When Vodou meets Virtual Reality
I have been approached as an “expert” on Vodou, and asked if I have something written on the subject. Pretending that Vodou is my “expertise” would be very exagerated, but I do have developped an interest and studies on the subject, through readings as well as direct experience and meditation. I do not have a text exclusively dedicated to Vodou, but I often include Vodou inspired comments in my texts, or references to Vodou values. If you have some time, you can browse through the archives of my blog (www.djaloki.blog.com); I suggest you type “Vodou”, or related concepts in the search tool of the blog. My essays are categorized under the “Djalòki’s writings” label which you will find in the “Categories” title on the right hand-side column of the main screen of the blog.
I have been lecturing on cross-cultural awareness and respect in the US and in Europe. Three of the lectures I have given, titled “Spiritual Literacy”, “Imaginary Friends for Real!” and “Vodou, as Lived by a Post-modern Ayitian”, are more specifically about Vodou. I usually feel comfortable with answering verbal questions.
Some people have asked me to write on Vodou and I have been thinking about it. I think that Vodou is quite difficult to circumscribe within a static linear rational medium. There are reasons Vodou has traditionally been transmitted through the oral line. Once something is written, it is isolated, confined and immovable, which would not do justice to most Vodou values and concepts. I have been thinking more and more that Virtual Reality will be a much better way to present Vodou, when that technology is more advanced and more accessible to the public, on the Internet for instance. I will then certainly be honored to participate in a joint work of presenting Vodou, along with other “experts”, through a multidimensional medium, with possibilities of depicting the invisible realms and creating unusual emotional and mental states through multisensorial stimulations.
For now, I will keep on thinking about a written text accessible to the non initiate.
