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As more heritage institutions adopt the language of decolonisation, many forms of diasporic cultural expression–especially those rooted in non-Western spiritual traditions–remain invisible. Aladura churches in the UK, vibrant spaces of Yoruba ritual and cultural transmission- a space of living African heritage, if you may- are entirely absent from frameworks like UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Convention. This piece draws on digital ethnographic research to argue that these churches are not just religious spaces–they are unrecognised heritage institutions. This absence reveals the urgent need to rethink who gets to define, own, and safeguard culture.
Aladura churches and cultural continuity
Aladura churches originated in 20th-century Nigeria as independent Christian movements blending liturgy with Yoruba cosmology, healing, and prophecy. Today, they are firmly established across UK cities and serve not only as places of worship but as vital hubs of cultural transmission for the Nigerian diaspora.
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Between October 2024 and July 2025, I analysed livestreamed services and social media content from the Palace of Joy Global Church in Oldham, Manchester, and conducted interviews with two church leaders.[i] The research revealed a richly layered ritual environment where Yoruba spiritual knowledge is expressed through prayers, ritual dress, music, and collective healing. While the term “heritage” was never explicitly used during the interviews, and neither is it used on social media, the practices were consistently described as inherited responsibilities, passed down through spiritual and familial lines.
Ritual practice as intergenerational knowledge
During services, Aladura congregants engage in rituals that transmit Yoruba cultural values across generations. Children learn the Yoruba language through singing and praise; congregants wear white garments and headwraps that symbolise purity and identity; and healing prayers invoke spiritual power and ancestral presence. These practices don’t just preserve tradition–they actively adapt and renew it in the diaspora.
This transmission now extends into the digital realm. On TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, churches like Palace of Joy livestream key communal milestones–church anniversaries, prophetic sessions, healing events. These digital performances blend Yoruba and English while delivering powerful spiritual messages. In one of the Palace of Joy Church’s Facebook clips I examined, for instance, a prophetic session unfolds through fervent preaching, rhythmic call-and-response in Yoruba and English, and a collective healing ritual (see C&S Palace of Joy Global Church Manchester).
In Aladura’s ceremonies, music, testimonies, and choreography become part of a living archive–what might be called heritage in motion. Social media platforms are, intentionally or not, informal repositories of intangible heritage. This aligns with UNESCO’s ICH definition: practices “transmitted from generation to generation” and reproduced “in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history”. By these criteria, Aladura churches clearly qualify as heritage institutions. Yet they are almost never recognised as such.
Exclusion from institutional heritage frameworks
This omission is not accidental. Global heritage systems–including UNESCO’s ICH Convention–have long privileged secular, nationally bounded, and material forms of culture. In many national contexts, historic religious monuments such as cathedrals, temples, or mosques are recognised as heritage sites, but this recognition is typically tied to their architectural value, antiquity, and alignment with dominant national narratives. Conversely, spiritually embedded traditions–particularly those of recently established or transnational diasporic communities–are often excluded for being perceived as “too religious,” too localised, or too difficult to classify within conventional categories.
Embodied, improvised, and spiritually framed practices, like the ones in Aladura ceremonies, are therefore frequently marginalised in heritage policy, regarded primarily as expressions of faith or community life rather than as heritage in their own right. As a result, such communities are routinely denied access to safeguarding schemes, national inventories, and heritage funding.
Pathways toward policy recognition
There are precedents for recognising spiritually grounded heritage. The Andean Cosmovision of the Kallawaya and the Ifá divination system were both inscribed by UNESCO in 2008. However, such recognition is often tied to national borders and formalised traditions, privileging forms of heritage that can be anchored to a single state or codified practice. Diasporic practices–hybrid, transnational, and constantly evolving–are more difficult to classify (and yet no less vital) and therefore struggle to access the same institutional platforms and resources. Unfortunately, this not only limits their visibility and reach within official heritage discourses but can also lead to their authenticity being questioned, as they do not conform to the fixed, nation-based models that dominant heritage frameworks tend to legitimise.
To address this gap, heritage institutions must embrace three shifts. First, greater flexibility in recognising ritual, spiritual, and affective practices as legitimate forms of cultural heritage is vital for these social practices. Second, transnational recognition of diasporic practices that cross borders, languages, and institutional frameworks is integral to making visible the many forms of rituals, in this case socially embedded. And finally, the use of digital inclusive means to support the safeguarding of heritage through social media and other platforms where communities already gather.
Aladura churches already perform the core functions of heritage institutions. They preserve, reinterpret, and pass on Yoruba cultural memory through ritual, oral storytelling, and digital presence. What they lack is institutional validation.
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Diasporic heritage as decolonial practice
The recognition of Aladura churches as heritage requires a shift in how we define cultural value. These churches represent not only religious continuity, but also cultural resilience and resistance.
As UNESCO and national bodies reconsider their strategies, they must centre the lived experiences of diasporic communities whose heritage is spiritual, embodied, and collective. This doesn’t require reframing faith practices as secular: it necessitates accepting that, for many communities, culture and spirit are inseparable.
Aladura churches are not marginal to African heritage. They are its vital custodians in the diaspora. Recognising them would mark a meaningful step toward a truly plural and decolonised heritage discourse. Without that recognition, these communities remain overlooked–despite fulfilling the very role heritage institutions claim to honour.
End notes
[i] For the case study featured in this piece–the Palace of Joy Global Church in Oldham, Manchester–I conducted interviews with Her Grace Prophetess Elizabeth Onanuga and Prophetess Ekua Olayo.
Anna Catalani is a heritage scholar based at the University of Lincoln, UK. She is currently researching African diasporic intangible heritage, with a focus on how Aladura churches in Britain preserve and reinterpret Yoruba religious traditions.