Adjectives of Collective Degradation

There are many terms, nouns and adjective that Africans have accepted about themselves without question for a while. Many of these terms in themselves seem imposed at a time though not currently forced but still remain in use. To suggest that some of the terms are harmless is an understatement. With time and as the collective evolve, it is no longer misplaced investment to review some of these terms and the contexts of their existence with a view for introducing alternative terms or rather descriptions.

A few of these English terms or phrases have caught my attention for various reasons especially in their confusion to fully describe or capture the essence of subject(s). The most concern is generated from the fact that those (Africans) who should know lazily repeat these terms even on the platform of advocating progress which to all intents and purpose is arrested.  Examples of the troubling terms include African Tradition Religion, Tradition Rulers, Traditional Healers, Traditional Medicine, Traditional Justice etc.  Prior to making any progress on my concerns, one is right to ask who own these phrases and if their ownership has changed over time? In this regard one must acknowledge that there are knowledge creators (pace/trend setters) and knowledge consumers. Of course knowledge is an (expensive) product.  While question of ownership may not be settled in this piece, credibility of context of usage is open field.

Take the first one, African Traditional Religion. What is meant by African? Is this the context of disparate indigenous religions across Africa before and after colonisation or single religious template of or for Africa? By Africa I mean the undivided geo-continental expanse from Cape to Cairo and from Cape Verde to the Horn. Or is this a blending based on suggestion of structural and process similarity between indigenous religions as funnelled through the Kenyan Religion intellectual, Prof John Mbiti? It is as nebulous as seeking for numerical accuracy of grains of sand in a cup still many of Africans revel in using it. What is wrong with mapping each African religion to its people/nation such as Igbo Religion, Twi Religion, Wolof Religion?

Then space right onto ‘Traditional’. While in itself the word is malleable, however as a comparator it serves useful purpose of denigration and sustaining anthropological inferiority. There is no sense in one or a people self-relegating themselves even as time has come for them to take their future in their hands rather seriously.  The word ‘Traditional’ in this context is similar to second fiddle, inferior, suspicious, arcane and irrelevant. The question now becomes which religion is not traditional but how many are not traditional enough for the term ‘Traditional’ to be placed in their name? No one has read of European Traditional Christianity or Asian Traditional Hinduism/Shintoism! For some in Africa including Africans and beyond who do not profess these religions, there is no argument that they are remnant of devils fading glory. Unfortunately those in this unfortunate camp i.e. the holy quakers, holy shakers and holy rollers of new imperialist impositions failed to trace the true genealogies of their new template. And this inglorious ignorance is wreaking havoc and will continue for generations to come.

One of the things that cannot be said again of various Africa Religions is impunity and universalism via imposed force. Even the best minds acknowledge that in all these religions, ecumenism is the heartbeat. One can join or exit at any time. One can hold membership along with membership of other religious organisation. They project highest levels of awareness and ontological maturity which imposed religion power brokers only attempt not via patience but through sanctioning industrial-scale bloodletting. Indigenous religions have clear genealogy which should put Africans in excellent position to making the best of new religions requirements. Sadly many Africans mischievously relish their outset fixed with either colonialism and or imposed ‘independence’.

One of the most annoying things to observe is how those who profess progression of African agenda in the various non-indigenous religions cut hollow figures who cannot but represent existential conflict between their (mis)understanding and expectations or lack of them. What one is left with is a conundrum of confusion and stupidity advocating intellectual and ontological suicide respectively just to satisfy patrons and currencies whose only fortress is time.

Is the use of ‘African Traditional Religion’ not a glossy attempt to smooth over unique rich tapestry of each indigenous African religion which is curiously prominently re-emphasised in the so-called monotheist religions of the North! Active imperialism of the mind! Even in the case of cross-over or conversion, where Jews of pre-Christian era required to totally abandon every facet of their judaistic ontology and heritage first before they are ‘saved’ by Christianity? No, neither should the peoples of Africa. Nevertheless the dignity and true ontology reflecting as unbreakable chain of heritage connected to present Africans from millennia deserve not be ‘disappeared’ or debased for ephemeral destructive ideology disguised as true religion. It is civilisation incorrect!

The ambiguity of deliberate choice becomes explicit when you encounter legal definition of religions across Europe even in the erstwhile heartlands of so-called Christendom. You’ll be surprised that there is no winner takes all even with the settlement encoded by 1648 Treaty of Westphalia which is now pumped into ‘careless underlings’ as separation of church and state.

Considering points made in the foreground, time have come for repudiation of legacies of imposition which are retrogressive and obnoxious, and even harmful to African experience. The so-called experts and intellectual vultures/gold-diggers especially children of the soil should start changing the nomenclature and registers of terms. Pre-phrasing existence by adding African simply confirms identity crisis. It is no different from a US Caucasian calling an US African grandfather a ‘boy’. Africa doesn’t need growing up.  Africans do not need to think that they exist, Africa is because it exist; period. The mental slavery that relegates a people to passive consumers of their own knowledge rather than its creative custodians is a dangerous trend clearly exploited by imposed religions. It is no gimmick to conclude that religious imperialists killed more generations without firing a shot than any weapon of mass destruction attempted to annihilate a generation of Africans.

Therefore lumping things together as final basis has no justification or coherence even in empirical multiscalar investigation. In any case you have Igbo Religion, Igbo Medicine, Yoruba Justice, Tuareg Law, Heroro Medicine, Tiv Healers and etc. Identity crisis cannot be resolved through crisis of collective destruction. Waves of change do not emerge as a result of geographical determinism or kneeling down on the altar of inferiority celebration over time. Even for trumpeters of globalisation, be reminded that it did not excuse or ensure homogenisation.  Take a cursory look at Europe, what is clear is that comparative villages in Africa are sovereign geographical spaces. Even Scotland is making a bid for independence from United Kingdom though without knives and guns for now.