Espiritismo traces its roots to the sacred knowledge of West and Central African peoples, carried into the Americas by enslaved ancestors between the 15th and 19th centuries. Marta Moreno Vega, Ph.D., a scholar and co-founder of Corredor Afro, explores those roots and the traditions sustained from them.

Moreno Vega follows Espiritismo across a wide geography: Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Puerto Rico, other Caribbean islands, and U.S. urban centers. She explores how these traditions are sustained in these places as part of “memory, survival, and continuity.”

Drawing on personal and family experiences, Moreno Vega reflects on the challenges of centering African Diaspora spiritual practices in academia. She notes that academic settings often privilege “objective” distance over embodied knowledge. She reflects on this challenge.

Moreno Vega emphasizes resilience and the ways these ancestral practices continue to manifest in contemporary life through remembrance, ritual, and cultural expression.

To learn more about Espiritismo, watch The Soul – Spirit is My Altar with Marta Moreno Vega.