Dates
Foundation Day
July 14
Private observance. Sacred date. Not a public event.
Public Programming Weekend
July 17–19
Primary event: Saturday, July 18
A Community Observance
Find Your Tree
On July 14, wherever you are, we invite you to make a small pilgrimage. Find a sacred tree in your landscape. Stand with it. Leave something behind.
The Iroko Historical Society takes its name and its animating presence from Iroko — the great forest elder of West and Central Africa, and a living Orisha in the Lucumí tradition. Trees of this kind exist across the Afro-Atlantic world under different names and in different traditions. You may know yours as:
- Iroko (Milicia excelsa) — West and Central Africa, the Diaspora
- La Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) — Cuba, the Caribbean, Central America
- Any tree that has called to you, sheltered you, or holds significance in your tradition or your memory
The offering is yours to determine. It may be water, a flower, a moment of silence, a word spoken aloud, or simply your presence. What matters is the intention: to recognize that the living world holds memory, and that some of that memory belongs to us.
If you photograph your tree, consider sharing it with the IHS Visual Ethnography archive. Submission details are available beginning July 18.
2026 Programming
Panel Presentation & Discussion
On Saturday, July 18, Délé Fágbèmí Ò. will present original scholarship followed by a moderated discussion with 2–3 invited respondents. The session is virtual, access-restricted, and practitioner- and scholar-facing.
A respondent submission call opens alongside general registration in April. Applicants are invited to submit a short statement (200–300 words) responding to the session theme. Respondents are selected and notified in June.
The weekend also marks the opening of the IHS Visual Ethnography community photography submission call for the living archive.
Scholarly Offering
Iroko Framework v1.2.0 — the Society's linked data ontology for Afro-Atlantic sacred traditions — will be formally deposited to Zenodo in the period surrounding Foundation Day 2026 as the year's primary institutional contribution.
Community Photography — 2026
The 2026 community photography submission call opens July 18. Submissions will document sacred spaces, material culture, and community life across the Afro-Atlantic world for the Society’s Visual Ethnography archive.
Registration & Submissions
General registration to attend and the respondent submission call open simultaneously in April 2026. The Visual Ethnography photography submission call opens July 18. All access is application- or registration-based.
To receive the announcement when registration opens, contact [protected].