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African History in the 1960's: Religion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Marcia Wright
Marcia Wright*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York, New York
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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
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , December 1971 , pp. 439 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1971

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