From Àṣẹ to Ashe: Designing for Layered Meaning in Diasporic Knowledge Systems

Project Overview

From Àṣẹ to Ashe explores how African diasporic concepts of language, power, and creation can inform the design of computational systems. The term Àṣẹ (also rendered Ashe, Ache, or Axé) originates in Yòrùbá cosmology and refers to the animating life force that makes things happen through speech, intention, and ritual. This project asks how such layered cultural knowledge might be represented, annotated, and activated within AI and HCI design

Our goal is to reimagine how systems engage meaning by treating cultural depth as data rather than noise.

Background and Context

In Yòrùbá cosmology, Àṣẹ is not a metaphor. It is the spiritual and creative energy through which reality is shaped. Spoken into the world by Olódùmarè, Àṣẹ connects speech to action and ethics to cosmology. As African communities were dispersed across the Atlantic, the concept evolved but never disappeared.

In Lucumí (Santería), Ache refers to the divine energy granted by the Orisha.
In Candomblé and Umbanda, Axé circulates between deities, ancestors, and practitioners through music, dance, and ritual.
In African American contexts, Ashe affirms power, prayer, and intention—spoken as an act of alignment and creation.

Each of these manifestations reflects both transformation and continuity, showing how diasporic knowledge travels and endures.

Research Focus

This study explores Àṣẹ as both a computational challenge and a cultural framework.
We ask:

How might AI systems interpret terms that hold spiritual, historical, and communal meaning?
What would it look like to design annotation and retrieval tools that respect layered semantics and relational ontology?
How can Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) draw from African epistemologies to enrich its design logic?

Methods

We developed a Layered Glossary Framework and a browser-based annotation prototype to model the semantic constellations of Àṣẹ across texts, traditions, and regions.

The framework includes four interpretive layers:

Ifá Cosmology – sacred origins and metaphysical principles
Diasporic Practice – ritual and performative uses
Cultural Use – social and linguistic expression
Scholarly Commentary – academic and interpretive analysis

Annotators used a lightweight Colab tool to tag instances of Àṣẹ and its variants (Ashe, Ache, Axé) in a curated corpus. Each instance could be tagged across one or more layers, with a free-text rationale for ambiguous or overlapping meanings.

Key Findings

Multiplicity is the rule, not the exception. Many uses of Àṣẹ cross spiritual and social boundaries, revealing that meaning in diasporic contexts is relational and context-dependent.
Annotation as reflection. Participants found the process itself to be a cultural and pedagogical exercise, sparking discussion about ontology, translation, and representation.
Systems need plural logic. Designing with diasporic knowledge requires moving beyond binary or statistical reasoning toward frameworks like abductive or fuzzy logic that can hold layered truths.

Design Implications

Our work proposes culturally reflexive AI design, where multiplicity, heritage, and spiritual epistemologies are treated as technical design requirements.
Future iterations will include:

Glossary switching between African cosmological terms
Integration with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines for contextual grounding
Expanded annotation across other African and diasporic concepts

Research Team

Jaye Nias

Howard University

E. Adewuyi Mason

University of Georgia

Kola Abimbola

Howard University

Thayne Douglass

Howard University