Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T04:56:53.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

African History in the 1960's: Religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Marcia Wright*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York, New York

Extract

Of all the “subfields” of African history, religion is in the most preliminary condition. It is also, in all probability, the most difficult to treat in an orderly fashion, owing to the constant spillover into other areas generally regarded to be more preemptive in modern historiography. Our task in isolating religion as a subfield entails in part an operation of retrieval from political, social, and intellectual sectors of the discipline. Problems of definition must also be tackled. Are we primarily concerned with religion in history or the history of religion? Where is the cutoff mark in considering myth, ritual, and other phenomena that are related, but not at all times central, to religion?

The following frame of reference is necessarily sketchy but is offered as a foundation for ensuing historiographical remarks. References to the major types of religion, whether “traditional,” Christian, or Muslim, will be minimized for the present.

Religions have secular and spiritual aspects, the secular being most frequently observed and reported in connection with political and social institutions or behavior. The spiritual aspect and the internal development of a belief system are comparatively inaccessible, but highly significant. Popular beliefs, as well as more formal ideological and theological tenets, fall into this category. Owing to the role of religion in supporting a style of life and/or a political system, the survival of certain religious values may offer clues about a former epoch and the process of historical change in a society.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beattie, John and Middleton, John, eds. Spirit Mediumship and Society in Africa. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969.Google Scholar
Hunwick, J. O.Religion and State in the Songhay Empire, 1464-1591.” In Lewis, I. M. ed. Islam in Tropical Africa. London: Oxford University Press for International Africa Institute, 1966.Google Scholar
Iliffe, John. “The Organization of the Maji Maji Rebellion.” Journal of African History, Vol. VIII, No. 3 (1967).Google Scholar
Kimambo, I. N. A Political History of the Pare. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1969.Google Scholar
Lewis, I. M., ed. Islam in Tropical Africa. London: Oxford University Press for International Africa Institute, 1966.Google Scholar
Low, D. A.Converts and Martyrs in Buganda.” In Christianity in Tropical Africa. London: International Africa Institute, 1968.Google Scholar
Lynch, H. R.The Native Pastorate Controversy and Cultural Ethno-Centrism in Sierra Leone, 1871-1874.” Journal of African History, Vol. V, No. 3 (1964).Google Scholar
Parrinder, Geoffrey. Religion in Africa. New York: Penguin, 1969.Google Scholar
Ranger, T. O.Traditional Authorities and the Rise of Modern Politics in Southern Rhodesia, 1898-1930.” In Stokes, E. and Brown, R., eds. The Zambesian Past. New York: Humanities Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Rheindorf, C. C. The History of the Gold Coast and Asante. 2nd ed. Legon: Ghana University Press, 1966. Reprinted.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. A.The Purge of Christians at Mwanga's Court.” Journal of African History, Vol. V, No. 1 (1964).Google Scholar
Shinnie, P. L.Medieval Nubia.” In Oliver, R., ed. The Middle Age of African History. London: Oxford University Press, 1967.Google Scholar
Stokes, E. and Brown, R., eds. The Zambesian Past. New York: Humanities Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Turner, Victor W. The Ritual Process. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969.Google Scholar
Welbourn, F. B. East African Rebels: A Study of Some Independent Churches. London: SCM, 1961.Google Scholar
Welbourn, F. B. and Ogot, B. A.. A Place to Feel at Home. London: Oxford University Press, 1966.Google Scholar