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. Myth: Slavery in the non-Western world was a mild, benign, and non-economic institution. Indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition have been dismissed as myth, superstition and primitive stories. As scholars of the comparative study of religions in Africa, we must begin to rethink the study of African religion in the twenty-first century in order to avoid the continuous mis-assessment of the resilience of indigenous traditions. Courtesy Of Stevenson, Amsterdam/Cape Town/Johannesburg. Portia Zvavahera, Cosmic Prayer, 2019, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas. those misconceptions and misrepresentations of the facts presented by Eurocentric scholars. Elders, priests, and priestesses have served as guardians of the sacred traditions. A proper ongoing study of Ifa in West Africa would enable us to understand how one groupthe Yoruba of West Africaencounters transcendence and the sacred in practicing their tradition in ways radically different from Western constructions of religion. Many centuries ago, Ifa must have envisaged the possibility of Boko Harams Islamic extremist movement ravaging Nigeria today. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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 (ATRs) and spirituality have always been surrounded by negativity. In the case of the Yoruba kings and their people, sacred kingship formed a sacred canopy that sheltered the followers of each of the three major traditionsIslam, Christianity, and African traditional religionforging bonds of community identity among followers of the different traditions. Photo: Pinterest. Many African people believe that when a person dies their spirit lives on in the spirit world and that this spirit continues to watch over the living, based on . 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 . In most African cultures, history and beliefs have been explained and passed on through oral traditions and storytelling. Narratives about the creation of the universe (cosmogony) and the nature and structure of the world (cosmology) provide a useful entry to understanding African religious life and worldviews. That is the ultimate and absolute being who originated and gives meaning to all existence.9 III. 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. For Ivy Akumu '15, it sparked an interest in the history of Christianity and, by extension, of other religions. Indigenous religion has always played a pivotal role in the African public sphere, as my study of the Ifa divination system has shown.18 In indigenous religion, communities are governed according to the dictates of the gods, particularly through a divination system such as Fa (Benin) and Ifa (Southwest Nigeria), which encompass the political, social, and economic conditions of life. What is the implication of indigenous hermeneutics for scholars today? African countries like Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya are among the fastest-growing economies in the world. For one thing, a sizable number of African myths deal with events considered to have actually happened as narrated by the people themselves or as reformulated into symbolic expressions of historical events. Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. Responding to this erasure of African indigenous religion as a productive and generative practice, scholars rallied in opposition. Significant as these studies are, there seems to be no systematic exploration of African traditions in African American culture.21. 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. Acceptably, this was a cruel act of ignorance, but like many other stories about African countries, this story is often generalized. Myth #2. All over the continent, cosmological myths describe a complicated process, whether the universe evolves from preexisting objects or from Gods mere thought or speech. By civil religion, I have in mind not only institutional religion and the beliefs and practices as they relate to the sacred and transcendent, but also practices not always defined as religious, including the rites of passage offered by our various youth brigades, and also the values of communalism and national sacrifice. Having tried to dispel some of the misconceptions . Investors are moving to take advantage of the African market. To the outside world, however, far too much of . Such an approach should endeavor to provide not only an awareness of sociocultural contexts but also to narrate the historical dimensions of these traditions. . The Mursi religion is classified as Animism. In times of crisis they often come to the surface, or people revert to them in secret.8. Her growing fascination led to an Emerson Foundation-funded research project this summer, titled "Demystifying African Religion." This unified the tribes in a way, making it seem as if they are all the same. It should be noted that any attempt to generalize about the nature of "African religions" risks wrongly implying that there is homogeneity among all African cultures. Courtesy of Stevenson, Amsterdam/Cape Town/Johannesburg. This is based on misconceptions that these religions are antithetical to modernity. As the late African historian Cheikh Anta Diop argued, matriarchy was embedded in the African way of life. Introduction: Some Standard Misconceptions There have been widespread misconceptions about the African Traditional Religion (hereinafter ATR). Common misconceptions of Africa include the idea that it is behind the rest of the world, lacking in innovative technology. However, the missionaries of the two foreign religions succeeded in converting some African people to the new religions. Each transition has a function within the society. 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. In summary, it is not every part of Africa that is hot. 1. African Religion is not Ancestor Worship. To understand the social, cultural context of pregnancy, childbirth and subsequent maternal and child care and to use this information for . Lets take the killing of twins as a case study. This is an incorrect representation of the continent that is so vast and with diverse political, social and economic differences. When Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code was released, it generated both curiosity and criticism for its portrayal of Christianity. The culture believes and traditions of the people of Africa is vast and should not be oversimplified in a stereotypical way. Traditional African religions are less of faith traditions and more of lived traditions. Foreign aid has been helpful to many small African countries that are struggling economically. An Ifa song warns those embarking on the pilgrimage to be pure and those who possess witchcraft not to embark on the pilgrimage. Religious contexts are shaped and determined by the identity of these religions. However, African indigenous religion has not only succeeded in domesticating Islam and Christianity; in many instances, it has absorbed aspects of these two other traditions into its cosmology and narrative accounts and practices. MISCONCEPTION OF THE SUPREM BEING IN ATR There have been widespread misconceptions about the African Traditional Religion (hereinafter ATR). It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism.There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs. African traditional religion, and that researcher a should "bracket" their faith and prejudicethey might have about Africa and its people. Ritual practices are central to the performance of African religion. 12. 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. In my research into Ifa narratives, I showed how, in the Ifa worldview, a traditional banking system was created and made possible when Aje, a Yoruba goddess of wealth, visited Orunmila, god of divination, to seek tips on how to keep robbers from stealing her spurious wealth, for which the added task of securing it was becoming quite burdensome. Through a profound process of orality, Ifa as an interpretive tradition espouses an epistemology, metaphysics, morality, and a set of ethical principles and political ideology. 53 offers from $9.56. Unique Beliefs, and Too Many Misconceptions Traditional native sweat lodge with hot stones inside . Thank you for this interesting essay on African religion. Morocco and Algeria are typical examples of this misconception. Although the slaves accepted Roman Catholicism, they did not give up their traditional beliefs either. 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. Copyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. Loosely, it encompasses all African beliefs and practices that are considered religious but neither Christian nor Islamic. those misconceptions and misrepresentations of the facts pre sented by Eurocent . Without relevant knowledge, stereotypes are unavoidable. Another misbelief about Africa is that all Africans are the same. The Hausa man is different from the Igbo man who is also different from the Yoruba man. Africans are eager to learn new skills and embrace new technologies. Mostly, the temperatures of these zones vary between the extremes (Either very hot or very cold). The unending political banditry and fraudulent activities by some individuals are the foundation of this stereotype. There are key developmental projects in some African countries that would not be possible without Foreign aids. Traditional African religions are not stagnant but highly dynamic and constantly reacting to various shifting influences such as old age, modernity, and technological advances. Though many Africans have converted to Islam and Christianity, traditional religions still inform the social, economic, and political life in African societies. The stoning of the devil in the Kaba in Mecca was a disguise for rejecting the local Esu, the Yoruba god of fate and messenger of the gods. Introduction. African religions have also become a major attraction for those in the diaspora who travel to Africa on pilgrimages because of the global reach of these traditions. Apart from the different languages, every tribe and culture have their way of dressing too. 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. 3. Corrupt government officials also capitalize on the generosity of the westerners to the point of looking like a panhandler. 4. It is also the most diversified continent in the world. Africa has 4 main climate zones. Robert N. Bellah, Civil Religion in America,, Jacob K. Olupona, Odun Ifa: Ifa Festival and Insight and Artistry in African Divination (review),. on. They tend to propagate peaceful coexistence, and they promote good relations with members of other religious traditions that surround them. Benin Is Getting Back 26 Of Its Looted Artifacts from The Colonial Era. This is far from the truth. c. medicine men and women. Most are watered-down versions of what was truly a thriving civilization. Will OAthers Follow Suit? It was just the belief of a few groups of people known as Efik people, the predominant tribe in Calabar. 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. The majority of Africans are hardworking and honest people. On the other hand, countries like South Africa, Morocco, and Tunisia sometimes experience snowfalls. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. The idea that Africa is unsafe while statistics say otherwise shows how much misconception there is about Africa. The expression is also used almost as a technical term for a particular reading of such beliefs and practices, one that purports . History text fails to capture the depth of pre-colonial African Civilization. There are abundant natural resources scattered across the 54 countries of Africa. Myths reveal critical events and episodesinvolving superhuman entities, gods, spirits, ancestorsthat are of profound and transcendent significance to the African people who espouse them. The story is the same in the political sphere. The absence of centralized and unified cosmologies indicates the multifaceted nature of African religious life and worldviews. Through their mixing, a new kind of religion emerged, forming the basis for what we have come to know as African diaspora religion. 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. Whatever it is, the assumption that Africa is lacking innovation is laughable. Women are revered in African traditions as essential to the cosmic balance of the world. Gender dynamics are important in African indigenous religions and in cultural systems, so much so that women goddesses and women-invented rituals are commonplace. Majority of countries on the continent are . Our parting a week later was hard for him! So, why was it the negative stories about killing of twins that were promoted? However, this was never a generally accepted idea. Gradually, many Africans began to buy the narrative. The first encounters are fascinating. The problem of Africa isnt wealth but the unequal distribution of wealth. Your email address will not be published. Advocating for civil religion in a religiously pluralistic society does not require the erasure of conventional religious traditions. As Jaco Beyers puts it, the African understanding of religion is an understanding of the connectedness of all things. But, the continent of Africa is far from poor. Indeed indigenous African religions have provided the blueprint for robust conversations and thinking about community relations, interfaith dialogue, civil society, and civil religion. All rights reserved. Your email address will not be published. At the same time, forms of orature such as the Ifa tradition amongst the Yoruba, can form important sources for understanding the tenants and worldview of these religions that can serve as analogs to scriptures such as the Bible or the Quran. The truth is that people in some African countries lack access to education and resources, but they make the most of what they have. Intentional or not, this interpretation creates a distorted and misconstrued view of Africans by the rest of the world. In Africa, dance is a means of marking life experiences, encouraging abundant crops, honoring kings and queens, celebrating weddings, marking rites of passage, and other ceremonial occasions.Dance is also done purely for enjoyment. The misconception about African religion Man generally is given to misconception especially in the midst of conflicting ideas or contending issues. b. certain clan outsiders. African Traditional Religion: A Definition (1973), Omosade Awolalu in Yoruba Belief and Sacrificial Rites and John Mbiti in The Concept of God in Africa (1970) are a few examples of postcolonial scholars of religion who have resisted and denounced colonial idea that Africans do not know God. 7, The Spirits, in his, One must resist the structuralist temptation that views myths as static, unchanging, and simply the productions of a peoples imagination about the cosmic order. Wordpress, HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete Nigeria! To this erasure of conventional religious traditions of other religious traditions much misconception there is about Africa is unsafe statistics! Are revered in African traditions as essential to the surface, or people revert to them in.! In most African cultures, history and beliefs have been widespread misconceptions the! 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