Ilé Aña Olofí

Ilé Aña Olofí, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit rooted in the Lucumí tradition, one of the great Afro-Atlantic religious traditions that survived the Middle Passage and took root across Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. Our name honors two pillars of that tradition: Añá, the sacred Orisha of the drum who announces and confirms every new priest, and Olofí, the Orisha who manifests the divine presence of the Almighty. Together, they represent what we believe this work is about: bearing witness, preserving what was entrusted to us, and passing it forward with integrity.

We are practitioners. We are scholars. We are a community that knows firsthand how much has already been lost, and how much is still at risk.

For generations, the sacred knowledge of Afro-Atlantic traditions has been held in private homes, aging notebooks, and the memories of elders. When an elder passes, a libreta can disappear. When a house floods or a family moves, decades of knowledge can be lost in an afternoon. And when outside institutions do preserve these materials, they often do so on their own terms, with access controlled by people who are not accountable to the communities the materials came from.

We started Ilé Aña Olofí because we believe communities have the right to steward their own heritage. Not as museum pieces. Not as academic subjects. As living knowledge, held by the people it belongs to.

Based in New Orleans, our work is transnational, with active fieldwork relationships in Havana, Cuba and practitioner communities across the United States. We have presented our work at the Society of American Archivists, at KOSANBA, and at the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba.

Why Give NOLA?

New Orleans and the broader Gulf South sit at the center of Afro-Atlantic religious history in North America, and Give NOLA is how we connect with donors who understand why this work matters and want to support an organization doing it from the inside. Your gift supports fieldwork, digital preservation infrastructure, and open tools and resources that benefit the entire Afro-Atlantic scholarly and practitioner community. Every contribution moves us closer to a world where these traditions, and the people who carry them, have the archives they deserve.