Mama Zogbé (Vivian Hunter-Hindrew)

Mamissi, Scholar, and Tradition Keeper#

Mama Zogbé (born Vivian Hunter-Hindrew) is a Mamissi (high priestess) of Dahomean Vodun and founder of the Mami Wata Healers Society of North America. She has devoted her life to researching, preserving, and teaching the authentic Vodun traditions of the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin), working to distinguish traditional West African Vodun from the syncretic forms that developed in the Americas.

Research and Scholarship#

Mama Zogbé conducted extensive field research in Benin, Togo, and Ghana, studying with traditional Vodun priests and priestesses. Her primary scholarly contribution is Mami Wata: Africa's Ancient God/dess Unveiled (2007–2008), a multi-volume work that traces:

• The historical origins of Mami Wata (water spirit) worship across West and Central Africa
• Connections between Mami Wata and water deities across the African diaspora (Yemayá, La Sirène, Mami Water)
• The pre-colonial complexity of Vodun theology and philosophy
• How European colonialism distorted understanding of African spiritual systems
• The matriarchal traditions within Vodun practice

Tradition Preservation#

Through the Mami Wata Healers Society, Mama Zogbé works to:

• Train African Americans in authentic Dahomean Vodun practice
• Distinguish traditional Vodun from commercialized "Voodoo" stereotypes
• Reconnect diaspora communities with specific lineages and practices from Benin
• Preserve the role of women in Vodun leadership
• Document the pharmacological knowledge embedded in Vodun healing practices

Significance#

Mama Zogbé's work is important for this wiki because she represents the contemporary effort to trace diaspora traditions back to their specific African sources — not to a generalized "Africa" but to particular peoples, cities, and lineages within the Vodun tradition of Dahomey.

Sources#

• Hunter-Hindrew, Vivian (Mama Zogbé). Mami Wata: Africa's Ancient God/dess Unveiled. Mami Wata Healers Society, 2007.
• Drewal, Henry John. Sacred Waters: Arts for Mami Wata and Other Divinities in Africa and the Diaspora. Indiana University Press, 2008.