There are different beliefs and practices among the hundreds of thousands of ethnic groups in Africa but they all have a similar unifying theme i.e. ", "Foreigen influences on the idea of God in African religions", Black God: the Afroasiatic roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions, The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800, "Traditional African religions and their influences on the worldviews of Bangwa people of Cameroon", "Editorial: Now, the theory of Ubuntu has its space in social work", https://books.google.com/books?id=kv4nAAAAYAAJ, Hot Spot: Sub-Saharan Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa, "Non-Acceptance of Islam in the Southern Sudan: The Case of the Dinka from the Pre-Colonial Period to Independence (1956)", Civilizations of Africa: a History to 1800, Sayings of the Ancient One - Wisdom from Ancient Africa, culture-exchange.blog/animism-modern-africa, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Traditional_African_religions&oldid=1151027113, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with dead external links from October 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Information presented here was gleaned from, Chidester, David. In 1924, a 3-year-old childs skull found in South Africa forever changed how people think about human origins. The animist may argue that although animist belief is thereby justified in a circular manner, this is in no way inferior to the justification afforded to other fundamental beliefs (beliefs about perception, for example), since epistemic circularity is a feature of many of our most fundamental beliefs (William Alston [1986] defends Christian mystical practices by appeal to this kind of tu quoque argument). This page was last edited on 21 April 2023, at 13:15. For example, the Kikuyu people of of Kenya believed that the Mugumo tree (Fig tree) was a sacred tree. The promotion of Volkisch neo-paganism, for example, was used to motivate Nazi arguments for German Lebensraum, or living spacethe expansion into ancestral German lands (Kurlander 2017, 3-32). Agwunsi, or Agwu, is the god of healing and divination among the Igbo people of Nigeria. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, practiced by several Bantu ethnic groups. On October 9, 1929, a German theologian named Gustav Adolf Deissmann was cataloguing items in the Topkapi Palace library in Istanbul when he happened across a curious parchment located among some As Greek mythology goes, the universe was once a big soup of nothingness. Animism dates back to early mankind, with evidence of spiritual belief in the world and the afterlife found in hunter-gatherer communities. What is the origin of the legend of the Christed Son who was born of a virgin on December 25th? 2 (1): pp. "Kings, Magic & Medicine". The animist is committed to a superstitious belief in anthropomorphic spirits, which reside within non-human animals or altogether inanimate objects. A notable modern proponent is Stewart Guthrie, who takes animist belief as a problem requiring an explanation. This approach has been championed by Graham Harvey, who summarizes the animists belief as the position that the world is full of persons, only some of whom are human, and that life is always lived in relationship with others (2005, xi). innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests. Any textbook on animism will take us immediately to village huts in Africa or rainforests in South America in order to view animism in its most blatant forms. Olupona rejects the western/Islamic definition of monotheism and says that such concepts could not reflect the complex African traditions and are too simplistic. Indeed, in more recent writing, Bird-David speculates whether an understanding of animist belief as fundamentally built on the notion of relatives rather than persons may more accurately account for the sense in which the animist relates with non-human others (2017). Some sacred or holy locations for traditional religions include Nri-Igbo, the Point of Sangomar, Yaboyabo, Fatick, Ife, Oyo, Dahomey, Benin City, Ouidah, Nsukka, Kanem-Bornu, Igbo-Ukwu, and Tulwap Kipsigis, among others. In addition to the religious syncretism of these various African traditions, many also incorporate elements of Folk Catholicism including folk saints and other forms of Folk religion, Native American religion, Spiritism, Spiritualism, Shamanism (sometimes including the use of Entheogens) and European folklore. African Native religions are not based on any sacred text, or creed like most mainstream religions. African traditional religion was and is still a form of Animism. 15 (1): pp. In many indigenous cultures, animism is so interwoven with their way of life that they dont even have a term for animism. Of the six black African countries the Pope has visited, animism is the majority Indeed, even contemporary defenders of the common consent argument for the existence of God accept that independent agreement is stronger evidence for the truth of some proposition than agreement generated by some other means, such as word of mouth or indoctrination (see, for example, Zagzebski [2012, 343]). Another example is the Luhya ethnic group who perform circumcision by having a group of boys of the same age group prepare for days. Continuum: pp. A similarly permissive approach to animism and indigenous religion has recently been championed by Mikel Burley, who stresses the importance of evaluating competing religious world-pictures according to their own internal criteria and the effects that such world pictures have on the lived experience of their adherents (see Burley [2018] and [2019]). It is a collection of values and practices that people of Africa or of African origin view as making people authentic human beings. This idea has been developed further by other cognitive scientists of religion, such as Justin Barrett, who accounts for this propensity as resulting from what he calls a hyperactive agency detection device (usually abbreviated to HADD): an innate and adaptive module of human cognition. 374-381. There are also some religions with a single supreme being (Chukwu, Nyame, Olodumare, Ngai, Roog, etc.). [32], Traditional African religions generally hold the beliefs of life after death (a spirit world or realms, in which spirits, but also gods reside), with some also having a concept of reincarnation, in which deceased humans may reincarnate into their family lineage (blood lineage), if they want to, or have something to do. Peterson, N. (2011) Is the Aboriginal Landscape Sentient? Chicago University Press. An African understanding, The List: The World's Fastest-Growing Religions, "US study sheds light on Africa's unique religious mix", Ian S. Markham,(A World Religions Reader. In recent times, religions, such as the Yoruba religion, are on the rise. She earned her BS in Microbiology with a minor in Psychology. Thus, the commitment to the idea of non-human personhood is a commitment that develops across time and through social interaction. In traditional African societies, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis. This can be explained on the assumption that the social role of the kinship term is being invoked (grandfather, for example, refers to one who is wise, who deserves to be listened to, who has authority within the social life of the community, and so on). Although this position has faced criticism for presenting the animists worldview as a kind of mistake (see, for example, Bird-David 1999), similar modernist conceptions of animism persist, particularly in the evolutionary psychology of religion. Plumwood, V. (2010) Nature in the Active Voice in Irwin, R. Alston, W. (1986) Epistemic Circularity Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Even those that dont worship using animism may find that they hold something in common with animistic beliefs, such as respect for nature, even if you dont believe it has a spirit. 261-282. In New Zealand, for example, legal personhood has been granted to both a mountain range (Te Urewera Act 2014) and a river (Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017). WebAfrican societies in different regions were affected by these vast trading networks. Thus, for the animist, while humans and trees, for example, differ in exteriority, they nevertheless share in common the possession of similar interior states. It is the basis of their entire worldview. M. Darrol Bryant, Rita H. Mataragnon, The Many faces of religion and society (1985), Page 100, Index of African mythology and creation narratives, List of African deities and mythical figures, Traditional African religion and other religions, Persecution of traditional African religion, Female genital mutilation laws by country, "Responding to new Imageries in African indigenous Spiritualties", "The world of spirits and the respect for nature: towards a new appreciation of animism", "Animism: Foundation of Traditional Healing in Sub-Saharan Africa", What is religion? https://www.iep.utm.edu/panpsych/ (Accessed 25-May-2018). Does their folly actually represent a form of wisdom, or at least a philosophical openness lost to adults, who have learned, before they knew it, to read soul out of nature? (Kennedy 1989). The will of the gods or spirits is sought by the believer also through consultation of divinities or divination. It has been argued that the liberation of women is a project which cannot be disentangled from the liberation of (and political recognition of) the environment. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Animist belief has been recommended by some writers as conducive to achieving the following three aims. Some castings are done using sacred divination plates made of wood or performed on the ground (often within a circle). They may also offer copper coins to the tree, as a combination of coins and regular celebration with the thread is thought to please the tree and give their husbands health and longevity. The ancient civilization of Greece is a historical period that has long been a subject of fascination and intrigue. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. In the early 1900s, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget proposed that individuals are born with an innate belief in animism that they grow out of as they develop and learn about the world around them. Animist thinking is instead construed as a kind of experiencethe living of a particular form of life, one which is responsive and communicative with the local environment, and one which engages with the natural environment as subject, not object. Inquiries and Essays. This post-modernist approach, Guthrie argues, makes local imagination the arbiter of what exists, and thereby abandons many important realist commitments inherent in the scientific project (2000, 107). While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview with a supreme creator god next to other gods and spirits, others follow a purely polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings. The animists common adoption of kinship terms (such as grandfather) for animals and other natural phenomena may also be elucidated on this picture. It is a doctrine often attributed (although erroneously, [see Fortenbaugh 2011, 63]) to the third director of Aristotles Lyceum, Strato of Lampsacus, who argued that motion in the universe was explicable by internal, unconscious, naturalistic mechanisms, without any need for an Aristotelian prime mover (ibid, 61). Such debates, naturally, had little impact in the West where they were largely inaccessible (and anyways considered irrelevant). pp. WebAfrican Religion is ancestor worship. A revised common consent argument may be launched, however, which runs that since separate and isolated religious communities independently agree to the proposition that features of the natural world (such as rocks, rivers and whales) are persons, it follows, therefore, that animism is probably true (Smith 2019). New York: Routledge. For many post-modern anthropologists, the purpose of research is understood to be a mediation between different but equally valid constructions of reality or ontologies. At a minimum, animists accept that some features of the natural environment such as trees, lakes, mountains, thunderstorms, and animals are non-human persons with whom we may maintain and develop social relationships. Since early humans needed to be on high alert to survive in the face of predators and natural disasters, they may have begun anthropomorphizing or spiritualizing natural objects as a way to protect themselves against them. According to Gottlieb and Mbiti: The environment and nature are infused in every aspect of traditional African religions and culture. She writes thatreversing our drive towards destroying our planetary habitat, may require a thorough and open rethink which has the courage to question our most basic cultural narratives (2010, 47). True diversity is the beauty of the world. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Guthrie, S. (2015) Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion. Examples include social behaviors such as the respect for parents and elders, raising children appropriately, providing hospitality, and being honest, trustworthy, and courageous. Animism, in some form or other, has been the dominant religious tradition across all human societies since our ancestors first left Africa. It could be argued that animist belief is properly basic in the same way that Plantinga takes theistic belief to be (Plantinga 1981). Sikhism and the environment in Sikh Dharma International. An understanding of the environment as rich with persons clearly has implications for conservation, resource management, and sustainability. Kennedy, D. (1989) Fools, Young Children, Animism, and the Scientific World Picture Philosophy Today. Perhaps youll come to understand just why some people consider it a spiritual force of its own. Raleigh, NC: SI. New Zealand. It is estimated that 40% of the worlds population is Animistic. It used to be that various forms of Animism were not at all prominent in America. That is simply not true anymore. Accurate numbers are hard to come by, but the number of people looking to some form of Animism is rising dramatically. During this celebration, women use a banyan tree to publicly display their love for their husbands. Tylor at the time had believed that animism was a primitive form of religion, and possibly the oldest religious concept. For example, Vat Purnima is a Hindu celebration held by married women. There are generally no prohibitions against the practice. Soon after this, she earned her MS in Education and worked as a secondary Read More. In the northern Saharan region of Africa, the Berbers make up the predominant religion. This characterization of the universes motion as sustained by internal, unconscious mechanisms is seen as analogous to the biological mechanisms and processes sustaining life. Thus, it might be argued that animism is vindicated not by external or discursive arguments according to which animism can be shown to be probably true, but by epistemic features internal to the relevant animistic belief system. Ghana is a great place to start because of language and beause the people have more awareness than most about us in the diaspora. James, W. (1896) The Will to Believe in Stuhr, J. This in no way hinges on a metaphysical dualism that makes any distinction between spirits/souls and bodies/objects. Where to look for and find African Tradition Religion? Underhill, M. 2010. Caused by these persecution and discrimination, but also by incompatibility with traditional society, culture and native beliefs, the Dinka people largely rejected or ignored Islamic and Christian (Abrahamic) teachings.[56]. The modernist view (championed by the likes of Hume, Tylor, and Frazer) according to which animism is an unsophisticated, primitive, and superstitious belief was carried over wholesale into contemporary 20th century analytic philosophy of religion. Available at: https://moroccanjourneys.com/the-berber-culture/, Perkins, M. K. 5 April 2019. There is ongoing disagreement (and no general consensus) as to whether animism is merely a singular, broadly encompassing religious belief or a worldview in and of itself, comprising many diverse mythologies found worldwide in many diverse cultures. What is fundamental to the animists worldview is the subject-subject relation, in contrast to the subject-object relation taken up in a naturalists understanding of the world. However, it is unclear whether all or even most putatively animist communities share in this view. Animism builds the core concept of traditional African religions, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an Harvey, G. 2017. There are more similarities than differences in all traditional African religions,[43] although Jacob Olupona has written that it is difficult to truly generalize them because of the sheer amount of differences and variations between the traditions. Animism, he says, is a condition of being alive to the world, characterized by a heightened sensitivity and responsiveness, in perception and action, to an environment that is always in flux, never the same from one moment to the next (2006, 10). He also notes that most modern African folk religions were strongly influenced by non-African religions, mostly Christianity and Islam and thus may differ from the ancient forms. Umewaen: Journal of Benin & Edoid Studies: Osweego, NY. (1900) The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. [47] With a long farming tradition, the Serer high priests and priestesses (Saltigue) deliver yearly sermons at the Xooy Ceremony (divination ceremony) in Fatick before Yoonir's phase in order to predict winter months and enable farmers to start planting.[48]. Respect for and harmony with nature is an essential aspect of Sikhism, as the Sikh Holy Scripture even says: Air is the Guru, water is the father, and Earth is the great mother. This is a clear example of animism as one of Sikhisms many core beliefs. Krishna, a major Hindu deity, is believed to live on the leaves of banyan trees. Traditional healers are common in most areas, and their practices include a religious element to varying degrees. On the contrary, the animist does not know that whales are persons, but rather knows how to get along with whales. New Haven: Yale University Press. Monotheism does not reflect the multiplicity of ways that the traditional African spirituality has conceived of deities, gods, and spirit beings. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. Reuter, T. (2014) Is Ancestor Veneration the Most Universal of All World Religions? Nevertheless, trees, humans, and ravens share in common the quality of interiority. This understanding of animism echoes the philosophy of religion of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who famously rejected the notion that the substantive empirical claims of religion should be understood as attempts at objective description or explanation. No date. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview with a supre ( georgeburba / Adobe Stock). The problem needing explained is why people are so disposed to ascribe agency and personhood to non-agents and non-persons. These indigenous concepts were different from the monotheism found in Abrahamic religions. For the Kikuyu, according to their primary supreme creator, Ngai, acting through the lesser deities, is believed to speak to and be capable of guiding the virtuous person as one's conscience. The difference between powerful spirits and gods is often minimal. A reason for this may have to do with a prevailing conception of animist traditions as having no transformative or transcendental aspects. WebLargely common throughout Africa is animism. WebThe lesson of the study of animism is perhaps that religion did not arise, as some of Tylors successors believed, out of Urdummheit (primal ignorance) or delusions of magical power but out of humanitys ironic awareness of a good life that cannot, by earthly means, be grasped and held. Then, two things happened: either Chaos or Gaia created the universe as we know it, or Ouranos and Tethys gave birth to the first beings. The Taung Child, our first encounter with an ancient group of proto-humans or hominins A team of archaeologists have excavated the 2,200-year-old remains of a warrior slain in the ancient Egyptian uprising described on the famous Rosetta Stone . The word animism is derived from the Latin word animus, meaning spirit or soul. Writers such as Fukansai Habian, Arai Hakuseki, and Ando Shoeki critically engaged with the mythological and animistic aspects of Shinto, while also illuminating their historical and political subtexts. Thanks for writing this up. New York: Columbia University Press. Whereas in normal conditions, humans see humans as humans, and animals as animals, it is not the case that animals see themselves as animals. This includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife, comparable to other traditional/nature religions around the world, such as Japanese Shinto or traditional European paganism. Hick, J. 106-107. 17th century Japanese commentaries on Shinto provide a rare example of such a critical tradition. Just as theism is a term that extends to cover any belief system committed to the existence of a god, animism is a term that extends to cover any belief system satisfying the appropriate definition (such as the classical Tylorian definition given in the introduction to this article).