The Preslavery Praxis and Ethos of the Religion of West African People

Abstract

Compared to other world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, West African Traditional Religion (WATR) has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented in Euro-American society since the colonial encounter of Africans and Europeans. Sadly, the colonial naming and categorizing of West African religion as savage, animism, and idol worship continues in the popular culture of Euro-America. This paper aims to demonstrate with clear examples how West African Traditional Religion of the 1400s is similar to any other world religion. West African Traditional Religion is better understood alongside African culture and history than as an independent subject. Disagreeing with European missionaries’ claim that they were the ones who taught West Africans about the supreme God, this paper explains how West Africans in precolonial periods had constructive knowledge of supreme deities and other beliefs.