The Maraboot

The Maraboot derives from a long tradition of the sub-Saharan sorcerers, gifted for talking to spirits of the deceased entities and guiding the living ones. In the 2020s, the Maraboot performs as a fortune-teller interested in the fate of data, crafting divination pieces from fragments of hardware.

Throwing chips, cables and plugs leave it open to interpretation for the future of one’s data. Predictions can be about the dreadful perspective of an inevitable loss or the cherished wish of having one’s disappeared data finally coming back. No one knows where the Maraboot movement originally came from, and if it was a serious practice, a simple joke or an elaborated scam. Actually, it may just have been a balanced blend of all of these options. However, the Maraboot practice has quickly caught up and became a profitable business.

Maraboot kit
Maraboot kit in use, with its manual
Maraboot ad in a street
Maraboot kit: presentation of the future tellers
Maraboot kit: interpretation of throws