PowerPoint Presentation on African Traditional Religion-1.pptx

African Traditional Religion

1. AFRICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS AUCL 106 DARKO PRINCE OFEI

2. AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION

3. AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION

4. Objectives of the Study Examine the concept of African Traditional Religion(s) and early European views of ATR. Some misconceptions about ATR Identify major sources of ATR

5. Objectives of the Study (Cont’d) Examine the main features and major beliefs in African Traditional Religion. Examine the various ways in which African Traditional Religion manifests in specific cultural practices in African societies.

6. Broad definition of Religion Religion consists of a ‘theory of being and a theory of meaning’.

7. Concept of Religion (Cont’d) Definitions & theories of religion have originated from a western background. Eurocentric concept. - Christian theology of religions: - H ierarchical structure of religions.

8. Cont… Evolutionistic development of religion Categorization of religion according to levels of development. Underdeveloped religions were labelled: primal , traditional or primitive/ tribal religion .

9. Cont… Scholars have ‘abstracted African religions from their cultural and historical contexts’ (Westerlund 1993:59). - Tendency to “Westernize” African religions’ (Westerlund 1993:59).

10. Misconceptions about ATR Animism- spirits reside in objects, plants & animals. Pagan- apart from Christianity, Islam & Judaism Fetish- any work of art/ man-made religious object Ancestor worship Polytheism

11. African Traditional Religion Professor Idowu: - ‘Africans are notoriously religious in all they do’

12. African Traditional Religion A close observation of African societies shows that religion pervades every aspect of social life. Discuss and support your assertions with relevant examples in your community.

13. Con’t… In African societies, one does not need any special instruction in religion. A person picks it up once he/ she begins to participate in communal rituals and ceremonies.

14. Con’t… The Akan of Ghana for example say : “One does not show a child where God is”.

15. Con’t… John Mbiti: “ to be human is to belong to the whole community, and to do so involves participating in the beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and festivals of that community ”.

16. Con’t… Religion is the essence of life in the African society, because it gives meaning to people’s lives. It is therefore not wrong to say that the best way to understand Africans is to examine the influence of religion on their lives.

17. African Traditional religion(s) Indigenous religious beliefs and practices of Africans . Born out of the experience and deep reflection of our African forebears. based on the resources of Africa’s own cultural heritage and insight (Opoku 1993:67)

18. Unity & Diversity M any African religions as there are African peoples . great variety of rituals, myths, beliefs, and deities . Common goal of guiding individuals safely through the passages of life, from birth and puberty, marriage and maturity, to death and ancestorhood.

19. Cont… Irrespective of diversities/ where it is practiced: the belief in a Supreme Being superhuman beings- spirits honouring ancestors.

20. Cont… Omosade Awolalu, in his work ' Sin and its Removal in African Traditional Religion ' writes: When we speak of African Traditional Religion, we mean the indigenous religion of the Africans. It is the religion that has been handed down from generation to generation by the forbears of the present generation of Africans. It is not a fossil religion (a thing of the past) but a religion that Africans today have made theirs by living it and practicing it.

21. Cont… This is a religion that has no written literature, yet it is 'written' everywhere for those who care to see and read. It is largely written in the peoples' myths and folktales, in their songs and dances, in their liturgies and Shrines and in their proverbs and pithy sayings.

22. Cont… It is a religion whose historical founder is neither known nor worshipped. It is a religion that has no zeal for membership drive, yet it offers persistent fascination for Africans, young and old (1976: 275).

23. EARLY EUROPEAN VIEWS Robert Moffatt Africans do not have any form of religion. “Satan has erased every vestige of religious impression from their minds ” ( this justified the need to evangelize Africans to ensure their salvation).

24. Cont… Stanley: Africa is a “ place governed by insensible fetish ”.

25. Cont… Berlin journal which Leo Frobenius read before he ever visited Africa to see things for himself . Before the introduction of genuine faith and higher standards of culture by the Arabs , ……..we confine ourselves to the description of their crude fetishism, their brutal and often cannibal customs, their vulgar and repulsive idols and their squalid homes.

26. Cont… Ellis , the author of, The Twi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast , stated emphatically that the notion of the Supreme Being ( Onyame ) among the Akan was a “ loan-god ”, introduced by the missionaries.

27. Con’t… Mary Kingsley: “ When I say juju or fetish, I mean the religion of the natives of West Africa ”. Akan for example, Suman (man-made charms) is different from ↄbosom (deity).

28. Do Africans have a religion? According to Mbonu Ojike , “If religion consists in deifying one character and crusading around the world to make him acceptable to all mankind, then the African has no religion. However, if religion means doing rather than talking, then the African has a religion ” .

29. WHERE DID AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION EMERGE FROM? Similar to other religions, African Traditional Religion emerged from man’s determination to understand the universe (death, birth, earthquakes, rain, thunder, celestial bodies, sickness, famine, misfortune, etc.) and to come to terms with the forces that control his inner being.

30. Where can we find African Traditional Religion? Art and symbols, music and dance, proverbs, riddles, names of people and places, rituals, ceremonies, festivals, beliefs, customs and all aspects of life.

31. African concept of monotheism O ne of a hierarchy with a Supreme Being at its head. rules over a vast number of divinities who are considered to be the associates of God

32. Con’t… R eligion of the Fon people of Benin and the Ga’s : God is two beings, male and female. Bambara people of West Africa: God expresses Himself in four aspects/ persons, with each playing a different role in the creation of the universe. - multiple nature is similar to the Christian doctrine of God as a trinity .

33. Features of Traditional African Religion It is not a revealed religion. Divine truth is not revealed to an individual who becomes the founder. In revealed religion, all must know the truths about God through the founder. The history of African religion is the history of the people that practice it.

34. Cont… Belief in mystical power that can be tapped by humans who have the knowledge to do so. It is common for Africans to believe in spiritual agents whose powers can be used for beneficial or evil ends.

35. Cont… God is the Supreme Being but not the object of direct “worship”. Worship is directed to trees, rocks, rivers, mountains, etc. because objects of nature are believed by Africans to be inhabited by spiritual beings or deities.

36. Cont… It is however important to state that African religion is not nature worship because it is the spiritual beings that are worshipped and not the objects.

37. MAN AND SOCIETY Man is a biological (material) being as well as a spiritual (immaterial) being. The material part of man dies while the spiritual (soul) continues to live. Thus, in African societies, death is viewed as an extension of life.

38. AFRICAN IDEAS OF IMMORTALITY All humans are the children of God; no one is a child of the earth. The soul is an immaterial part of the human being that survives death, and in the afterlife, will give an account to God.

39. Maxims about God No one shows the Supreme Being to a child If you want to say something to God, say it to the wind. Goodness is the prime characteristic of God. Because God does not like evil, he gave each person a name God drives away the insects from the tailess animal

40. Con’t… The Earth is wide, but Nyame is chief. All Nyame did is good. God “is good, for he has never withdrawn from us the good things which he gave us ”. There is no by-pass to Nyame’s destiny. God will outlive eternity

41. Some African names and titles for God GET READY

42. REFERENCES Gyekye, K. (2003). African Cultural Values . Sankofa Publishing Company. Accra, Ghana Mbiti , J. (1977). Introduction to African Religion . Heinemann Opoku , A.K. (1978). West African Traditional Religion . FEP

43. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Examine the concept of African Traditional Medicine Compare African Traditional Medicine with Western Medicine Examine the various types of Traditional medicinal practitioners and what distinguishes them from each other Examine the feasibility of traditional medicinal practice in our modern health care system within the context of the challenges facing healthcare in Ghana, and by extension, Africa.

44. AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE African Traditional medicine is a holistic discipline involving indigenous herbs and spirituality. Diagnosis is reached through spiritual means and a treatment is prescribed, usually consisting of herbal remedy that has not only healing abilities, but has spiritual underpinnings.

45. THE NOTION OF ILLNESS IN AFRICAN SOCIETIES In African societies, there is the belief that illness is not derived from chance occurrences, but through spiritual or social imbalance. In African culture(s), it is believed that "nobody becomes sick without sufficient reason."

46. Traditional vrs. Western Medicine Traditionalism is often wrongly associated with the stagnant and unchanging. Considerable changes have occurred in traditional healing and that all medical traditions like everything else have been changing throughout time. Traditional healers do not reject opportunities to acquire new knowledge.

47. How were sicknesses diagnosed? The diagnoses and chosen methods of treatment relied heavily on spiritual aspects . Traditional practitioners look at the ultimate "who" rather than the "what" when locating the cause and cure of an illness, and the answers given come from the cosmological beliefs of the people.

48. Cont… Illness is believed to stem from a lack of balance between the patient and his or her social environment or the spiritual world, not by natural causes. For example, sickness is sometimes said to be attributed to guilt by the person, family, or village for a sin or moral infringement. The illness, therefore, would stem from the displeasure of the gods or God, due to an infraction of universal moral law.

49. TREATMENT Traditional practitioners use a wide variety of treatments ranging from "magic" to biomedical methods such as fasting and dieting, herbal therapies, bathing, massage, and surgical procedures.

50. TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PRACTITIONERS Many traditional medicinal practitioners are people without formal education. They received knowledge of medicinal plants and their effects on the human body from their forebears (usually close family members). They have a deep and personal involvement in the healing process and protect the therapeutic knowledge by keeping it a secret.

51. Cont… Similar to orthodox medicinal practice, the practitioners of traditional medicine specialize in particular areas of their profession, including herbalism or spiritual healing through divination.

52. TYPES OF TRADITIONAL HEALERS Traditional Birth Attendants Faith Healers Spiritualists/ Diviners Traditional Herbalists

53. TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS

54. Ghana is not Accra! Who shall we send? Not I! TBA’s recognized as important resources, especially in rural areas that are virtually cut-off due to cultural or geographic barriers. Although TBA’s may not be formally integrated into the formal healthcare system, they serve as an important bridge between the community and modern healthcare systems.

55. Cont… In many countries 60–80% of deliveries are assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBAs). The strength of the TBA stems from the fact that she is part of the cultural and social life of the community in which she lives- intimate knowledge of their clients

56. TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS Traditional birth attendants (traditional midwives) focus on pregnancy problems and they assist pregnant women at deliveries. Their activities also include sex education and contraceptive counselling .

57. Cont… TBA’s are usually middle-aged and elderly women. TBA’s learn their skills from relatives. They learn through observation and apprenticeship. In Ghana, there have been on-going training programmes to “upgrade” the services of traditional birth attendants.

58. FAITH HEALERS

59. Faith healers Belief that the healing of diseases and disability can be brought about by religious faith through prayer and/or other rituals that stimulate divine presence.

60. FAITH HEALERS Often leaders of revival, sectarian and African-spiritual churches. Apart from church services, some leaders of these churches operate healing sessions. Some have clinics where patients (both church members and non-church members) go to seek help.

61. Cont… Faith healers use the Bible, Holy water and prayer sessions to help “cure” patients who come to them. Certain days of the week are often set aside for healing purposes. They deal mainly with social, psychological, and psychosomatic problems.

62. DIVINERS/ SPIRITUALISTS

63. “WE NEED CUSTOMERS”

64. Cont…

65. Cont…

66. SPIRITUALISTS/ DIVINERS They use methods of possession, divination and other ritual means to diagnose illness and to heal people. They claim to be intermediaries between their spiritual agencies and patients who seek their help. They claim their powers of healing and their diagnostic techniques come from spiritual agencies. Spiritualists diagnose illness through divination.

67. Cont… They enquire whether there were any social disturbances, disordered social relation, or an inability on the part of the patient to communicate effectively with any household relative. When medicine is given to a patient to “cure” any of the illnesses and problems, a ritual ceremony is usually performed at the healer’s shrine to augment the potency of the medicinal preparation.

68. HERBALISTS

69. Cont…

70. HERBALISTS Herbalists are the most numerous of traditional healers. They approach healing through the use and application of herbs. Their methods of treatment and operational procedures are often similar to some of the methods of modern medicine. However, they adhere to traditional principles. There are many sub-specialities in herbalism.

71. Cont… Bone setters Healers who specialise in male and female circumcision Sellers of medicinal preparations (who may not be herbalists themselves) who trade in the open market and everywhere

72. PAYMENT Traditional healers, like any other profession, are rewarded for their services. In African societies, the payment for a treatment depends on its efficacy. They do not request payment until after the treatment is given. This is another reason many prefer traditional healers to western doctors who require payment before the patient has assessed the effectiveness of the treatment.

73. Cont… The payment methods have changed over time, with many practitioners now asking for monetary payment, especially in urban settings.

74. REFERENCE Twumasi, P.A. Medical Systems in Ghana . GPC