The Preslavery Praxis and Ethos of the Religion of West African People
Compared to other world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, West African Traditional Religion (WATR) has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented in Euro-American society since the colonial encounter of Africans and Europeans. Sadly, the colonial nam...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
|
| In: |
Journal of religion in Africa
Year: 2023, Volume: 53, Issue: 2, Pages: 115-137 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Africa
/ Traditionelle afrikanische Religion
/ Faith
/ Supreme Being
/ Spirits
/ Ethos
/ Religious practice
/ Christianity
/ History 1400-1600
|
| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AX Inter-religious relations BB Indigenous religions BS Traditional African religions CA Christianity KBN Sub-Saharan Africa NBC Doctrine of God NCA Ethics TH Late Middle Ages TJ Modern history |
| Further subjects: | B
Slavery
B Tradition B Colonialism B Religion B Culture |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Compared to other world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, West African Traditional Religion (WATR) has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misrepresented in Euro-American society since the colonial encounter of Africans and Europeans. Sadly, the colonial naming and categorizing of West African religion as savage, animism, and idol worship continues in the popular culture of Euro-America. This paper aims to demonstrate with clear examples how West African Traditional Religion of the 1400s is similar to any other world religion. West African Traditional Religion is better understood alongside African culture and history than as an independent subject. Disagreeing with European missionaries’ claim that they were the ones who taught West Africans about the supreme God, this paper explains how West Africans in precolonial periods had constructive knowledge of supreme deities and other beliefs. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0666 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion in Africa
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340247 |
