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Journal articles on the topic 'Religion and culture, Africa'
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1
Amoah, Jewel, and Tom Bennett. "The Freedoms of Religion and Culture under the South African Constitution: Do Traditional African Religions Enjoy Equal Treatment?" Journal of Law and Religion 24, no. 1 (2008): 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0748081400001910.
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On Sunday, January 20, 2007, Tony Yengeni, former Chief Whip of South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), celebrated his early release from a four-year prison sentence by slaughtering a bull at his father's house in the Cape Town township of Gugulethu. This time-honored African ritual was performed in order to appease the Yengeni family ancestors. Animal rights activists, however, decried the sacrifice as an act of unnecessary cruelty to the bull, and a public outcry ensued. Leading figures in government circles, including the Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan, entered the fray, calling for a proper understanding of African cultural practices. Jody Kollapen, the Chair of the Human Rights Commission, said: “the slaughter of animals by cultures in South Africa was an issue that needed to be dealt with in context. Cultural liberty is an important right. …”That the sacrifice was defended on the ground of African culture was to be expected. More surprising was the way in which everyone involved in the affair ignored what could have been regarded as an event of religious significance. Admittedly, it is far from easy to separate the concepts of religion and culture, and, in certain societies, notably those of pre-colonial Africa, this distinction was unknown. Today in South Africa, however, it is clearly necessary to make such a distinction for human rights litigation, partly because the Constitution specifies religion and culture as two separate rights and partly because it seems that those working under the influence of modern human rights seem to take religion more seriously than culture.
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Hogan, Linda, and Ifi Amadiume. "Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture." Journal of Religion in Africa 30, no. 4 (November 2000): 491. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1581587.
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Gordon, April. "Africa today: Culture, economics, religion, security." Journal of Contemporary African Studies 28, no. 2 (April 2010): 235–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02589001003737460.
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MAZRUI, ALI A. "RELIGION AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN AFRICA." Journal of the American Academy of Religion LIII, no. 4 (1985): 817–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/liii.4.817.
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van der Walt, Bennie J. "CULTURE, WORLDVIEW AND RELIGION." Philosophia Reformata 66, no. 1 (December 2, 2001): 23–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/22116117-90000210.
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Why is a Reformational philosophy needed in Africa? It is necessary, because something is missing in African Christianity. Most Western missionaries taught Africans a “broken” or dualistic worldview. This caused a divorce between traditional culture and their new Christian religion. The Christian faith was perceived as something remote, only concerned with a distant past (the Bible) and a far-away future (heaven). It could not become a reality in their everyday lives. It could not develop into an all-encompassing worldview and lifestyle. Because Reformational philosophy advocates the Biblical, holistic approach of a comprehensive worldview, it is welcomed on our continent. It contains a healing and liberating message to our bleeding and lost continent. What Africans, however, neither want nor can afford, is an ivory tower philosophy, playing intellectual games; a philosophy which does not do or change anything. They want a philosophy which is a “marriage” between abstract ideas and the facts on the ground. They need a Christian philosophy with compassion that may even contribute to the alleviation of their poverty!
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Loubser, J. A. BOBBY. "Religious Diversity and the Forma1'Ion of Closed Cultural Systems, or When Does Religion Turn Bad?" Religion and Theology 11, no. 3-4 (2004): 256–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157430104x00122.
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AbstractThis programmatic article investigates a single aspect of culture that regulates religious expression and the construction of identity. A brief overviem of four types of religio found in South Africa serves to illustrate the significant role of the media of communication in religious expression. Indigenous traditional religions operate within a pure oral culture, the Ibandla Amanazeretha of Isaiah Shembe operates within a 're-discovered' oral culture and Islam has its roots in an oral-manuscript culture, while conventional Protestantism has the heritage of a religion that operates within the culture of the printed media. The article finally considers the question of how a better understanding of religious culture can help to prevent religion from developing into a hegerreonic ideology. The article contributes to interdisciplinary debate.
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Almeida, Nadi Maria de. "TOWARDS A CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO AFRICA TRADITIONAL RELIGION." INTERAÇÕES 16, no. 1 (March 28, 2021): 118–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.5752/p.1983-2478.2021v16n1p118-131.
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Inter-Religious dialogue is a demand for the mission. Based on the theological investigation of scholars who explore and write on the subject, the article analyses the theological challenge of Inter-Religious dialogue especially in approaching African Traditional Religions. The discussion concerns the Christian theology of religious pluralism with the local religion in Africa looking at the theological progress, not just from the abstract world of books, but also, from connecting with the life of the people, appreciating and connecting points of convergences with the local culture and religions. Still, a long way to go on the reflection and there needs to open wider our vision concerning the action of the Spirit that has been always present in Africa.
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De Waal, Elda. "Religious and Cultural Dress at School: A Comparative Perspective." Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 14, no. 6 (June 9, 2017): 61. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2011/v14i6a2608.
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This article investigates and compares the different approaches towards the dress code of learners[1] in South Africa and the United States of America (US), as the US mainly base litigation concerning school dress code on their freedom of speech/expression clause, while similar South African court cases focus more on religious and cultural freedom. In South Africa, school principals and School Governing Bodies are in dire need of clear guidelines on how to respect and honour the constitutionally entrenched right to all of the different religions and cultures. The crisis of values in education arises from the disparity between the value system espoused by the school and the community, and that expressed in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which guarantees learners' fundamental rights, including those of freedom of religion, culture, expression and human dignity. On the one hand, the South African Schools Act requires of School Governing Bodies to develop and implement a Code of Conduct for learners, and on the other, that they strictly adhere to the Constitution of the country when drawing up their dress codes. The right of a religious group to practise its religion or of a cultural group to respect and sustain its culture must be consistent with the provisions of the Bill of Rights (which is entrenched in the Constitution) and this implies that other rights may not infringe on the right to freedom of religion and culture. In the US, although there is no legislation that protects learners' freedom of religion and culture at schools, their First Amendment guides the way. Their Supreme Court respects the religious values of all citizens provided that they are manifested off public school premises. While we acknowledge the existence of religious and cultural diversity at South African schools, this paper focuses on the tension among and on the existence of different approaches towards the human rights of learners from different religious and cultural backgrounds in respect of dress codes.[1] The terms learner/s and student/s are used interchangeably in the article, since South Africa uses the one and the US uses the other to indicate school-going persons.
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Isiorho, David. "Religion, culture and spirituality in Africa and the African diaspora." Black Theology 16, no. 3 (July 11, 2018): 281–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14769948.2018.1492307.
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Segell, Glen. "Neo-colonialism in Africa and the Cases of Turkey and Iran." Insight on Africa 11, no. 2 (July 2019): 184–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0975087819845197.
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Africa is suffering from neo-colonialism for the same reasons that it suffered from colonialism. Neo-colonialism is the regressive impact of unregulated forms of aid, trade and foreign direct investment; and the collaboration of African leaders with foreign leaders to ensure that the interests of both are met with little concern for the development, sustainability and poverty reduction and wellbeing in African countries. The relationship is asymmetrical or at the cost of African states and their people, who are dependent rather that inter-dependent and do not profit through development or sustainability. They face destruction of their culture, religion and education through continued advancement of foreign culture, religion and language to supplant the African and growing radicalisation of the population. This is elaborated thematically under four headings: Africa the colonial dream, the emergence of neo-colonialism, the proponents of neo-colonialism and the element of religion. Evidence of Middle East states are shown as neo-colonialists in Africa discussed under the cases of Turkey and Iran. The motivation of the former is for the purposes of economics and the latter is for the purposes of religion. Both benefit also through status by projecting their influence as growing global actors. The breakdown of African nations rather than their positive construction and development is increasingly visible. The conclusions are that neo-colonialism is active.
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Oyekan, Adeolu Oluwaseyi. "John Mbiti on the Monotheistic Attribution of African Traditional Religions: A Refutation." Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions 10, no. 1 (June 3, 2021): 19–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ft.v10i1.2.
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John Mbiti, in his attempt to disprove the charge of paganism by EuroAmerican ethnographic and anthropological scholars against African Traditional Religions argues that traditional African religions are monotheistic. He insists that these traditional religious cultures have the same conception of God as found in the Abrahamic religions. The shared characteristics, according to him are foundational to the spread of the “gospel” in Africa. Mbiti’s effort, though motivated by the desire to refute the imperial charge of inferiority against African religions ran, I argue, into a conceptual and descriptive conflation of ATRs with monotheistic faiths. In this paper, I challenge the superimposition of Judeo-Christian categories upon African religions. I argue that monotheism is just a strand, out of many, that expresses belief in God(s), and that it differs substantially from the polytheistic pre-colonial African understanding of religion. I provide a panentheistic paradigm using traditional Igbo ontology and religion to refute Mbiti’s generalization.
Keywords: Monotheism, African Traditional Religion, Igbo, Paganism, Theology.
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Zuhroh, Ni'matuz. "PERILAKU SOSIAL BUDAYA POLITIK DAN AKTIVITAS RELIGI MASYARAKAT INDONESIA." J-PIPS (Jurnal Pendidikan Ilmu Pengetahuan Sosial) 1, no. 1 (December 30, 2014): 35. http://dx.doi.org/10.18860/j-pips.v1i1.6811.
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<p>In order to achieve the authority cannot be separated from political culture in society, political culture according Ranney, there are two main components of political culture, namely cognitive orientations and affective orientations. Meanwhile, Almond and Verba more comprehensive reference on what formulated by Parson and Shils about classification of orientation types, that political culture contains three components as follows: cognitive orientation, affective orientation, and evaluative. In Indonesia also has various religions including Islam, Christian, Hindu, Buddha, and Konghucu. Sometimes, some people believe to witchcraft. Belief /religion of Indonesia people star from the simplest, for example fetishism, animism, pragmatism, and totemism. Belief and religion do not look traditional and modern societies even in Australia, America, and Africa totemism is a system that occupies the position as a religion and become the basis of social organization. J.G. Frezer in Totemism and Exogamy (1910)</p><p>Keywords: Political culture, System of Religion, and Witchcraft</p>
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Hale, Sondra. "Book Review: Re-Inventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion and Culture." Journal of Asian and African Studies 37, no. 1 (February 2002): 107–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002190960203700110.
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Luyaluka, Kiatezua Lubanzadio. "African Indigenous Religion and Its Ancient Model Reflections of Kongo Hierarchical Monotheism." Journal of Black Studies 48, no. 2 (December 15, 2016): 165–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021934716681153.
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The diversity of the African cultures led the scholars to the conclusion of the impossibility of a unique African indigenous religion (AIR); however, this view fails to account for the common spiritual elements found in Africa. Based on these elements, some scholars support the existence of a unique AIR, but these “common elements” are not found in every African culture. This article capitalizes on the scientific monotheism of the Kongo religion, the Bukongo, and its likeness to the solar religion of Egypt to improve the single-AIR approach and show the various AIRs to be results of the devolution of the original unique solar religion kept in the Bukongo. Contrary to the scholastic monotheism, demonstrated to be fallacious, the monotheism of the AIR is proven to be scientific through the use of a cosmological argument whose conclusions are mathematically convergent with Newtonian physics in its interpretation of the movements and stability of bodies at the astronomic and subatomic levels.
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Akitoye, Hakeem A. "Islam and Traditional Titles in Contemporary Lagos Society: A Historical Analysis." International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences 25 (March 2014): 42–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.25.42.
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Lagos, an area basically inhabited by the Yoruba speaking people of South Western Nigeria and by extension some other parts of West Africa where Islam, Christianity and the African Traditional Religion are still being practised side by side till date with the Africans still being converted to the new faiths without dropping their traditional religion or cultural affiliations. This ideology is very common to the average African who still believes in his culture which has always tainted his way of life or as far as his religion is concerned should not interfere with his culture as the religion as not tacitly condemned some of these practices. This paper intends to examine the extent to which the Yoruba Muslims have been involved in syncretism especially as regards the introduction of the conferment of titles into the Muslim community.
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Chung, Truong Van. "The Characteristics of Culture and Religions in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Processes of Acculturation, Transformation and Accumulation." Tattva - Journal of Philosophy 7, no. 2 (July 5, 2015): 27–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.12726/tjp.14.2.
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Ho Chi Minh City is a city which has received and accumulated many cultures and religions from around the world, from Oriental culture to Western civilization, from West Asian and East Asian cultures to South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. The cultures of some African and Latin American countries have also arrived recently. Most world religions, regional religions, national religions and even new religions are present in the city. The characteristic of religions and cultural identities of Ho Chi Minh City is in the process of transformation, receipt and selection of the cultural and religion elements of those cultures. Based on the research results of a scientific research on the topic, “Cultural and religion life in Ho Chi Minh City in the era of international integration”, we would like to share some opinions about the characteristics of culture and religions in the process of cultural exchange, acculturation and accumulation of Ho Chi Minh City from traditional to modern stage.
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Ludwig, Frieder. "Football, Culture and Religion: Varieties of Interaction." Studies in World Christianity 21, no. 3 (December 2015): 201–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/swc.2015.0124.
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This paper explores the correlations between football (soccer), culture and religion. It offers a short historical introduction on the origins and rise of the game in Europe and in mission territories from the nineteenth century. The connection of football with cultic, superstitious and quasi-religious practices is then explored first in Africa and Latin America and then in Europe. Concluding theological reflections note that, while football is a quasi-religion in many ways, it is, after all, only a game.
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Maclean, Iain S. "Recreating Africa: Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese World, 1442-1770." Journal of Latin American Anthropology 9, no. 1 (June 2004): 225–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jlat.2004.9.1.225.1.
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Kraay, Hendrik. "Recreating Africa: Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese World, 1441–1770." Hispanic American Historical Review 85, no. 3 (August 1, 2005): 497–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00182168-85-3-497.
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Heywood, Linda M., and James S. Sweet. "Recreating Africa: Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese World, 1441-1770." International Journal of African Historical Studies 36, no. 3 (2003): 693. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3559460.
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Du Plessis, Hester. "Oriental Africa." Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 45, no. 1 (February 16, 2018): 87–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.45i1.4465.
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Arab culture and the religion of Islam permeated the traditions and customs of the African sub-Sahara for centuries. When the early colonizers from Europe arrived in Africa they encountered these influences and spontaneously perceived the African cultures to be ideologically hybridized and more compatible with Islam than with the ideologies of the west. This difference progressively endorsed a perception of Africa and the east being “exotic” and was as such depicted in early paintings and writings. This depiction contributed to a cultural misunderstanding of Africa and facilitated colonialism. This article briefly explores some of the facets of these early texts and paintings. In the first place the scripts by early Muslim scholars, who critically analyzed early western perceptions, were discussed against the textual interpretation of east-west perceptions such as the construction of “the other”. Secondly, the travel writers and painters between 1860 and 1930, who created a visual embodiment of the exotic, were discussed against the politics behind the French Realist movement that developed in France during that same period. This included the construction of a perception of exoticness as represented by literature descriptions and visual art depictions of the women of the Orient. These perceptions rendered Africa as oriental with African subjects depicted as “exotic others”.
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Luyaluka, Kiatezua Lubanzadio. "Theological Proofs of the Kinship of Ancient Egypt With South-Saharan Africa Rather Than Eastern and Western Civilizations." Journal of Black Studies 50, no. 1 (October 25, 2018): 87–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021934718808299.
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This article deals with the issue of the kinship of ancient Egyptian civilization with the neighboring ones. To the melanin-level proof offered by Cheikh Anta Diop and Obenga’s evidence of the linguistic relatedness of Kemet to the south-Saharan Africa, this article adds a theological proof. The article shows that the Eastern and Western epistemic paradigms brought by Persians and Greeks was destructive to the scientific nature of the religion ancient Egypt shared with Sumer and primitive Christianity; while, as seen through Kôngo religion which is demonstrated to be the continuation of kemetic religion, the epistemic paradigm of African traditional culture nurtures this religion. Therefore, the natural theological kinship of ancient Egypt is with south-Saharan African rather than with Asia and Europe.
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Ssenyonjo, Manisuli. "Culture and the Human Rights of Women in Africa: Between Light and Shadow." Journal of African Law 51, no. 1 (April 2007): 39–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021855306000258.
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AbstractDespite the ratification by African states of several human rights instruments protecting the human rights of women in Africa, and the solemn commitment of the African states to eliminate all forms of discrimination and harmful practices against women, women in Africa still continue to experience human rights violations. Most African women are denied the equal enjoyment of their human rights, in particular by virtue of the lesser status ascribed to them by tradition and custom, or as a result of overt or covert discrimination. Many women in Africa experience distinct forms of discrimination due to the intersection of sex with such factors as race, language, religion, political and other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other factors, such as age, disability, marital, refugee or migrant status, resulting in compounded disadvantage. Therefore, much remains to be done to realize the human rights of women in Africa. This article examines the relationship between culture and women's human rights, and makes some recommendations for the effective realization of these rights.
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Olando, Martin. "Bride Wealth and Religio-Cultural Conflict in Africa." Jumuga Journal of Education, Oral Studies, and Human Sciences (JJEOSHS) 2, no. 1 (March 26, 2019): 1–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.35544/jjeoshs.v2i1.15.
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Bride wealth has been a significant point of conflict between Christian religion and African religion which goes hand-in-hand with its cultural heritage. Some African Christians have held this practice close to their hearts. In some cases, where bride wealth negotiations have taken place, questions have arisen concerning its alleged conflict with biblical teachings. Is African culture in conflict with indigenous religion of Africa? Does the Christological exhortation in Matthew 5:17 that God’s mission is not to destroy people’s laws and the resultant cultures but to strengthen it? In view of this, a research on bride wealth and its dalliance with Christianity is critically important as we seek to explore how African Christians understand biblical teachings regarding the practice. The goal of this article is to specifically explore a theo-cultural reflection on bride wealth with particular reference to the Dinka Anglican church of Sudan. In turn, this will provide vital lessons for African ecclesiastical context in regard to bride wealth and its resultant rituals and practices. Methodologically, the article samples the Dinka of Sudan; and through extensive study of literature regarding bride wealth. In the nature of things, are there specific cultural elements that contradict biblical teachings? Are there practices that requires refinement and/or abandonment altogether? Does the Dinka case help us to understand the broader African context in its entirely? Such questions inform the methodology in this article.
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Uthup, Thomas. "Teaching about Islam in Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 31, no. 3 (July 1, 2014): 1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajiss.v31i3.282.
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What are the major pillars of education today? The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century focused on this question in its report to the premier United Nations agency in education: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In its report, “Learning: The Treasure Within,” the commission stated that life-long education is based upon four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be.1 But is learning about religion a steel bar in these pillars? Certainly, the High-Level Group (HLG) appointed by Kofi Annan, the African UN Secretary General (1997-2006), to undertake the major UN intercultural initiative – the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) – seemed to think so. The HLG report stressed the role of learning about religion as a key element of preparing future citizens for a world characterized by cultural diversity.What are the major pillars of education today? The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century focused on this question in its report to the premier United Nations agency in education: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In its report, “Learning: The Treasure Within,” the commission stated that life-long education is based upon four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be.1 But is learning about religion a steel bar in these pillars? Certainly, the High-Level Group (HLG) appointed by Kofi Annan, the African UN Secretary General (1997-2006), to undertake the major UN intercultural initiative – the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) – seemed to think so. The HLG report stressed the role of learning about religion as a key element of preparing future citizens for a world characterized by cultural diversity.2 In his Cultural Forces in World Politics(1990), Ali Mazrui explored the seven functions of culture in society. Briefly put, these are culture as a worldview, a source of identity, stratification, communication, value systems, motivation, and as a means of production and modes of consumption. I apply this framework to my analysis of the seven functions of Islam in Africa and link them with the UNESCO and UNAOC reports to underline the need for modern well-educated Africans to learn about Islam in Africa. In his Cultural Forces in World Politics(1990), Ali Mazrui explored the seven functions of culture in society. Briefly put, these are culture as a worldview, a source of identity, stratification, communication, value systems, motivation, and as a means of production and modes of consumption. I apply this framework to my analysis of the seven functions of Islam in Africa and link them with the UNESCO and UNAOC reports to underline the need for modern well-educated Africans to learn about Islam in Africa.
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Uthup, Thomas. "Teaching about Islam in Africa." American Journal of Islam and Society 31, no. 3 (July 1, 2014): 1–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v31i3.282.
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What are the major pillars of education today? The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century focused on this question in its report to the premier United Nations agency in education: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In its report, “Learning: The Treasure Within,” the commission stated that life-long education is based upon four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be.1 But is learning about religion a steel bar in these pillars? Certainly, the High-Level Group (HLG) appointed by Kofi Annan, the African UN Secretary General (1997-2006), to undertake the major UN intercultural initiative – the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) – seemed to think so. The HLG report stressed the role of learning about religion as a key element of preparing future citizens for a world characterized by cultural diversity.What are the major pillars of education today? The International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century focused on this question in its report to the premier United Nations agency in education: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In its report, “Learning: The Treasure Within,” the commission stated that life-long education is based upon four pillars: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be.1 But is learning about religion a steel bar in these pillars? Certainly, the High-Level Group (HLG) appointed by Kofi Annan, the African UN Secretary General (1997-2006), to undertake the major UN intercultural initiative – the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) – seemed to think so. The HLG report stressed the role of learning about religion as a key element of preparing future citizens for a world characterized by cultural diversity.2 In his Cultural Forces in World Politics(1990), Ali Mazrui explored the seven functions of culture in society. Briefly put, these are culture as a worldview, a source of identity, stratification, communication, value systems, motivation, and as a means of production and modes of consumption. I apply this framework to my analysis of the seven functions of Islam in Africa and link them with the UNESCO and UNAOC reports to underline the need for modern well-educated Africans to learn about Islam in Africa. In his Cultural Forces in World Politics(1990), Ali Mazrui explored the seven functions of culture in society. Briefly put, these are culture as a worldview, a source of identity, stratification, communication, value systems, motivation, and as a means of production and modes of consumption. I apply this framework to my analysis of the seven functions of Islam in Africa and link them with the UNESCO and UNAOC reports to underline the need for modern well-educated Africans to learn about Islam in Africa.
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Dowty, Rachel. "Recreating Africa: Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese World, 1441-1770 (review)." Journal of World History 16, no. 3 (2005): 375–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jwh.2006.0003.
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Chireau, Yvonne. "Looking for Black Religions in 20th Century Comics, 1931–1993." Religions 10, no. 6 (June 25, 2019): 400. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10060400.
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Relationships between religion and comics are generally unexplored in the academic literature. This article provides a brief history of Black religions in comic books, cartoons, animation, and newspaper strips, looking at African American Christianity, Islam, Africana (African diaspora) religions, and folk traditions such as Hoodoo and Conjure in the 20th century. Even though the treatment of Black religions in the comics was informed by stereotypical depictions of race and religion in United States (US) popular culture, African American comics creators contested these by offering alternatives in their treatment of Black religion themes.
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Manglos-Weber, Nicolette D. "The Contexts of Spiritual Seeking: How Ghanaians in the United States Navigate Changing Normative Conditions of Religious Belief and Practice." Sociology of Religion 82, no. 2 (February 4, 2021): 133–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sraa058.
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Abstract Two concurrent agendas in the sociology of religion explore how conditions of secularism in the United States result in widespread norms of “spiritual seeking”, and how religion functions as a basis of belonging for U.S. immigrants. This study brings these subfields together by asking whether new immigrants from Ghana, West Africa, also exhibit an orientation of spiritual seeking in their religious trajectories, and how they engage with normative conditions of spiritual seeking within institutional contexts. I find strong evidence of spiritual seeking in their narratives, and I identify processes within the social institutions of family and coethnic networks, higher education, and African Evangelical Christianity that support a seeking orientation. I argue for more focus on the counter-impulses of seeking versus dwelling in immigrant religion, and that more studies of religion and culture should explicitly analyze the institutional contexts that mediate between normative culture and trajectories of social practice.
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Boakye, Ebenezer. "Decoupling African Traditional Religion and Culture from the Family Life of Africans: Calculated Steps in Disguise." International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research 2, no. 3 (March 15, 2021): 202–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.11594/ijmaber.02.03.04.
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Even though African Traditional Religion and Cultural family life seem to have been detached from the indigenous Africans, with many reasons accounting for such a detach, the attempts made by the new wave of Christianity is paramount, under the cloak of salvation and better life. The paper focuses on the steps taken by Pentecostal-Charismatics in Africa to decouple African Traditional Religion and Culture from the family life of Africans in a disguised manner. The paper begins with the retrospection of African Traditional Religion as the religion with belief of the forefathers concerning the existence of the Supreme Being, divinities, Spirit beings, Ancestors, and mysterious powers, good and evil and the afterlife. It then walks readers through the encounter between Christianity and ATR and come out that Christianity from its earliest history has maintained a negative attitude toward ATR. The paper again explores that the traditional understanding of the African family system is portrayed in the common believe system and the functions of the family com-ponents. Again, the paper further unravels decoupling measures such as reaching the masses for audience, demonization of African the world of the spirit, demonization of African elders, pastors as-suming the traditional position of elders of African families are the factors that are being taken to ensure the taking away of African traditional religious and family life from Africans. The paper again discusses the adverse effects of these decoupling factors on Africans. The paper concludes that Traditional African family patterns are slowly but progressively being altered as a result of the process of the decoupling strategies.
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Nelson, Angela M. "Introduction to the Special Issue on “Religions in African-American Popular Culture”." Religions 10, no. 9 (August 30, 2019): 507. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rel10090507.
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Kenzo, Mabiala Justin-Robert. "Religion, hybridity, and the construction of reality in postcolonial Africa." Exchange 33, no. 3 (2004): 244–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157254304774249907.
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AbstractThat Africans are incurably religious has been one of the pillars on which current knowledge on Africa and the Africans is built. However, the accuracy of the claim is questionable on a number of fronts. The paper suggests that the real significance of the question is that it raises the issue of cultural determinism and indeterminism. Taking our cue from the postmodern and postcolonial criticism, we argue that cultures (or religions) are not ready-made packages that are passed on from one generation to another. Rather, cultures are transmitted through processes that can be described in terms of interactivity, negotiability, indeterminacy, fragmentation, and conflict. More importantly, humans are active participants in these processes. Based on this view of culture, the paper argues that the religious identity of Africans is a matter of constructed hybridity. Our reading of Ben Okri's Famished Road further demonstrates that Africans are neither incurably religious nor incurably irreligious. Instead, they skillfully and creatively construct their identity borrowing insights from resources that are both endogenous and exogeneous to Africa and their own tribal contexts.
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Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena. "Bediako of Africa: A Late 20th Century Outstanding Theologian and Teacher." Mission Studies 26, no. 1 (2009): 5–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157338309x442335.
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AbstractKwame Bediako of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture based in Akropong-Akwapim in Ghana, was a stalwart in the field of African Christianity and Theology. He was called home to glory in June 2008 at the age of 63 years. Converted from atheism whilst studying for a doctorate degree in French and African literature at the University of Bordeaux in France, Bediako embraced a conservative evangelical faith. He went on to do a second PhD in Theology under the tutelage of Andrew F. Walls in Aberdeen. Bediako returned to Ghana in 1984 to found the then Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Center for Mission Research and Applied Theology. Through that initiative, now a fully accredited tertiary theological educational institute, Bediako pioneered a new way of doing theology through his emphasis on mother-tongue hermeneutics, oral or grassroots theology, and the study of primal religions as the sub-structure of Christian expression in the majority Two Thirds World. These ideas are outlined in his major publications, Theology and Identity, Christianity in Africa, Jesus of Africa, and the many forceful and insightful articles scattered in local and international journals in religion and theology. For many years to come, although living in glory, Bediako's evangelical intellectual heritage will continue as a leading reference point for all those seeking to understand Africa's place in the history of world Christianity.
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Lafferty, John. "Religion and racism in South Africa: Conflict between faith and culture." Social Thought 16, no. 4 (January 1990): 36–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15426432.1990.10383720.
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Giumbelli, Emerson. "WHEN RELIGION IS CULTURE: OBSERVATIONS ABOUT STATE POLICIES AIMED AT AFRO-BRAZILIAN RELIGIONS AND OTHER AFRO-HERITAGE." Sociologia & Antropologia 8, no. 2 (August 2018): 401–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/2238-38752017v823.
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Abstract Religion conceived as culture is what supports government initiatives and social engagement aimed at diverse expressions that represent the legacies of Africa in Brazil. Papers by several researchers are systematized to demonstrate this argument, which serves as the discussion presented here in three sections. The first focuses on government measures that directly affect Afro-Brazilian terreiros (ceremonial places). Next, some dimensions of the struggle against religious intolerance are discussed with a look at the leadership role Afro-Brazilian religions play in this regard. Finally, the article points out connections between the Afro-religious universe and the discourse in support of designating acarajé and capoeira as heritage. Thus, some elements of the universe of Afro-heritage, especially in the area of religion, are studied to highlight what is at the heart of this universe - the notion of culture in an ethnic sense.
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Burchardt, Marian. "Statecraft, Witchcraft, God’s Craft: Religious Diversity and the Forces of Law in South Africa." Journal of Religion in Africa 47, no. 2 (January 16, 2017): 257–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340102.
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AbstractLegal anthropologists and sociologists of religion increasingly recognize the importance of law in current controversies over religious diversity. Drawing on the case of South Africa, this article explores how such controversies are shaped by contestations over what counts as ‘religion’. Analyzing the historical context and emergent forms of institutional secularity from which contemporary contestations over religious diversity draw, the article explores debates and practices of classification around religion, tradition, and culture, and the ways in which these domains are co-constituted through their claims on the law: on the one hand through an analysis of religion-related jurisprudence; on the other hand through an examination of the debates on witchcraft, law, and religion. I argue that the production of judicial knowledge of ‘religion’, ‘culture’, and ‘tradition’ is tied up with contestations over the power to define the meaning of the domains. In fact, contrary to notions of constitutionality in which rights seem to exist prior to the claims made on their basis, in a fundamental sense rights struggles help to constitute the contemporary human rights dispensation. Against the Comaroffs’ claim that judicialization depoliticizes power struggles, I show that legal claims making remains vibrantly political.
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Edwin, Shirin. "Racing Away from Race: The Literary Aesthetics of Islam and Gender in Mohammed Naseehu Ali’s The Prophet of Zongo Street and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s The Whispering Trees." Islamic Africa 7, no. 2 (November 2, 2016): 133–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/21540993-00702010.
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Some literary discussions on Islam in West Africa argue that African Muslims owe allegiance more to Arab race and culture since the religion has an Arab origin while owing less to indigenous and therefore “authentic” African cultures. Most notably, in his famous quarrel with Ali Mazrui, the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka wrenches race to serve a tendentious historicism about African Muslims as racially Arab and therefore foreign to African culture. In their fiction, two new West African writers, Mohammed Naseehu Ali and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, allegorize African Islamic identity as tied to Arab race and culture as madness, lunacy and even death. In particular, Ali’s short story “The Prophet of Zongo Street” engages with this obsessive dialectic between African Islamic identity and Arab race. Although not explicitly thematizing Islamic identity as tied to Arab race or culture, three other stories by the same authors, Ali’s story “Mallam Sile” and Ibrahim’s stories “The Whispering Trees” and “Closure,” gender the dialectic between race and Islamic identity. Ali and Ibrahim show African Muslim women’s abilities to effect change in difficult situations and relationships—marriage, romance, legal provisions on inheritance, prayer and honor. In so doing, I argue, these authors reflect a potential solution to the difficult debate in African literary criticism on Islamic identity and Arab race and culture.
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Sanni, John Sodiq. "In the Name of God? Religion, Silence and Extortion." Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions 10, no. 1 (June 3, 2021): 71–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ft.v10i1.5.
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This article critically analyses the role religion (I refer here to Islam and Christianity) has played in promoting silence and extortion in Africa with particular reference to Nigeria. In my philosophical analysis, African and Western literatures will guide my reflection on religion, the role it played in advancing the colonial agenda and its use in today’s African societies. This analysis seeks to present a case for the position that the colonial debris of disempowerment, injustices, manipulation, and extortion are still very much part of African society. They have only assumed new outlooks and language, thus plunging many Africans into silence in the face of what is often presented as sacred and unknown. The desired aim of this article is to present a philosophical critique of religion by comparing it with existing use of religion in Africa, especially Nigeria.
Keywords: Religion, Christianity, Extortion, Silence, Nigeria, Injustice
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Kanu, Ikechukwu Anthony. "Igwebuike theology of Omenani and the missionary bifurcation of horizons." OGIRISI: a New Journal of African Studies 16 (October 2, 2020): 127–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/og.v16i1.8.
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African theology points to the fact that every particular situation or context calls for a particular theological reflection, that is, if the theological reflection is to make meaning within that unique circumstance. It is within this context that Igwebuike theology of Omenani emerges in relation to the understanding of culture as the Seed of the Word of God, which already pre-existed in Africa even before the emergence of the Western missionaries. The purpose of adopting this idea of culture as the Seed of the Word of God is to enhance the reconciliation between the African and Christian/Western ’worldhoods’. This piece presented the African culture as an important element in evangelization in Africa, as it is the spirit that animates the African people. It, therefore, located the Seed of the Word of God in the Omenani (the law of the land) of the African people through which they were able to achieve holiness even before the advent of the gospel. It observed that the failures of the missionary enterprise were majorly because of their lack of openness to the African religion and culture. The purpose of this study is to bridge the bifurcation created by the missionaries between the Christian and African ‘worldhoods’. The theoretical framework employed in this research is the Igwebuike sympathetic and non-derogatory framework, which emphasizes evangelization with a sense of understanding.
Keywords: Omenani, Logos Spermatikos, Culture, African, Igbo, Evangelization, Igwebuike
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Maluleke, T. S. "African culture, African intellectuals and the white academy in South Africa - some implications for Christian theology in Africa." Religion and Theology 3, no. 1 (1996): 19–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157430196x00022.
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AbstractAttitudes towards African culture are central to the crisis of African intellectuals. This crisis is manifest in the issues of African identity, black self-love, black poverty, the stranglehold of the Western academy and white racism. For the debilitating aspects of the crisis to be converted to our advantage, African intellectuals must reconnect to African culture. However, such a reconnection must include not only an analysis and problematisation ofwhatAfrican culture is, but also the question of how best to connect to it. The call for African intellectuals to reconnect to African culture is not a call for the resuscitation of romantic views on African culture. Nor is it a call for a rehash of the often strident views of Western missionaries, philosophers and colonialists on African culture. It is also not a call for the self-hating castigation of African culture by Africans themselves. It is rather a call to a mature reappropriation of past and present manifestations of African culture within, because of and in spite of oppressive and racist conditions. This kind of appropriation will help African intellectuals emerge from the crisis. Such a reappropriation has significant implications for the teaching and the shape of Christian theology of Africa. Basic to these implications is the necessity to return to black and African theologies of liberation.
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Green, M. Christian. "LAW, RELIGION, AND SAME-SEX RELATIONS IN AFRICA." Journal of Law and Religion 36, no. 1 (April 2021): 67–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2021.4.
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Some years back, around 2013, I was asked to write an article on the uses of the Bible in African law. Researching references to the Bible and biblical law across the African continent, I soon learned that, besides support for arguments by a few states in favor of declaring themselves “Christian nations,” the main use was in emerging debates over homosexuality and same-sex relationships—almost exclusively to condemn those relationships. In January 2013, the newly formed African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) held its first international conference at the University of Ghana Legon. There, African sexuality debates emerged forcefully in consideration of a paper by Sylvia Tamale, then dean of the Makarere University School of Law in Uganda, who argued pointedly, “[P]olitical Christianity and Islam, especially, have constructed a discourse that suggests that sexuality is the key moral issue on the continent today, diverting attention from the real critical moral issues for the majority of Africans . . . . Employing religion, culture and the law to flag sexuality asthebiggest moral issue of our times and dislocating therealissue is a political act and must be recognised as such.”
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Ruzivo, Munetsi. "African Journal of Religion, Philosophy and Culture." African Journal of Religion, Philosophy and Culture 1, no. 1 (August 15, 2020): 5–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.31920/2634-7644/2020/v1n1a0.
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Rautenbach, Christa, Fanie Jansen Van Rensburg, and Gerrit Pienaar. "Culture (and religion) in constitutional adjudication." Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 6, no. 1 (July 10, 2017): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2003/v6i1a2857.
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The faculty of law of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in corroboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stifttung embarked on a study on Politics, Socio-Economic Issues and Culture in Constitutional Adjudication. The aim of the project is twofold. The first aim is to analyse the influence of political, socio-economic and cultural considerations on the constitutional court’s interpretation and application of the Bill of Rights. The second aim is to develop practical guidelines (based on the findings during the analysing process) for South African courts confronted with issues of a political, socio-economic and cultural nature. This article is concerned with initiating discussions of the decisions of the constitutional court with regard to cultural and religious rights.Before we can explore the role of political, socio-economic and cultural (and religious) rights in the decisions of the constitutional court it is important to discuss a few preliminary issues. In this article the meaning of culture and religion within the South African context receives some attention. Secondly, some preliminary comments regarding constitutional protection of culturally and religiously based rights will be made.We are well aware that this is a daunting task, not only in view of the seemingly abysmal gap between the applicable constitutional rights and values enshrined in the 1996 Constitution that, in some instances over centuries, brought about customs and practices within “traditional” communities which, seemingly, infringe on certain constitutional values and rights.
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Mombo, Esther. "Doing Theology from the Perspective of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians." Journal of Anglican Studies 1, no. 1 (August 2003): 91–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/174035530300100106.
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ABSTRACTThe paper introduces the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, popularly known as ‘the Circle’ begun in 1989, and the issues they raise for theological discussion. The Circle sets out to recreate and retrieve women's stories so that they become an integral part of the story of the Church and of Africa as a whole. The Circle and its methodology is set within the ecumenical and multi-faith context of its membership. The range of studies undertaken by its members is reviewed here. These come under four general headings: Biblical and Cultural Hermeneutics; Religion in Pluralistic Cultures; Theological and Ministerial Formation for Women; and Women in Religion, which focuses on the stories of women and religion in Africa.
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Savishinsky, Neil J. "Transnational popular culture and the global spread of the Jamaican Rastafarian movement." New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 68, no. 3-4 (January 1, 1994): 259–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/13822373-90002653.
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Discusses the spread of the Rastafarian movement in the British Caribbean, North America, Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and the Pacific. In the vast majority of cases it has been reggae music which has functioned as the primary catalyst for spreading the religion and culture of Rastafari beyond Jamaica.
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Mollett, Margaret. "Apocalypticism and Popular Culture in South Africa: An Overview and Update." Religion & Theology 19, no. 3-4 (2012): 219–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15743012-12341240.
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Abstract Apocalypticism, in the form of premillennial dispensationalism, based on foundational texts in Daniel, 2 Thessalonians and the book of Revelation, took root in South Africa through missionaries from the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. At first associated with Pentecostal churches and splinter groups from traditional churches belief in an imminent rapture followed by the tribulation, the millennium and final white throne judgment characterise an ever-widening circle of so-called charismatic groups. This heightening of expectation can mainly be ascribed to the influence of Hal Lindsey during the 70s and 80s and Tim LaHaye during the first decade of the 21st century. Rapid growth in media technology and the popularity of religious fiction has resulted in a merging of apocalyptic expectation with popular culture. This article probes the nature of “popular culture” and its relation to religion in South African context, and indicates a route for further enquiry and research. It concludes with the question, “What obligation does this lay on the scholarly guild?”
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Yirenkyi, Kwasi, Thomas D. Blakely, Walter E. A. van Beek, and Dennis L. Thomson. "Religion in Africa: Experience & Expression." African Studies Review 39, no. 3 (December 1996): 205. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/524955.
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Abbink, Jon. "Religion and Politics in Africa: The Future of “The Secular”." Africa Spectrum 49, no. 3 (December 2014): 83–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000203971404900304.
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This essay discusses the continued importance that religion holds in African life, not only in terms of numbers of believers, but also regarding the varieties of religious experience and its links with politics and the “public sphere(s)”. Coinciding with the wave of democratization and economic liberalization efforts since about 1990, a notable growth of the public presence of religion and its political referents in Africa has been witnessed; alongside “development”, religion will remain a hot issue in the future political trajectory of the continent. Its renewed presence in public spheres has also led to new understandings of what religion means and how it figures into both “world-making” and identity politics. This will prolong the challenges associated with the role and status of religion in the “secular state model” found in most African countries. Can these states, while “besieged” by believers, maintain neutrality among diverse worldviews, and if so, how? The paper discusses these issues in a general manner with reference to African examples, some taken from fieldwork by the author, and makes a philosophical argument for the development of a new kind of “secular state” that can respect the religious commitments of African populations.
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Masoga, M. A., and A. Nicolaides. "Christianity and Indigenisation in Africa." European Journal of Theology and Philosophy 1, no. 4 (August 8, 2021): 18–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/theology.2021.1.4.33.
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In a quest for greater coherence between parochial identities, culture and Christianity, there exists an African consciousness which seeks to indigenise and decolonise Christianity. Africans are profoundly religious people who view their faith as part of their way of life, as strengthening their cultures and providing a moral compass for daily living. In efforts to transform society, the Christian religion has played a significant role in the path to African development. Christianity in Africa dates to the very inception of the church. Africans consequently played a crucial role in establishing the doctrines and theology of the early church. While African Traditional religion (ATR) is paramount, it is the purpose of this article to suggest that the Christian faith has and continuous to play a significant role on the African continent in its development. While there are many indigenous African beliefs, these have been to a large extent supported by Christianity in a quest to systematize novel knowledge and promote peace and tolerance across the continent. Many Africans have sought facets of Christianity that are similar to their religious and personal practices and continue to do so. Thus, while there exist numerous similarities and also differences between Christianity and ATR, it is imperative to preserve old-style regional distinctiveness and Christianity as the unifying rudiments in nation building endeavours and in efforts to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Africans can and should come to comprehend the Triune Godhead as being consistent with their own spiritual consciousness and existential veracities. Indigenization of Christianity requires enculturation and essentially an understanding that it is indeed ecumenical and also embraces diversity and fundamentally requires viewing Holy Scriptures and the truths they propound as being applicable to any context and cultural milieu across the ages. Christians after all espouse a faith in the Ekklesia or body of Christ for all its people who are the Laos of God.
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Ojo, Sanya. "Navigating ethnic entrepreneurship in religion and culture meld." Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy 13, no. 5 (November 28, 2019): 625–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/jec-11-2018-0089.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnic entrepreneurship within the contexts of religion, cultural hybridity, segregation, diasporic network and enterprise. Design/methodology/approach The study collected two sets of data from 15 black African respondents/entrepreneurs through face-to-face interviews in London, UK. Findings Findings point to immigrants’ entrepreneurial adaptation through traditional and dogmatic interpretations of religious beliefs in the informal sector. Originality/value The paper offers fresh insights into the religion/faith and socio-cultural meld in the sagacity of black African entrepreneurship. Such insights afford great opportunities to construct new sites of meaning or frame new explanations of entrepreneurship among the ethnic group – using religion and culture as important environmental munificence.