The Spirit in Me
We are all familiar with the African diaspora at this point. It is nothing new to us. From Kendrick Lamar representing his difference and [dis]connection to Africa in All the Stars to countless posts about American history and spirituality, it is clear that African American people seek a place of refuge and comfort. The spiritual community is no exception.
‘Spiritual’ in this case does not relate to religion, but rather seeking matters of the soul or the human spirit. This includes connection. Since the age of Enlightenment, Western society has individualized people — taking humanity away from its notion of ‘tribe.’ This resulted in a lot of alienation, dispersion and confused youth.
Inversely, many of us growing up in a Western system (even those in Africa) have been exploring our own spiritual paths — deviating from our family’s religious systems and trying to find our own symbolic tribe. This too is true for Americans who felt that the path of their families does not fit them, and are thus seeking their ‘true ancestors’.
Some have created a platform on twitter to express to their beliefs. The problem is that twitter has a hostile environment, creating a terrible user experience, particularly for people who do not yet consider themselves ‘experts’ in spirituality (subjective), and feel attacked when on the platform. Many therefore feel more demotivated than what they felt before entering the site or seeking guidance.
We need a space where people are able to come together, to create a real sense of community. That is what our app is about:
SIM (an acronym for Spirit in Me) is our app idea where the dispersed African American spiritual people finally have a platform to engage with each other, and create a real sense of community.
Our target audience is youth engaging in or trying to find their own spiritual path, aged 19–35. This is because youth is more inclined to use technology to connect, and also because the majority of people existing on social platforms expressing their opinions and questions with regards to spirituality consists of youth. None of these people identify with a particular religion; they rather try to search for meaning in life and for wholeness within themselves.
We believe that this will enhance the overall experience of searching for meaning, because users of this app will finally have guidance. The app comes with these great features:
· Hosting virtual events: The spiritual community generally do not host many events — either due to their dispersion, or due to events being too expensive (an additional factor now being the COVID-19 pandemic). As a result, many practitioners practice by themselves. The purpose of the virtual events is to create a space for users to discuss their beliefs and collectively engage in practices.
Virtual events can occur collaboratively, or a guest speaker (leader/enlightened being) can host the platform where they speak, and their listeners are able to gain insight, information and ask questions.
· News feed allows users to post their beliefs and have discussions, as many other platforms, but we believe that the different, more welcoming environment will allow users to engage in conversations, ask questions and find support.
· Online library: A platform to create definitions for someone who has just decided to set a spiritual path. This can be edited by users, exactly as people can create entries and adjustments to the Urban Dictionary.
Furthermore, the online library pertains to explaining different traditions and tribes. For people invested in the power of crystals, for instance, the online library defines the crystal, displays an image of it as its properties, or ‘energy.’
For example, the moonstone defines new beginnings. Someone who is on a new path or ventures in anything unknown uses the moon crystal to calm them. It soothes anxious feelings, so that the user may move forward in peace.
Often, it is not seen as the power that the stone has itself, but the stone is rather a symbol of the power that a user has within herself.
For ‘meditators’ (like ourselves), we have meditation sessions. These sessions are guided by real people, presented by the app with two options:
1. A voice recording, for any time listening.
2. Live meditation sessions, in which times and dates are given in the events panel.
This platform at the very least will allow users to connect, form a community, and gain insight. At best, we believe this app will be a platform for users to achieve collective spiritual enlightenment.
“Instead of having a blunt app with texts and stuff, I don’t think there is an app that is as multi-functional. I am blown away by how original this is.” — Siyabulela Dhlamini
Group Members
Jiorhan Kasan 201519582
Bongani Kabinde 218065011
Nthabiseng kekana 217090985
Nkanyiso Khumalo 218002553
Contributions
Jiorhan was our primary researcher and contributed articles vital to the creation of the media. In addition he consolidated efforts to create and uploaded our project.
Bongani tweaked the functionality of the product to portray seamless transition and integration of options that allow users to interact with each other whilst at the same time avoiding theocracy in from more experienced and ‘enlightened’ users.
Nthabiseng was our main illustrator and spearheaded our visual direction towards the final product. She also initiated the whole idea and consolidated research and visuals to help create the product.
Nkanyiso integrated the visual styles to help create user interface kits and wireframes to make the app more aesthetically pleasing and smooth.
“Good neighbours allowed us to bond over something we have in common, and use our experiences hopefully to help others. This project gives us a better sense of the world, in knowing that there are people like us.” — Jiorhan Kasan
