by outsiders as backward malicious “voodoo,” Duvilaire’s work shows the power and truth of the religion in relation to its roots in West Africa, and exemplifies the importance of ancestral spiritual practice to decolonization. This event was presented with a post-screening discussion with director Jean-Sebastien Duvilaire (Houngan Babbas) . Duvilaire is an independent scholar focusing on Haitian and African histories and traditions. He is the founder of the AfrikAyiti Project, bridging the gaps between Africa and the Diaspora through cultural exchange programs, sustainable business activities, and working on traditional platforms to nurture contemporary relationships. Houngan Babbas, as he is affectionately called, is also a dancer/choreographer/artist/educator from Abricot, Haiti, who strongly believes in the use of the performing arts to trigger real social change. He is the director of JSDDance by Tahomey; the latter is a business comprising various projects aimed at promoting unity between Ayiti and Africa. He travels extensively throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa to teach and perform, sharing African culture through his Haitian lens. He promotes Pan-Africanism and considers the union of Africans as a crucial step towards creating a better world for current communities to thrive in. His commitment to cultural sustainability and justice is tied into working with artists, scholars, and farmers in rural Ayiti and rural Africa, considering them all as very important agents of a better tomorrow. Houngan Babbas is an active member of Sosyete Nago, as well as an advisor in the Royal court of the Aïzos of Allada Benin, West Africa. This programming is part of UCSB’s Haitian Flag Week | Haitian Heritage Month Sponsored by the Department of Black Studies, the MultiCultural Center, the Carsey-Wolf Center, and the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies