Zila Moyo Nzingha Nandi
I am originally from Martinique where I grew up, I am passionate about culture, ethnology more specifically African humanities.
I am an associative activist, involved in my home territory for the inclusive construction of our "Tomorrow", this construction in the manner of Edouard GLISSANT's quote "Act in your place, think with the World"
With this in mind, I have set up wellness and health tourism events as well as events related to agriculture and agro-processing to move towards food autonomy.
After several visits to Benin, after having organized trips for Martinicans who wanted to reconnect with Africa, thanks to a new position at Benin Tourism where I specifically deal with the religious, cultural and spiritual aspect of Vodun, I dropped off my suitcases in Benin.
I am a lawyer by training with a Master 1 in Private Law, then a Master 2 in Human Resources and Business Strategies.
I practiced in the field of real estate law, I was for 10 years head of an agency, then co-founder of the first real estate agency with a social vocation.
I retrained 15 years ago as a practitioner in helping relationships, a branch of psychotherapy with specialties in hypnosis, sound therapy and somatherapy.
I also worked as a trainer, in an independent firm, with vulnerable populations such as young people and the long-term unemployed, for whom remobilization on personal and professional projects was an emergency.
To go further and be aligned with my deep convictions, I was initiated into Vodun up to the level of the "priesthood", in addition to this initiation I was enthroned as Sub-Pontiff of Daagbo Hounon, in Ouidah.
They will be presenting at the symposium at New Orleans National Vodou Day on :
"Traditional Health, Arts, Customs and Traditions, Ways of Acting, on the Lands of Deportation: an "Unconscious" Reminder of the Resurgence of Ancestral Practices"
Their Presentation
This contribution "Traditional Health, Arts, Customs and Traditions, Ways of Acting, on the Lands of Deportation: an "Unconscious" Reminder of the Resurgence of Ancestral Practices" attempts to present the results of the experience of safeguarding, updating African spiritual practices, including Vodun and its variants. The objective is to explore the meaning and areas of persistence of this legacy after 400 years of separation from the ancestral land. African spiritual practices such as Vodun were transplanted to the lands of deportation by enslaved Africans. They were a means of constructing the identity of the descendants of deported Africans while being concomitantly a means of resistance. It will be a question of following the footsteps of traditional African religions, their penetration into the customs and traditions of the descendants of deported Africans.
We will go to meet this heritage, in the West Indian societies of Martinique and Ayiti, these traces are found in the dances, the "started baths", the "makaya" the positioning of plants at the entrance of houses. “ Because behind each plant, there is a symbolism declined through rituals, myths, beliefs, but also spells, exorcisms "(Emmanuel Nossin) This traditional medicine is still alive in the countryside, the subsistence of the quimboiseurs and the rites of passage of birth, marriage and death which in Martinique was swept away in less than 42 years to find fragments in the carnival. Rituals of passage still alive in Ayiti in particular death in the Guédés.