This ethnographic study investigates the misconception among Christians and adherents of African Traditional Religion in their view and understanding of the deity ‘ekwensu’, commonly called Satan in Christian theology. The study area is Nsukka, a culture area in Nigeria. The adherents of the two religions use the words ‘Satan’ and ‘devil’ for ekwensu interchangeably. Many Christians claim that Satan is the sole equivalent of the traditional deity ekwensu in the Igbo cosmology. The aim of the work is to compare the Christian views of ekwensu as Satan, bringing out the origin, attributes, and activities of the two concepts ekwensu and Satan. The findings show significant differences between Satan and ekwensu, that Satan and ekwensu vary in their origin and attributes, and that they have different geographical locations. It is shown that some shrines and forests were dedicated to the ekwensu deity in Nsukka, and that masquerades also honour the festival of ekwensu (afor ekwensu). It is also evident that Christianity had a significant impact on the culture of the Nsukka people, which engendered the misconception of the ekwensu deity. This was partly based on Igbo Christian theolinguistics occasioned by Christian missionary activities in the area.
{"title":"Toward an Understanding of a Misconceived Igbo Deity","authors":"Tobias Chibuike Onah, Kingsley Ikechukwu Uwaegbute, Virginus Uchenna Eze","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340310","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340310","url":null,"abstract":"This ethnographic study investigates the misconception among Christians and adherents of African Traditional Religion in their view and understanding of the deity ‘<jats:italic>ekwensu</jats:italic>’, commonly called Satan in Christian theology. The study area is Nsukka, a culture area in Nigeria. The adherents of the two religions use the words ‘Satan’ and ‘devil’ for ekwensu interchangeably. Many Christians claim that Satan is the sole equivalent of the traditional deity ekwensu in the Igbo cosmology. The aim of the work is to compare the Christian views of ekwensu as Satan, bringing out the origin, attributes, and activities of the two concepts <jats:italic>ekwensu</jats:italic> and Satan. The findings show significant differences between Satan and ekwensu, that Satan and ekwensu vary in their origin and attributes, and that they have different geographical locations. It is shown that some shrines and forests were dedicated to the ekwensu deity in Nsukka, and that masquerades also honour the festival of ekwensu (<jats:italic>afor ekwensu</jats:italic>). It is also evident that Christianity had a significant impact on the culture of the Nsukka people, which engendered the misconception of the ekwensu deity. This was partly based on Igbo Christian theolinguistics occasioned by Christian missionary activities in the area.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141948719","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340313
Chidiebere Obiora Nnabugwu
Some scholars have advanced timidity and conformism as typifying the contributions of young missionary churches, such as the Catholic Church in Africa at the antepreparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. It has further been suggested that these features are more characteristic of the native prelates than their foreign missionary counterparts. This article, focusing on the vota of the indigenous African bishops, contests this stance to say that boldness, broad-mindedness, keen desire for adaptation, aggiornamento [updating], and reform were not lacking in the responses of these natives. Through a close study of the vota of these African-born prelates, the present essay demonstrates that these nascent native clergy found their voice right from the antepreparatory phase of Vatican II, and manifested their acute awareness of the reforms and adaptations they expected from the Council. Perceptible signs of reticence and timidity should thus be seen more as a general feature that could be identified with some individual bishops and prelates in all continents.
{"title":"Native African Bishops: Emerging Voices on the Eve of Vatican II (1959–1960)","authors":"Chidiebere Obiora Nnabugwu","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340313","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Some scholars have advanced timidity and conformism as typifying the contributions of young missionary churches, such as the Catholic Church in Africa at the antepreparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. It has further been suggested that these features are more characteristic of the native prelates than their foreign missionary counterparts. This article, focusing on the vota of the indigenous African bishops, contests this stance to say that boldness, broad-mindedness, keen desire for adaptation, aggiornamento [updating], and reform were not lacking in the responses of these natives. Through a close study of the vota of these African-born prelates, the present essay demonstrates that these nascent native clergy found their voice right from the antepreparatory phase of Vatican II, and manifested their acute awareness of the reforms and adaptations they expected from the Council. Perceptible signs of reticence and timidity should thus be seen more as a general feature that could be identified with some individual bishops and prelates in all continents.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141929711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340312
Alexander Paul Isiko
Studying religious phenomena in an era when religion was grossly curtailed as a conveyer of COVID-19 proved to be an unusual challenge. This called for innovative approaches and methodologies that differed from the conventional ones in religious research. An assessment of the thematic concerns, methodological approaches, and challenges faced at a time when the global shutdown and quarantine had significantly affected academic research is timely. However, the normative reference to and comparison with Western scholarship on religion overshadows the contribution of African scholars in global studies on religion, which portrays African scholars as demonstrating conspicuous scholarly silence on issues that affect their continent. This article addresses this problem by highlighting the works and contribution of African scholars to the study of religion and COVID-19 to emphasize their visibility in the global production of knowledge. It further analyses African scholars’ attempt to accentuate African society’s interface with the pandemic.
{"title":"Researching Religion and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa","authors":"Alexander Paul Isiko","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340312","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Studying religious phenomena in an era when religion was grossly curtailed as a conveyer of COVID-19 proved to be an unusual challenge. This called for innovative approaches and methodologies that differed from the conventional ones in religious research. An assessment of the thematic concerns, methodological approaches, and challenges faced at a time when the global shutdown and quarantine had significantly affected academic research is timely. However, the normative reference to and comparison with Western scholarship on religion overshadows the contribution of African scholars in global studies on religion, which portrays African scholars as demonstrating conspicuous scholarly silence on issues that affect their continent. This article addresses this problem by highlighting the works and contribution of African scholars to the study of religion and COVID-19 to emphasize their visibility in the global production of knowledge. It further analyses African scholars’ attempt to accentuate African society’s interface with the pandemic.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141926550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340309
Elizabeth Sperber, Paige Wietzel
As national leaders of the Catholic Church, bishops were widely recognized as ‘midwives’ of democratic transitions in many African states in the 1990s. This paper expands understanding of bishops’ subsequent political engagement by systematically analyzing their attempts to ‘deliver’ democracy during the difficult decades following transition. Focusing on Malawi and Zambia between 1987 and 2022, we situate and analyse bishops’ most influential public communications: pastoral letters. The article first illuminates the bishops’ public conceptualisations of political participation as a Christian duty, and the roles they prescribed for politicians, citizens, and Christian leaders at the outset of democratisation. We then document the bishops’ consistent commitment to civic education and voter mobilisation across countries, alongside context-specific efforts to defend or advance democracy, which led to some variation in priorities and rhetorical appeals across countries. These findings challenge influential models of religion-state relations, raise new interdisciplinary research questions, and offer insights for democratic advocates.
{"title":"Delivering Democracy? Comparing Catholic Bishops’ Advocacy for Democracy in Malawi and Zambia, 1987–2022","authors":"Elizabeth Sperber, Paige Wietzel","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340309","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340309","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000As national leaders of the Catholic Church, bishops were widely recognized as ‘midwives’ of democratic transitions in many African states in the 1990s. This paper expands understanding of bishops’ subsequent political engagement by systematically analyzing their attempts to ‘deliver’ democracy during the difficult decades following transition. Focusing on Malawi and Zambia between 1987 and 2022, we situate and analyse bishops’ most influential public communications: pastoral letters. The article first illuminates the bishops’ public conceptualisations of political participation as a Christian duty, and the roles they prescribed for politicians, citizens, and Christian leaders at the outset of democratisation. We then document the bishops’ consistent commitment to civic education and voter mobilisation across countries, alongside context-specific efforts to defend or advance democracy, which led to some variation in priorities and rhetorical appeals across countries. These findings challenge influential models of religion-state relations, raise new interdisciplinary research questions, and offer insights for democratic advocates.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141929293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340319
Dorothea Schulz
The article reconstructs aspects of the secularizing project of the British colonial administration in Uganda by exploring how state regulatory practices in the field of Western school education set the conditions for two forms of religious difference: first, relations between Muslims as members of a religious minority and the Christian majority, and second, dynamics among Muslims that transpired not only in leadership competition but also in controversies over education and proper religious practice. Focusing on the intersections between a state regulatory regime and the activities of Muslims who claimed religious and political leadership on behalf of other Muslims in the areas of Buganda and Bugisu, the article argues that these Muslim intellectuals mediated and contributed to the colonial administration’s production of Muslims as a religious minority. As articulators of Islam, they (re)formulated and debated the forms and purpose of Muslim education and partly novel understandings of proper religious practice, and what it means to be a modern, pious Muslim in the new colonial order. Their political aspirations were hampered, not only as a direct consequence of the colonial administration’s production of systematic inequalities between Christians and Muslims, but also as a result of the dynamics of intra-Muslim plurality.
{"title":"Secularity and Muslim-Christian Relations in Uganda","authors":"Dorothea Schulz","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340319","url":null,"abstract":"The article reconstructs aspects of the secularizing project of the British colonial administration in Uganda by exploring how state regulatory practices in the field of Western school education set the conditions for two forms of religious difference: first, relations between Muslims as members of a religious minority and the Christian majority, and second, dynamics among Muslims that transpired not only in leadership competition but also in controversies over education and proper religious practice. Focusing on the intersections between a state regulatory regime and the activities of Muslims who claimed religious and political leadership on behalf of other Muslims in the areas of Buganda and Bugisu, the article argues that these Muslim intellectuals mediated and contributed to the colonial administration’s production of Muslims as a religious minority. As articulators of Islam, they (re)formulated and debated the forms and purpose of Muslim education and partly novel understandings of proper religious practice, and what it means to be a modern, pious Muslim in the new colonial order. Their political aspirations were hampered, not only as a direct consequence of the colonial administration’s production of systematic inequalities between Christians and Muslims, but also as a result of the dynamics of intra-Muslim plurality.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141948879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340314
Marian Burchardt, Magnus Echtler, Katharina Wilkens
Raising timely and urgent questions about the forms, scope and boundaries of religious authority and practice, this article offers novel ways for the study of secularities and secularisms in contemporary African societies. In recent scholarly debates on secularity, Africa has been marginal. Part of the reason, it was suggested was that African ways of being in, and knowing, the world lay outside the religious-secular divide. We contest such positions. Secularism was clearly part of modernists colonial ideologies that called for the eradication of African beliefs described as backward and irrational. We find that the colonial encounter had a powerful historical impact, essentializing and othering African societies as marked by holistic indigenous cultures rather than differentiated religions. We suggest that the complex interplay of different African and European cultures has simultaneously shaped the social construction and historical development of multiple secularities. We propose that the concept of multiple secularities provides creative avenues to rethink religion, political authority and belonging. We consider secularities as contested arrangements of religious and other spheres whose dynamics include processes of de-differentiation and de-secularization.
{"title":"Multiple Secularities in Africa – An Introduction","authors":"Marian Burchardt, Magnus Echtler, Katharina Wilkens","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340314","url":null,"abstract":"Raising timely and urgent questions about the forms, scope and boundaries of religious authority and practice, this article offers novel ways for the study of secularities and secularisms in contemporary African societies. In recent scholarly debates on secularity, Africa has been marginal. Part of the reason, it was suggested was that African ways of being in, and knowing, the world lay outside the religious-secular divide. We contest such positions. Secularism was clearly part of modernists colonial ideologies that called for the eradication of African beliefs described as backward and irrational. We find that the colonial encounter had a powerful historical impact, essentializing and othering African societies as marked by holistic indigenous cultures rather than differentiated religions. We suggest that the complex interplay of different African and European cultures has simultaneously shaped the social construction and historical development of multiple secularities. We propose that the concept of multiple secularities provides creative avenues to rethink religion, political authority and belonging. We consider secularities as contested arrangements of religious and other spheres whose dynamics include processes of de-differentiation and de-secularization.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141948875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340317
Judith Bachmann
A scientific worldview is taken to be a dominant factor of European secularity but peculiarly absent in Africa. Taking cues from the multiple secularities and global religious history approaches, the article uses global entanglements as a critical analytical tool to investigate the formation of our present, shared conditions, without essentializing cultural European/African differences. The core question is: Why, how and under which circumstances do people adapt global regimes of secularity, in this case particularly: global debates on religion and science? The article analyzes three lecture-transcripts, delivered by the West African intellectual John Augustus Abayomi Cole and printed in the West African newspaper Lagos Standard. In the context of Christian intellectuals in late nineteenth century West Africa, these lectures discussed African religion as congruent with science. This argument was possible through Abayomi Cole’s adaptation of esotericism, specifically its claim to true religion and science. Thereby, Abayomi Cole tried to negotiate independence from European missionary oversight.
科学世界观被认为是欧洲世俗化的一个主导因素，但在非洲却特别缺乏。文章从多重世俗性和全球宗教史的方法中汲取灵感，将全球纠葛作为一种重要的分析工具，在不将欧洲/非洲的文化差异本质化的情况下，研究我们目前共同状况的形成。文章的核心问题是：人们为什么、如何以及在什么情况下适应全球世俗制度，尤其是关于宗教和科学的全球辩论？文章分析了西非知识分子约翰-奥古斯都-阿巴约米-科尔（John Augustus Abayomi Cole）在西非报纸《拉各斯标准报》上发表的三篇演讲稿。在 19 世纪晚期西非基督教知识分子的背景下，这些演讲讨论了非洲宗教与科学的一致性。阿巴约米-科尔对神秘主义，特别是其对真正的宗教和科学的主张进行了改编，从而使这一论点成为可能。因此，阿巴约米-科尔试图通过谈判摆脱欧洲传教士的监督。
{"title":"‘The True and Scientific Religion’","authors":"Judith Bachmann","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340317","url":null,"abstract":"A scientific worldview is taken to be a dominant factor of European secularity but peculiarly absent in Africa. Taking cues from the multiple secularities and global religious history approaches, the article uses global entanglements as a critical analytical tool to investigate the formation of our present, shared conditions, without essentializing cultural European/African differences. The core question is: Why, how and under which circumstances do people adapt global regimes of secularity, in this case particularly: global debates on religion and science? The article analyzes three lecture-transcripts, delivered by the West African intellectual John Augustus Abayomi Cole and printed in the West African newspaper <jats:italic>Lagos Standard</jats:italic>. In the context of Christian intellectuals in late nineteenth century West Africa, these lectures discussed African religion as congruent with science. This argument was possible through Abayomi Cole’s adaptation of esotericism, specifically its claim to true religion and science. Thereby, Abayomi Cole tried to negotiate independence from European missionary oversight.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141948878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340318
Tyler Zoanni
The case of nineteenth-century Buganda opens up a number of assumptions within scholarship about religion, secularity, and politics in African history. Although much scholarship focuses on European colonizers introduced alien categories such as religion and imposed distinctions between religion and politics, this paper foregrounds a different set of historical transformations in what is now Uganda – transformations that ultimately increased rather than diminished connections between the exercise of political power and markedly religious convictions. Along the way, it locates some of the most important pieces of this story in ‘the precolonial’. This allows the paper to trace the emergence of the category of religion, as well as analyze the sense in which it is meaningful to think of precolonial Buganda as secular at a particular moment. In so doing, the paper puts an African story in dialogue with wider conversations on the secular.
{"title":"On the Religious and the Secular in Nineteenth-Century Buganda","authors":"Tyler Zoanni","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340318","url":null,"abstract":"The case of nineteenth-century Buganda opens up a number of assumptions within scholarship about religion, secularity, and politics in African history. Although much scholarship focuses on European colonizers introduced alien categories such as religion and imposed distinctions between religion and politics, this paper foregrounds a different set of historical transformations in what is now Uganda – transformations that ultimately increased rather than diminished connections between the exercise of political power and markedly religious convictions. Along the way, it locates some of the most important pieces of this story in ‘the precolonial’. This allows the paper to trace the emergence of the category of religion, as well as analyze the sense in which it is meaningful to think of precolonial Buganda as secular at a particular moment. In so doing, the paper puts an African story in dialogue with wider conversations on the secular.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141948876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-07DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340292
Benedikt Pontzen
The secular Ghanaian state frames and governs ‘African Traditional Religion’ (‘ATR’) in three main ways. As culture and heritage, aspects of ‘ATR’ are integrated into public performances and national narratives, displaying the African identity of the Ghanaian nation. As providers of traditional forms of therapy, traditional shrines are administered as health facilities and supervised by the Ministry of Health. As religion, ‘ATR’ is counted as one of the country’s religions. This article discusses these framings and their social dynamics drawing on framing theories and secularity studies. Devising secular framings and eclectically appropriating traditional religious presences, the Ghanaian state seeks to govern ‘ATR’ and integrate it into its nation-building politics. Traditional religious actors have reappropriated these framings, carving out spaces of their own. The relations between ‘ATR’ and the Ghanaian state are subject to constant negotiations that impact both.
{"title":"Secular Framings","authors":"Benedikt Pontzen","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340292","url":null,"abstract":"The secular Ghanaian state frames and governs ‘African Traditional Religion’ (‘<jats:sc>ATR</jats:sc>’) in three main ways. As culture and heritage, aspects of ‘<jats:sc>ATR</jats:sc>’ are integrated into public performances and national narratives, displaying the African identity of the Ghanaian nation. As providers of traditional forms of therapy, traditional shrines are administered as health facilities and supervised by the Ministry of Health. As religion, ‘<jats:sc>ATR</jats:sc>’ is counted as one of the country’s religions. This article discusses these framings and their social dynamics drawing on framing theories and secularity studies. Devising secular framings and eclectically appropriating traditional religious presences, the Ghanaian state seeks to govern ‘<jats:sc>ATR</jats:sc>’ and integrate it into its nation-building politics. Traditional religious actors have reappropriated these framings, carving out spaces of their own. The relations between ‘<jats:sc>ATR</jats:sc>’ and the Ghanaian state are subject to constant negotiations that impact both.","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141948877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-06-13DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340303
Oláwọlé Fámúlẹ̀
In Yorùbá traditional religious beliefs and practices, the role of Àyàn (Drummers) cannot be overstated. For that reason, as scholars of Yoruba art studies, to deny the relevance of Ìlù (Drums) as an indispensable component of Yoruba art and religion is to threaten its deeper understanding. Language is also a vital approach to a deeper understanding of African art. Yoruba art, for instance, is the primary medium through which the Yorùbá philosophy, cultural values, and history are stored and verbally expressed. Thus, a proficiency or nearly competency in the reading, writing, and speaking of the language of the African people whose art we study is vital to a deeper understanding of African art. Also fundamental to a deeper understanding of Yorùbá art is to recognize its unique context that usually embraces a variety of verbal and nonverbal components, which in themselves are works of art. The language of the drum in the Yorùbá Egúngún performative context is a good example. As a native speaker and culture bearer, who is fully aware of the fundamental importance of language in African art studies, the author examines the interconnection of Àyàn and Egúngún from the vantage point of Yorùbá language. The study delves into the root of Egúngún within the Yorùbá cultural context in which the people concretize and validate their thought system in visual and verbal forms. The study provides an overview of Yorùbá drums and their ritual contexts as well as the Yorùbá ontological concept of Egúngún, one of the most valued patrons of Àyàn as an important form of Yorùbá religious beliefs and practices. Using the Egúngún performance in Òkè-Igbó as a case study, the study argues that dance and drum performances can and should be analyzed as a “third dimension” of oríkì, in addition to verbal and the visual of Abiodun’s theoretical framework as demonstrated in his timeless book, Yoruba Art and Language – Seeking the African in African Art (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
{"title":"Èdè Àyàn: the Language of Drum in Yorùbá Religious and Cultural Practices, Particularly in Egúngún Performances in Òkè-Igbó","authors":"Oláwọlé Fámúlẹ̀","doi":"10.1163/15700666-12340303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340303","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In Yorùbá traditional religious beliefs and practices, the role of Àyàn (Drummers) cannot be overstated. For that reason, as scholars of Yoruba art studies, to deny the relevance of Ìlù (Drums) as an indispensable component of Yoruba art and religion is to threaten its deeper understanding. Language is also a vital approach to a deeper understanding of African art. Yoruba art, for instance, is the primary medium through which the Yorùbá philosophy, cultural values, and history are stored and verbally expressed. Thus, a proficiency or nearly competency in the reading, writing, and speaking of the language of the African people whose art we study is vital to a deeper understanding of African art. Also fundamental to a deeper understanding of Yorùbá art is to recognize its unique context that usually embraces a variety of verbal and nonverbal components, which in themselves are works of art. The language of the drum in the Yorùbá Egúngún performative context is a good example. As a native speaker and culture bearer, who is fully aware of the fundamental importance of language in African art studies, the author examines the interconnection of Àyàn and Egúngún from the vantage point of Yorùbá language. The study delves into the root of Egúngún within the Yorùbá cultural context in which the people concretize and validate their thought system in visual and verbal forms. The study provides an overview of Yorùbá drums and their ritual contexts as well as the Yorùbá ontological concept of Egúngún, one of the most valued patrons of Àyàn as an important form of Yorùbá religious beliefs and practices. Using the Egúngún performance in Òkè-Igbó as a case study, the study argues that dance and drum performances can and should be analyzed as a “third dimension” of oríkì, in addition to verbal and the visual of Abiodun’s theoretical framework as demonstrated in his timeless book, Yoruba Art and Language – Seeking the African in African Art (Cambridge University Press, 2014).","PeriodicalId":45604,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGION IN AFRICA","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141347373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：