Régine Romain, MA
Régine Romain is a multilingual Haitian-American artist, educator, visual anthropologist, and racial justice strategist. As a community-based participatory researcher and cultural producer, she delves into all of her projects with a passion to heal historic wounds.
With 25+ years of teaching, training, and supporting diverse communities, she uses photographs/film/performance as mixed-media educational tools to promote love, respect and justice in addressing issues of race, representation and culture through participatory and reflective learning practices. Through an extensive global network, she produces transformative curricula, workshops, salons, performances, forums, exhibits/festivals, and tours.
Régine holds a BS | Bowie State University and a MA | Goldsmiths, University of London, and is pursuing a PhD in Cultural Studies.
They will be presenting at New Orleans National Vodou day on :
Reclaiming Narrative Power: Vodou, Biomythography and the Art of Storytelling in the Digital Age
Their Presentation
This presentation examines biomythography and the transformative potential of mixed-media storytelling in reimagining Vodou and other African Traditional Religions (ATRs) throughout the Black diaspora through Régine Romain’s pioneering works - Brooklyn to Benin: A Vodou Pilgrimage (2016/film) and Vodou Roots: A Love Story (2018/podcast).
Romain’s work addresses how Vodou is practiced in the wake of ongoing histories of violence and historical misrepresentation. Carrying the memories of resistance, her creative storytelling activates a reclamation of ancestral knowledge, disrupting disempowering narratives. Instead, her biomythical works reclaim agency through the lens of Vodou's cultural and spiritual heritage.
The presentation explores biomythography, an important postcolonial storytelling practice introduced by Audre Lorde, which melds nonfiction and myth. By weaving personal narratives with rich cultural elements—such as prayers and songs—she amplifies the folkways of her people. And utilizing diverse digital platforms enable global conversations, bringing Vodou's universal values of healing, artistic expression and reparative justice to intergenerational listeners across continents and religious beliefs. Moreover, Romain’s approach foregrounds mixed-media storytelling, as a remedy for addressing trauma and historical inequities. Importantly, her work emphasizes the preservation of sacred traditions for future generations.
By blending bio, myth and technology, Romain offers a compelling model for how Vodou and ATRs throughout the diaspora can challenge anti-Black systems of oppression, while providing a brave space in learning about often taboo traditions. Romain’s innovative use of film and podcasting demonstrates the critical role of new media in preserving Vodou’s legacy while firmly advancing a loving representation of Vodou in the modern world.