Alla ricerca dell’immateriale. Passato della schiavitù e patrimonio nel Benin meridionale

In Benin, since the early 1990s, the Ouidah 92. Rencontre Afrique-Amériques. Festival des arts et de la culture vodun and the itinerary of The Slave Route under the aegis of Unesco, have been significant occasions aimed at connecting voodoo with the commemorations of the slave trade. Today, the official acknowledgement of an intangible and moral heritage of slavery's past goes hand in hand with the promotion of sacred sites and various events that expresses the (sometimes rediscovered) vivacity and legitimacy of ancient beliefs and cults. This relationship between the uses of memory and the worship activities can be observed through conflictual discourses on history and on the contemporary practices of ritualization and signification of "traditional" and popular religion as a form of globalized culture.