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Persecution Of African Traditional Religions
Traditional African religions have faced persecution from Christians and Muslims. Adherents of these religions have been forcefully converted to Islam and Christianity, demonized and marginalized. The atrocities include killings, waging war, destroying of sacred places, and other atrocities. By Muslims After the establishment of Islam, its rapid expansion and conquests displaced traditional African religions either by conversion or conquest. Traditional African religions have influenced Islam in Africa, and Islam is considered as having more commonality with traditional African religions, but conflict has occurred, especially due to Islam's monotheistic stance and the rise of Muslim reformers such as Askia. Traditional African religions are tolerant of other gods, which allows general co-existence for multiple religions. This has been regarded by some authors to be another reason behind the rise of other religions in Africa. Most followers of traditional religions accommo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional African Religions
The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs, and festivals, include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme creator or force, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects. The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural. Spread Adherents of traditional religions in Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million.''Britannica Book of the Year'' (2003), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2003) p.306 According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', as of mid-2002, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molefi Asante
Molefi Kete Asante ( ; born Arthur Lee Smith Jr.; August 14, 1942) is an American professor and philosopher. He is a leading figure in the fields of African-American studies, African studies, and communication studies. He is currently professor in the Department of Africology at Temple University, where he founded the PhD program in African-American Studies. He is president of the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies.Official site Biography http://www.asante.net/biography/ December 17, 2012 Asante is known for his writings on Afrocentrism, Afrocentricity, a school of thought that has influenced the fields of sociology, intercultural communication, critical theory, political science, the history of Africa, and social work. He is the author of more than 66 books and the founding editor of the ''Journal of Black Studies''. He is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sagamu
Sagamu or Ishagamu is a conglomeration of thirteen towns located in Ogun State along the Ibu River and Eruwuru Stream between Lagos State, Lagos and Ibadan, founded in the mid 19th century by members of the Remo branch of the Yoruba people in south-western Nigeria . The 13 towns that made it up are : Makun, Offin Sonyindo, Epe, Ibido, Igbepa, Ado, Oko, Ipoji, Batoro, Ijoku, Latawa and Ijagba. It is the capital of Remo Kingdom and the paramount ruler of the kingdom - Akarigbo of Remo's palace is in the town of Offin. The Sagamu region is underlain by major deposits of limestone, which is used in the city's major industry, the production of cement. Agricultural products of the region include Cocoa bean, cocoa and kola nuts. Sagamu is the largest kola nut collecting center in the country. The kola nut industry supports several secondary industries such as basket and rope manufacturing, which are used to store the kolanuts. The city was founded in the mid-19th century when severa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oro Festival
Orò Festival is an event celebrated by towns and settlements of Yoruba origin. It is an annual traditional festival that is of patriarchal nature, as it is only celebrated by male descendants who are paternal natives to the specific locations where the particular event is taking place. It worships the god/orisha, Orò, the Yoruba deity of bullroarers and justice. During the festival, females and non-natives stay indoors as oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ... has it that Orò must not be seen by women and non-participating people. The ceremonies surrounding the celebration of Orò differ from town to town, and one is often called after the death of a monarch. When the Oba or other important official dies, a special atonement and period of mourning are held. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of nearly and its population is estimated at million people. There are coastal plains, mountains (the Cristal Mountains and the Chaillu Massif in the centre), and a savanna in the east. Since its independence from France in 1960, the sovereign state of Gabon has had three presidents. In the 1990s, it introduced a multi-party system and a democratic constitution that aimed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed some governmental institutions. With petroleum and foreign private investment, it has the fourth highest HDI in the region (after Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa) and the fifth highest GDP per capita (PPP) i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bwiti
Bwiti is a spiritual discipline of the forest-dwelling Punu people and Mitsogo peoples of Gabon (where it is recognized as one of three official religions) and by the Fang people of Gabon and Cameroon. Modern Bwiti incorporates animism, ancestor worship, and in some cases, Christianity, into a syncretistic belief system. Bwiti practitioners use the psychedelic, dissociative root bark of the ''Tabernanthe iboga'' plant, specially cultivated for the religion, to promote radical spiritual growth, to stabilize community and family structure, to meet religious requirements, and to resolve pathological problems. The root bark has been consumed for hundreds of years in a Bwiti rite of passage ceremony, as well as in initiation rites and acts of healing. The experience yields complex visions and insights anticipated to be valuable to the initiate and the chapel. Liturgy Intoxicants in liturgy Taking Iboga brings both open and closed-eye visions which can be made stronger by darkness, ambi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interfaith Dialogue
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative religion, in that dialogue often involves promoting understanding between different religions or beliefs to increase acceptance of others, rather than to synthesize new beliefs. The Archdiocese of Chicago's Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs defines "the difference between ecumenical, interfaith, and interreligious relations", as follows: *"ecumenical" as "relations and prayer with other Christians", *"interfaith" as "relations with members of the 'Abrahamic faiths' (Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions)," and *"interreligious" as "relations with other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism". Some interfaith dialogues have more recently adopted the name interbelief dialogue, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mwari
Mwari also known as Musikavanhu, Musiki, Tenzi and Ishe, is the Supreme Creator deity according to Shona traditional religion. It is believed that Mwari is the author of all things and all life and all is in him. The majority of this deity's followers are concentrated in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Mwari is an omnipotent being, who rules over spirits and is the Supreme God of the religion. The same deity is applied and also referred to as Inkhosi in Northern and Southern Ndebele. Mwari's reverence dates back to the age of the ancient king ''Monomotapa'', of the Mutapa Kingdom on the Zambezi River. Etymology The name "''Mwari''" in Shona means the force behind Creation. The word itself signifies, resembles and is interpreted as "God", but only in the religious context. The furthering of this term's acceptance is when the Christian missionaries interpreted the Bible for the locals, in which they used the term "Mwari" instead of "God". History The nomadic Bantu we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare. The second largest city is Bulawayo. A country of roughly 15 million people, Zimbabwe has 16 official languages, with English, Shona language, Shona, and Northern Ndebele language, Ndebele the most common. Beginning in the 9th century, during its late Iron Age, the Bantu peoples, Bantu people (who would become the ethnic Shona people, Shona) built the city-state of Great Zimbabwe which became one of the major African trade centres by the 11th century, controlling the gold, ivory and copper trades with the Swahili coast, which were connected to Arab and Indian states. By the mid 15th century, the city-state had been abandoned. From there, the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was established, fol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shona People
The Shona people () are part of the Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily living in Zimbabwe where they form the majority of the population, as well as Mozambique, South Africa, and a worldwide diaspora including global celebrities such as Thandiwe Newton. There are five major Shona language/dialect clusters : Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Manyika and Ndau. Regional classification The Shona people are grouped according to the dialect of the language they speak. Their estimated population is 16.6 million: * Karanga or Southern Shona (about 8.5 million people) * Zezuru or Central Shona (5.2 million people) * Korekore or Northern Shona (1.7 million people) * Manyika tribe or Eastern Shona (1.2 million) in Zimbabwe (861,000) and Mozambique (173,000). * Ndau in Mozambique (1,580,000) and Zimbabwe (800,000). History During the 11th century, the Karanga people formed kingdoms on the Zimbabwe plateau. Construction, then, began on Great Zimbabwe; the capital of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Mazrui
Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was a Kenyan-born American academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies, and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His positions included Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, and Director of the Center for Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He produced the television documentary series '' The Africans: A Triple Heritage''. Early life Mazrui was born on 24 February 1933 in Mombasa, Kenya Colony. He was the son of Al-Amin Bin Ali Mazrui, the Chief Islamic Judge in Kadhi courts of Kenya Colony. His father was also a scholar and author, and one of his books has been translated into English by Hamza Yusuf as ''The Content of Character'', to which Ali supplied a foreword. The Mazrui family was a historically wealthy and important family in Kenya, having previously been the rulers of Momb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Missionaries
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as educational or hospital work. Sometimes individuals are sent and are called missionaries, and historically may have been based in mission stations. When groups are sent, they are often called mission teams and they do mission trips. There are a few different kinds of mission trips: short-term, long-term, relational and those that simply help people in need. Some people choose to dedicate their whole lives to mission. Missionaries preach the Christian faith (and sometimes to administer sacraments), and provide humanitarian aid. Christian doctrines (such as the "Doctrine of Love" professed by many missions) permit the provision of aid without requiring religious conversion. However, Christian missionaries are implicated in the genocide of in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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