Despite the plethora of denominations and sects, African religions continue to be viewed as single entities,3 and their (our) religions are perhaps the least understood facet of African life. Corrupt government officials also capitalize on the generosity of the westerners to the point of looking like a panhandler. Divinities and ancestors have personalized annual festivals during which devotees and adepts offer sacrificial animals, libations, and favored foods to propitiate them. Mostly, the temperatures of these zones vary between the extremes (Either very hot or very cold). Similar to other West African communities, the Yoruba did not reject Western modernity but challenged its claim to ontological and epistemological superiority. Based on sacred narratives, these traditions espoused their unique worldviews, defining cosmologies, ritual practices, sociopolitical frameworks, and ethical standards, as well as social and personal identity. Africans who follow a traditional religion rely on no scriptures, canonical texts, or holy books to guide them. Correcting Misconceptions About African Traditional Religions. Africa is the second-largest continent in the world. In times of crisis they often come to the surface, or people revert to them in secret.8. One reason that might account for the gap in African history is the unavailability of any written document. Prior to colonization, there was scarcely any form of writing in the majority of African tribes and cultures. The problem of Africa isnt wealth but the unequal distribution of wealth. African religions do not rely on a single individual to be a religious leader, but rather depend on an entire community to make the religion work. It all depends on the time of the year. Perhaps its the abundant wildlife, scorching deserts, or the vast uninhabited plainlands. Unlike other world religions that have written scriptures, oral sources form the core of indigenous African religions. During the era of Western religious and cultural encounters in Yorubaland, some children were named Oguntoyibo, signifying Ogun (god of war and iron) is as powerful as the European god. Some children received names such as Ifatoyinbo, Ifa is as powerful as the white mans god. Such names and concepts illustrate the force and creative resistance of indigenous thought and its ability to engage Western modernity in rigorous debate. Unlike the Christian community, recited stories of creation are not performed by a single God, who ordered, by fiat, the creation of the universe with mere spoken words. For African-American parents, transmitting an awareness of cultural values and norms . We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. While some countries are hot most of the year, other countries experience different types of weather. 2. Perhaps this is linked to the idea that Africa has an inadequate or substandard health care system. Since growth and innovation come as a pair, it is impossible to say that African countries are growing without being innovative. However, this was never a generally accepted idea. Copyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. They often dictate when the community honors a particular divinity or observes particular taboos. I ran into a co-resident, a famous Swiss author. Ceremonies of naming, rites of passage, death, and other calendrical rites embody, enact, and reinforce the sacred values communicated in myths. Long before the arrival of Christianity and Islam, Africans practiced African traditional religion (ATR). . The truth is that people in some African countries lack access to education and resources, but they make the most of what they have. In one particular odu of Ifa, Ifa informs us and, correctly so, that the most cardinal event of the hajj is the climbing of Mount Arafat (Oke Arafa). African Traditional Religion: An Examination of Terminologies Used for Describing the Indigenous Faith of African People, Using an Afrocentric Paradigm by Nana Osei Bonsu, B.Ed. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Voodoo has no scripture or world authority. Esu was represented as a stone mound in the front yard of ancient Yoruba compounds. Based on the understanding that even in 21 st century Africa, religion plays a vital role in gender construction, for effective Sexuality is Thus, I have argued that religion should be examined not only as a sacred phenomenon, but also as a cultural and human reality, all the while remembering the importance of integrating the sociopolitical dimensions of religiosity into any examination of an African state. African religions are, therefore, a praxis, and this is where the focus of study should mostly be directed. 15. Required fields are marked *. This view wasnt held in many other tribes in Nigeria. This statement isnt true. Regardless of where they find themselves, most Africans will always hold onto some form of their tradition, culture, and religion. This article was originally published by Oxford University Press on May 16, 2014. They counteracted various derogatory names given to AIR. There are rituals that celebrate the passage of time and mark time as it passes for the people, orienting them to the seasonal changes, such as the new yam festival and celebration of the old season and beginning of a new one. These are also stories about how the world was put into place by a divine power, usually a supreme god, but in collaboration with other lesser supernatural beings or deities, who act on his behalf or aid in the creative process.11 The mechanisms and techniques of creation vary from story to story and from one tradition to another. Continue with Recommended Cookies. My earlier scholarship was propelled by the insight that the ideology and rituals of Yoruba sacred kingship are what define Yoruba civil religion and, indeed, the center of Yoruba identity.15 Sociologist Robert Bellah understands civil religion as the sacred principle and central ethic that unites a people, without which societies cannot function.16 Civil religion incorporates common myths, history, values, and symbols that relate to a societys sense of collective identity. Because of this, rituals were done to prevent the birth of twins which the people believed to be an anomaly. Fact: Slavery is virtually a universal institution. Myth: Slavery is a product of capitalism. The reason is partly that they want a time when, Your email address will not be published. Portia Zvavahera, His Presence, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper. One of the more fascinating conversations that has emerged in the debate about African indigenous traditions is about the central role of women as bearers and transmitters of the traditions, and also the negotiation of gender dynamics. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Let's begun by saying that ATR, refer to the indigenous religious beliefs and practices of Africans. Please confirm you want to block this member. Perhaps this is because the traditional African system was dependent on the oral form of communication. As oral narratives, myths are passed from one generation to another and represented and reinterpreted by each generation, who then make the events revealed in the myths relevant and meaningful to their present situation.9. When I told him I am a twin (Ibeji) in Yoruba traditionand in principle a sacred being myselfhe almost fell on the floor to pay homage! Thus, many practitioners of African religion, particularly in the shrines of goddesses, are women, indicating the parity with which African religion treats gender and gender-related issues. Ritual enables supernatural beings to bless individuals and the community with sustenance, prosperity, and fecundity.14 Rites of passage, such as initiation ceremonies, are rituals marking personal transitions recognized and celebrated by the community. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. Indigenous African religions contain a great deal of wisdom and insight on how human beings can best live within and interact with the environment. Each of the more than 50 modern . In this way, the visible and invisible are in tandem, leading practitioners to speak about all objects, whether animate or inanimate, as potentially sacred on some level. This inaccurate assessment of African belief even affects the definition of African religion. When Christianity and Western civilization came and interacted with African culture and religion, misconception of beliefs, values, and terms developed. Even the word religion, used in reference to these traditions, is in itself problematic for many Africans, because it suggests that religion is separate from other aspects of ones culture, society, and environment. However, the Efik people of Calabar were not the only ones who believed twin children were an abomination. .pagination {display: none !important} a. newly birthed babies. Thank you for this interesting essay on African religion. For many Africans, religion is a way of life that can never be separated from the public sphere, but instead informs everything in traditional African society, including politics, art, marriage, health, diet, dress, economics, and death. Especially if you have never been to Africa. This may not be as advanced as the western world, but its definitely not as bad as the media present it. And why should our work in critical theory not begin from indigenous hermeneutics before we invoke Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, or Jrgen Habermas as platforms for interpreting our own worldview and society? 14. This article is an edited version of remarks he delivered for the annual Surjit Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought and Culture at the Graduate Theological Union on April28, 2020. Investors are moving to take advantage of the African market. There is a general misconception that the entire people of North Africa speak Arabic. Now it is our turn to Africanize it.. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals, ceremonies, and lived practices. It is not unusual to see people living below the poverty line in nearly every country on earth. Space constraints permit me to cite only one example. Indigenous religions are definitive of the African identity, as African religion and cultures provide the language, the ethos, the knowledge, and the ontology that enable the proper formation of African personhood, communal identity, and values that constitute kernels of African ethnic assemblages. African traditional medicine (ATM) has been used by African populations for the treatment of diseases long before the advent of orthodox medicine and continues to carry a part of the burden of health for the majority of the population. Mursi girl in Ethiopia. Apart from a few instances in West Africa, where women actually ruled as kings, the designation queen was not often used in isolation from the position itself (which was defined in male terms). The story of Mary Slessor and the killing of twins is popular. Required fields are marked *, Hello my question is how can I find a list of African countries that offers citizenship. Perhaps, it was a deliberate attempt to make Africans feel inferior about themselves. Consequently, despite all of Christianity and Islams claims to dominance and their propagandist machinery in demonizing indigenous religion, African religion still provides significant meaning to African existence in many ways. b. certain clan outsiders. Take for instance the story of poverty in Africa. Another crucial aspect to consider in the comparative study of African religions is the reality of the transfer of these religions across the Atlantic through the Middle Passage and transnational migration and cultural exchange. In many African communities, ____________ are qualified to navigate the delicate moral and social balance between the good and evil forces exerted on the human realm. Given our current impending ecological crisis, indigenous African religions have a great deal to offer both African countries and the world at large. Introduction. It is an accepted position that the African Initiated Churches (AICs) were formed as a result of the search for a unique African identity and culture. Indigenous traditions continue to define the African personality. Slowly, they projected ATR as barbaric and dehumanizing. In modern-day Christianity, Pentecostalism has become a major force to reckon with, indicating a sharp growth by adapting to local [] 3. The traditional religions of Africa are human in the deepest sense, because they focus on people and their everyday problems. The absence of centralized and unified cosmologies indicates the multifaceted nature of African religious life and worldviews. African leaders are also investing heavily in diversifying the economy. Voodoo, however, is a dynamic religion with no standardized dogma. Each has a life force but no concrete physical form. Photo: Pinterest. Another generalization about Africa is that they are all corrupt. Please note: Such scholars stereotyped African religionand African peoples themselvesas primitive social forms, part of a lower social order. Kofi Johnson Fayetteville State University kjohnson@uncfsu.edu. Published. According to the Global peace index, Malaysia, Botswana, and Ghana are among the top 50 most peaceful countries, beating the United Kingdom and the United States that were ranked 45 and 128 respectively. In many African countries a range of beliefs and attitudes underpin these alternative explanations. Such dismissal has been based on the misconception and assumption that indigenous Bapedi . Hence the misguided notion that Africans are corrupt. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Africa is given the image of a place that is hot and sunny all year round. those misconceptions and misrepresentations of the facts presented by Eurocentric scholars. African religion supplies knowledge to live by and also a transfer of tradition, worldview, ethical orientation (principles of what is right or wrong), an ontologya way of life. 10. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. nanseezy@gmail.com Teaching Assistant, Department of History University of Cape Coast, Ghana "The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward . The cosmological structure, however, is much more defined and precise. .title-desc-wrapper .post-title {display: none !important} Africa is a Continent Full of Corruption, Poverty and War. Lets take the killing of twins as a case study. Religions of the African diaspora are of particular note and importance to the comparative study of African religions because of their resilience and the characteristic formations leading to their performance and expression. Religion creates a significant part of African life. Unique Beliefs, and Too Many Misconceptions Traditional native sweat lodge with hot stones inside . In this essay, I attempt to refocus the centrality of indigenous religion, not only in defining African cosmology and an African worldview, but also in defining the African personality in the twenty-first century. So it is the responsibility of the religious leaders in these . Humans are thus able to maintain constant and symbiotic relations with their ancestors who are understood to be intimately concerned and involved in their descendants everyday affairs. The most common African history begins with the colonial era. It deals with their cosmology, ritual practices, symbols, arts, society, and so on. Priests, priestesses, and diviners are among the authorities who perform religious ceremonies, but the hierarchical structure is often very loose. Another misbelief about Africa is that all Africans are the same. When Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was released, it generated both curiosity and criticism for its portrayal of Christianity. While scholars have often argued that African indigenous accounts of creation were ex nihilo (created out of nothing), as the biblical account of creation is often portrayed,12 African cosmological narratives generally indicate that there is never one pattern governing how creation happens. .entry-morefrom {display: none !important} Here Are the Top Ten African Volunteer Programs, 9 Traditional African Music Instruments And Their Origin, 8 Traditional African Sports That Should Be In the Olympics, economic forecasts predict the rapid growth in the African Market, 10 Traditional African Hairstyles And Their Origin. Morocco and Algeria are typical examples of this misconception. But, the continent of Africa is far from poor. religions are considered: African Traditional Religions (ATRs) especially that which is found in sub-Saharan Africa, and Christianity, sometimes referred to under the umbrella of faith-based communities. The oral nature of these traditions allows for a great deal of adaptability and variation within and between indigenous African religions. Divination enables us to recognize how indigenous traditions have a foundation upon which knowledge and knowledge production is developed. Thus, it is easy to see why it seems that Africa needs help. Nature spirits are associated with objects seen in nature, such as mountains, the sun, or trees, or natural forces such as wind and rain. the earlier idea was that African Traditional Religion was incompatible with monotheism. Ironically, this pivotal source of knowledge and spiritual edificethat modern-day Yoruba reject as constituting paganismis the cornerstone of global Orisa traditions in Brazil, Cuba, and the Caribbean. They are less concerned with doctrines and much more so with rituals . Representation matters, and as scholars we have a responsibility to advocate for religions in their contexts. In fact, Africa is a vast continent encompassing both geographic variation and tremendous cultural diversity. All Religions has truth hidden in them for those who objectively seek them through the path of the religion. Common misconceptions of Africa include the idea that it is behind the rest of the world, lacking in innovative technology. History text fails to capture the depth of pre-colonial African Civilization. As many might know, one type of ritualinitiations for adolescent African girlscauses great consternation among Westerners, because these often involve rites like female circumcision or other bodied practices. African indigenous religions provide strong linkages between the life of humans and the world of the ancestors. The survey appears to support the prevailing narrative that the most . John Mbiti divides spirit beings into two types, nature spirits and human spirits. Apart from the different languages, every tribe and culture have their way of dressing too. For instance, the Asante people of Ghana see twins as sacred beings. Wherever the African is, there is his religion: he carries it to the fields where he is sowing seeds or harvesting a new crop; he takes it with him to the beer party or to attend a funeral ceremony;. This lack of knowledge as well as understanding of essentials has led to burgeoning of myths on African . . Your email address will not be published. What is fascinating about this odu (Ifa text) is that it supports a key and cardinal principle of Ifa traditionthat we seek counsel first, before we perform divination (Imoram la nda ki a to da Ifa). . Whatever it is, the assumption that Africa is lacking innovation is laughable. One approach is to outline, in a systematic way, the essential features of these traditions without paying much attention to whether or not the traditions fit into the pattern of religions already mapped out by Western theologians and historians, who use Western religious traditions as the standard by which to measure religions in other parts of the world. Women constitute a sizable number of the devotees of these traditions, just as they do in Islam and Christianity. It is misleading to say "Africa" when speaking about a specific tribe, ethnic group, or country in Africa. This is an incorrect representation of the continent that is so vast and with diverse political, social and economic differences. This is based on misconceptions that these religions are antithetical to . Loosely, it encompasses all African beliefs and practices that are considered religious but neither Christian nor Islamic. The area of study is Buganda in Uganda. Its almost as if pre-colonial Africa never existed. those misconceptions and misrepresentations of the facts pre sented by Eurocent . Initially, Christian missionaries and propagators of Islam assumed that indigenous religion would eventually fizzle out, while Islam and Christianity would dominate the African religious scene. 9 years ago. See Luc De Heusch, What Shall We Do with the Drunken King?,. There are so many interesting facts about Africa that you dont see every day. Thank you. Oct. 24, 2019. Depending on the kind of religious activity being performed, different religious authorities can be leaders for specific events. African American women are turning more and more to goddess religions and Orisa practices, as they find African religion offering them greater religious autonomy than other Western religions. Religious contexts are shaped and determined by the identity of these religions. All over the continent, cosmological myths describe a complicated process, whether the universe evolves from preexisting objects or from Gods mere thought or speech. Using the qualitative historical research . The culture believes and traditions of the people of Africa is vast and should not be oversimplified in a stereotypical way. The African religious worldview is primarily indigenous, although Islam and Christianity continuously respond to its viability and strength through their transitive approaches, their theologies, and their knowledge systems. Earlier researchers and missionaries portrayed them often as primitive and barbaric and ridiculed them [I give many examples in my book: White Fathers in Colonial Central Africa - a Critical Examination of V.Y. Traditional African religions have gone global! The problem is, this number is often collated for the whole of Africa, instead of each country of Africa. 4.8 out of 5 stars. The reason for this is quite simply the misunderstanding of the relevance and foundation of the African tradition. Gender dynamics are important in African indigenous religions and in cultural systems, so much so that women goddesses and women-invented rituals are commonplace. His many publications include African Religions: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2014); City of 201 Gods: Il-If in Time, Space, and the Imagination (University of California Press, 2011); and Kingship, Religion, and Rituals in a Nigerian Community: A Phenomenological Study of Ondo Yoruba Festivals (Almqvist & Wiksell, 1991), which has become a model for ethnographic research among Yoruba-speaking communities. Each transition has a function within the society. Introduction. Myth 3: Africa Is Lacking Innovation. These countries are often very hot. There are many female goddesses along with their male counterparts. Despite conversion to Islam or to Christianity, Africans continue to accommodate an indigenous worldview that occupies a vital space in the African consciousness. The most difficult task I face in characterizing African indigenous spiritual traditions is accounting for their diversity and complexity. All rights reserved. . 5.3.2 Intolerance and misconceptions about African traditional religion and Culture As already alluded, the stories told in Europe about Africa, the notion of racial and cultural superiority, and the notion of salvation, led to the western missionaries having a negative attitude toward African traditional religion and culture. Several African countries have good health care systems. On the other hand, we now know from research and archival sources that, by their very nature, sources and records of missionaries, colonial administrators, and indigenous elites, which were preserved by colonial administrations, were equally susceptible to distortion and perforation, having been written from the angle of an invented modernity that the colonizer considered superior to the worldviews of local peoples. I suggest that, at the conceptual and theoretical levels, we begin to take this interpretive approach seriously. Myth: Slavery in the non-Western world was a mild, benign, and non-economic institution. The myths held by the west about Africa are mostly founded on misinformation. For example, in my local language . Myths, folklores proverbs therefore become the major sources of African philosophy (Jaja, 1995:28). War in Africa, either political or religious is mostly isolated cases. Written by: Lloyd Jarrison; 0083985 MSA Global School of Theology Abstract The principal objective of this paper is to demonstrate the ability, success, and penetrative principles that have seen a tremendous growth in African Pentecostal Christianity. Africans are eager to learn new skills and embrace new technologies. 8. Catholic moral theologian Laurenti Magesa argues that, unlike clothes, which one can wear and take off, for Africans, religion is like skin that cannot be so easily abandoned.7 Mbiti also captures this unique aspect in the following passage: Because traditional religions permeate all the departments of life, there is no formal distinction between the sacred and the secular, between the religious and non-religious, between the spiritual and the material areas of life. Courtesy Of Stevenson, Amsterdam/Cape Town/Johannesburg. Courtesy of Stevenson, Amsterdam/Cape Town/Johannesburg. However, western culture has blurred to an extent the lines between African tribes. My essay Om ptadran, an Africanist Griot: Toni Morrison and African Epistemology, Myths, and Literary Culture, in. It is the foundation on which the morals of pre-colonial Africa were built. The term "African Traditional Religion" is used in two complementary senses. Majority of countries on the continent are . Countries like Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso that are close to the Sahara desert have the Sahel climate. with Ibramic faiths tends to deprive the African Traditional Religion its true status as an independent religion . However, the missionaries of the two foreign religions succeeded in converting some African people to the new religions. African people do not worship their deceased relatives or ancestors. The scope of the study is 1877-when Christianity was first introduced in Uganda to 1962 when Uganda got her independence; the period when Christian missionaries lost influence together with the colonial rulers. African Vibes is a one-stop global platform that connects the African diaspora to opportunities for growth, development, and social impact in Africa. The unending political banditry and fraudulent activities by some individuals are the foundation of this stereotype. Not the one we saw, very clear and good article easy to understand. Ifas religious thought systemfriendlier to Islam than to Christianitynot only predates Islam but also engages Islam in serious conversation. But this was not an African thing. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. On the continent early modernizers assumed that African religion was part of the problem of the antimodernity project and that uprooting African indigenous religion would auger well for the modern African state. Similarly, although ancestors dwell inside the earth, their activities also interject into human life, which is why they are referred to as the living dead.13 African cosmologies, therefore, portray the universe as a fluid, active, and impressionable space, with agents from each realm bearing the capabilities of traveling from one realm to another at will. Although many African languages do not have a word for religion as such, it nevertheless accompanies the individual from long before his birth to long after his physical death. Check Out Marriage Customs From 10 African Tribes, 15 Tribes With Surprising Bridal Traditions In Africa, 12 Surprising African Countries That Allow Dual Citizenship By Marriage, Can Foreigners Buy Land In Ghana? Due to the centrality of ancestral tradition to the African lifeworld, death itself is a significant transition from the current life to the afterlife and marks a continuity in life for those living and those to come. About | Commentary Guidelines | Harvard University Privacy | Accessibility | Digital Accessibility | Trademark Notice | Reporting Copyright Infringements Africa is a continent that is made up of 54 countries, 1.3 billion inhabitants, more than 3000 ethnic groups, and 2100 unique languages. Religion occupies a reasonable space in the life of the traditional African/Igbo people. Examples are mobile innovations such as Flutterwave, Sproxil, and Paystack. Every life stage is important in African religions, from birth and naming, to betrothal/marriage, elderhood, and eventually death. South Africa, as a member state of the World Health Organisation, has been set on the path of institutionalising African traditional medicine. The extremes ( Either very hot or very cold ) new skills embrace. Stereotyped African religionand African peoples themselvesas primitive social forms, part of a lower social order on misconceptions that religions. 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