Nollywood and the Orishas: Heritage, Hybridity, and Digital Mediation in Afro-Atlantic Religions

This article examines the intersection of Nollywood cinema and Afro-Transatlantic religions, with particular attention to Orisha worship and digital mediation. It argues that Nollywood functions as both a heritage practice and a site of diasporic negotiation, transmitting and transforming Afro-diasporic religious knowledge through film and online platforms. By analysing contemporary Nigerian films, digital streaming, and social media engagement, the study demonstrates how Nollywood facilitates the re-enchantment of modern life, offering ethical, aesthetic, and spiritual reflection in a mediatised context. It also highlights the challenges of representation, authority, and ethics in digital circulation, particularly regarding sacred imagery and ritual accuracy. The paper situates Nollywood within broader debates in heritage studies, media studies, and Afro-Atlantic religious scholarship, arguing that transnational cinematic practices produce hybrid knowledge, collective memory, and participatory spiritual engagement. By foregrounding digital mediation, the study shows that Afro-Atlantic religions are not relics of the past but living, adaptive, and networked phenomena, capable of thriving across borders and platforms. The article contributes to understanding how media, heritage, and spirituality intersect in contemporary African and diasporic contexts, offering new insights into the circulation, adaptation, and ethical mediation of sacred knowledge in a globalised world. Methodologically, the article draws on a qualitative, interpretive analysis of selected Nollywood films produced between the late 1990s and the 2020s, combined with platform-based observation of audience discourse on YouTube and on social media platforms related to Netflix. Rather than claiming exhaustive coverage, the study adopts a case-oriented approach designed to illuminate broader dynamics of mediation and reception, as advocated in qualitative media and religion research.