Your fear of Indigenous belief systems and why it matters

The use of the term ‘African spirituality’ implies a certain kind of simplicity for what is rather a complex and heterogenous system of practice. It is often used to refer to the traditional beliefs our ancestors, followed pre-colonization and imperialism on the continent and is rarely appreciated for its scope and nuance. I argue this is partly due to the colonial efforts to systemically and indiscriminately eradicate all forms of traditional beliefs and practices our ancestors revered. ‘African spirituality’ in our modern society, appears to be a muddled pile of objects, beliefs, and traditions that many fear yet cannot entirely separate themselves from (especially those of African descent).

There seems to be an irrational fear towards Indigenous African belief systems. I have observed that Africans in the diaspora who usually identify with a world religion demonstrate apathy or disgust when African spirituality is mentioned. Many subconsciously take on the Colonial belief that it is indeed primitive or inherently evil. The extent of this fear has even been shocking for me and something I also work through. By just mentioning that I believe in healing with nature I can feel many people in my audience recoil. The truth is Indigenous African belief systems are heterogenous and many people who are open to it may not necessarily practice a specific tradition. For example, just because someone is open to Indigenous African belief systems does not mean they are a Sangoma (traditional spiritual healers from southern Africa) or an Okomfo (traditional Priests or Priestesses from the Akan groups). Someone’s openness to Indigenous African beliefs can simply be their reverence or practice of using herbs to heal a common cold, or their ability to see God in the waters, the forests, and animals. It does not mean they follow a specific tradition or believe in extreme practices such as human sacrifice which are often cited by those who want to entirely discredit Indigenous African beliefs.

To understand how Colonialism contributed to this fear which can at times seem irrational, we must understand the dogma of colonialism and imperialism. Colonizers and missionaries believed African culture as inferior to the western culture and even undesirable and dangerous to converted Africans” (Oduro, Pretorius, Nussbaum & Born, 2008:37, cited by Mokhoathij, 2017). This line of thinking suggests not only a believed sense of superiority by Colonizers, but also the need to completely eradicate ‘African culture’ because it was deemed to be a threat. Understand that the spread of certain religious ideals through the core ‘civilizing’ theme of colonial endeavors was not benign. Memmi, (1974 cited by Jagire, 2011) highlights the “colonizer is not interested in conversion but in maintaining dominant power relationships”. This realization challenges the narrative of the benevolent Colonizer and Missionary. This does not mean colonial subjects did not have ANY benefits from the colonial endeavors. Indeed, the ‘benefits’ of Colonialism are often cited when people rightfully voice their grievances. It is possible to simultaneously recognize the destructive and beneficiary elements of colonialism while maintaining that the destruction far outweighs the benefits.

At this point, you may be thinking, why does this matter? We live in the 21^st Century where people can choose whatever religion or tradition to follow including Indigenous African traditions should they wish. While this is true for most parts of the world, my position is not to call anyone to a belief system. Rather, I aim to highlight the contradictions and hypocrisies of our time in this context. For example, there are many people from all religions who proclaim to exclusively belong to that religion. However, whenever calamity strikes, they seek the traditional healers, the Priests and the Priestesses whom they believe can help them. For example, Opokuwaa (2005) shares how she would see well known pastors visit her family shrine and how many had fetish shrines in their homes or seek the help of Priests or Priestesses whenever they were in need. This is more than a case of “well there are bad eggs in every religion”. It is evidence that indeed how people present themselves can be in contradiction to what they actually do. I myself have seen many examples of this and while I do not appreciate people critiquing a belief system they do not understand yet benefit from, I also recognize that it illustrates a complex reality – that multiple truths can coexist and we need not to entirely malign any.

I personally have a reverence for all religions while recognizing the systemic violence that has come about and continues to persist because of religion. I have reverence for Indigenous African beliefs that I am acquainted with while acknowledging that I do not agree with or practice all belief systems.

Our fear of Indigenous beliefs is collectively shared and has been passed down knowingly or unknowingly from generation to generation. To release this fear is to acknowledge that the Divine can exist in various places – even the places we least expect it or even among those we deem inferior.