{ "model": { "rank": 3374, "code": "thing-q177764", "model_id": "vr.tr.west-african-vodun", "name": "West African Vodun", "purpose": "Let an agent describe West African Vodun respectfully as a living religion in the terms of its practitioners and scholars, distinguish it from the diaspora traditions and from popular stereotypes, relay demographic and legal information with sources, and route questions about practice to the communities themselves.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Society, people and institutions", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "SOC", "domain": "SOC.ORG", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q177764/", "tier": 2, "score": 87, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Louisiana Voodoo", "Dominican Vudú", "Cuban Vodú", "Haitian Vodou", "Trinidadian Vodunu", "Jejé" ], "aliasCount": 6, "merged": 6, "knownIn": 87, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q177764", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q177764", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T22:09:37Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q177764", "registryId": "vr.tr.west-african-vodun", "name": "West African Vodun", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "SOC.ORG" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q177764/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.west-african-vodun", "name": "West African Vodun", "purpose": "Let an agent describe West African Vodun respectfully as a living religion in the terms of its practitioners and scholars, distinguish it from the diaspora traditions and from popular stereotypes, relay demographic and legal information with sources, and route questions about practice to the communities themselves.", "definition": "A traditional religion of the Fon, Ewe and related peoples of Benin, Togo, Ghana and Nigeria centred on spirits called vodun, ancestors and a creator, practised through priesthoods, shrines, divination, initiation and ceremonies with drumming and dance; Vodun is officially recognised in Benin, and related but distinct traditions developed in the Americas through the Atlantic slave trade, including Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, Cuban and Dominican Vodu and Brazilian Jeje practice.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a religion.", "affordances": [ "describe beliefs and practices with attribution", "distinguish Vodun from diaspora traditions and stereotypes", "relay demographic and legal information", "route practice questions to communities" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Spirits called vodun", "Ancestor veneration", "Initiation and priesthood", "Recognised religion in Benin" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; shrines, altars, ritual objects, ceremonies with drumming and dance.", "visual_identification": [ "Religion of the Fon, Ewe and related peoples", "Vodun spirits, ancestors, priesthoods and shrines", "Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo are distinct diaspora religions; popular voodoo imagery is a stereotype" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "adherents in Benin", "typical_range": "about 11-17", "unit": "percent", "note": "census figures; many more combine practices" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "Fon and Ewe Vodun in Benin, Togo and Ghana", "related Yoruba orisha traditions as neighbours", "diaspora traditions: Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, Cuban and Dominican Vodu, Brazilian Jeje, Trinidadian practice", "Vodun in the diaspora of West Africans today" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "indigenous religion", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "traditional African religion", "why": "of West Africa" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "Haitian Vodou", "why": "a distinct diaspora religion" }, { "relation": "is practised by", "target": "Fon people", "why": "and Ewe and related peoples" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Freedom of religion protections", "Official recognition and the national Vodun day in Benin", "Heritage protection of shrines and practices" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Stereotyped or sensational presentation", "Conflating Vodun with diaspora religions or fiction", "Disrespect for sacred knowledge and restrictions" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What Vodun is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Beliefs and practices.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the beliefs, spirits and practices of Vodun, as practitioners and scholars describe?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about West African Vodun, a diaspora tradition or a fictional portrayal?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "organisation", "name": "Organisation", "description": "Priesthood and community.", "findings": [ { "id": "organisation-finding", "name": "Organisation", "description": "Organisation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are priesthoods, initiations and shrines organised?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation respectful of sacred restrictions?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguish", "name": "Distinguish", "description": "Vodun and the diaspora.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "diaspora", "name": "Diaspora", "description": "Diaspora traditions.", "findings": [ { "id": "diaspora-finding", "name": "Diaspora", "description": "Diaspora.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo and other traditions develop from Vodun, and how do they differ?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific tradition?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "stereotypes", "name": "Stereotypes", "description": "Stereotypes.", "findings": [ { "id": "stereotypes-finding", "name": "Stereotypes", "description": "Stereotypes.", "questions": [ { "text": "How have popular media misrepresented Vodun, as scholars describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation free of stereotypes?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "society", "name": "Society", "description": "Society and law.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "demography", "name": "Demography", "description": "Adherents.", "findings": [ { "id": "demography-finding", "name": "Demography", "description": "Demography.", "questions": [ { "text": "How many people practise Vodun, and how do censuses count them?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "recognition", "name": "Recognition", "description": "Recognition and heritage.", "findings": [ { "id": "recognition-finding", "name": "Recognition", "description": "Recognition.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is Vodun recognised and protected in Benin and elsewhere?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits religion in Benin?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "study", "name": "Study", "description": "History and scholarship.", "rationale": "Study.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Vodun develop in the Dahomey kingdom and under colonial and post-colonial rule?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "scholarship", "name": "Scholarship", "description": "Scholarship.", "findings": [ { "id": "scholarship-finding", "name": "Scholarship", "description": "Scholarship.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do anthropologists and religious studies scholars study Vodun?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits African religious studies?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each diaspora tradition be a separate primary entry?", "How should scholarly and community sources be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming diaspora religions; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "organisation or institution", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a West African Vodun, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent describe West African Vodun respectfully as a living religion in the terms of its practitioners and scholars, distinguish it from the diaspora traditions and from popular stereotypes, relay demographic and legal information with sources, and route questions about practice to the communities themselves.", "characteristics": { "substance": "social", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "collective" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Louisiana Voodoo, Dominican Vudú, Cuban Vodú, Haitian Vodou, Trinidadian Vodunu, Jejé.", "6 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 87 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a West African Vodun, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "a social arrangement between people", "physicalCharacter": [ "Acts through people, and only through them.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. Recognised by name, register entry and the people acting in its name, and those change while it stays the same body." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Louisiana Voodoo", "Dominican Vudú", "Cuban Vodú", "Haitian Vodou", "Trinidadian Vodunu", "Jejé" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 87 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 6 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one West African Vodun from another, and a West African Vodun from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a West African Vodun sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a West African Vodun from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a West African Vodun passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a West African Vodun between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a West African Vodun, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a West African Vodun is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "people-and-responsibility", "name": "People, roles and responsibility", "description": "Who stands in what relation to a West African Vodun.", "rationale": "Social things are defined by the relations people hold to them, and those relations change without the thing changing.", "layers": [ { "id": "roles-and-parties", "name": "Roles and parties", "description": "The roles that exist around a West African Vodun and who fills them.", "findings": [ { "id": "role-assignments", "name": "Role assignments and their validity", "description": "Who holds which role over a West African Vodun, from when, and on whose authority.", "questions": [ { "id": "role-assignments-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a role over a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a role over a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "role-assignments-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a role over a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ownership-and-accountability", "name": "Ownership and accountability", "description": "Who answers for a West African Vodun and who may decide about it.", "findings": [ { "id": "accountability", "name": "Accountability and decision rights", "description": "Where responsibility for a West African Vodun sits when something goes wrong.", "questions": [ { "id": "accountability-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes responsibility for a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about responsibility for a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "accountability-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once responsibility for a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "legal-identity", "name": "Legal identity and mandate", "description": "What West African Vodun is in law and what it exists to do.", "rationale": "Legal identity survives changes of name, address, staff and premises, which is exactly why it must be recorded separately from all of them.", "layers": [ { "id": "registration", "name": "Legal form and registration", "description": "Form, register, identifiers and jurisdiction.", "findings": [ { "id": "registration-record", "name": "Registration and identifiers", "description": "What names this body unambiguously in law.", "questions": [ { "id": "registration-record-q01", "text": "What legal form does West African Vodun take, in which register, under which identifier?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "registration-record-q02", "text": "What survives a rename, a merger or a move of premises, and what does not?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mandate", "name": "Mandate and governing instrument", "description": "The purpose it is bound to and the document that binds it.", "findings": [ { "id": "mandate-record", "name": "Mandate and its source", "description": "What it may do, and the instrument that says so.", "questions": [ { "id": "mandate-record-q01", "text": "What is the mandate of West African Vodun, and which founding or governing instrument grants it?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "mandate-record-q02", "text": "What lies outside the mandate, and what should an agent do when asked for it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "governance-and-membership", "name": "Governance, membership and decision rights", "description": "Who decides in West African Vodun and who belongs to it.", "rationale": "Authority inside an organisation is held by roles, not people, and an agent needs to know which role can commit it.", "layers": [ { "id": "decision-rights", "name": "Decision rights", "description": "Bodies, offices and what each may bind.", "findings": [ { "id": "authority-map", "name": "Who may bind the organisation", "description": "The offices that can commit it and their limits.", "questions": [ { "id": "authority-map-q01", "text": "Which bodies or offices of West African Vodun may take which decisions, and up to what limit?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "authority-map-q02", "text": "What evidence shows that a given person currently holds that office?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "membership", "name": "Membership and affiliation", "description": "Who counts as part of it and on what terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "membership-rules", "name": "Membership and its evidence", "description": "Classes of member, how membership starts and ends.", "questions": [ { "id": "membership-rules-q01", "text": "What kinds of membership or affiliation does West African Vodun have, and how does each begin and end?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "membership-rules-q02", "text": "What may a member do in its name, and what may they not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a West African Vodun came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a West African Vodun and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a West African Vodun is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a West African Vodun, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a West African Vodun, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a West African Vodun is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }