Blackwell Reference Online

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[ ii ] There are as many African religions as peoples or ‘tribes’, that is, many hundreds. This Dictionary can refer only to a few, selected somewhat arbitrarily to illustrate different types or areas, or to an account of available literature in English. The following receive individual attention: A kan , D ogon , F on , I gbo , M ende and Y oruba in west Africa, and Z ande in central Africa; D inka , N uer and S hilluk among the N ilotics ; G anda , L ovedu , S hona and Z ulu among B antu. A crucial factor in the differentiation between African religions is the deep diversity of African social and political systems. Religious belief and ritual both reflect and mould social structure and would be largely incomprehensible apart from the latter. Despite the contrasts there are also profound similarities. [General and thematic surveys: 8; 11; 14; 20.] African religions do not exist in a vacuum. They have influenced each other through human contact – migration, military conquest, marriage – and through the action of religious specialists. Within one people there could be significant differences in regard to religion, caused by the sectional activity of secret societies or local shrines: religion was thus in part associational. Equally, religion frequently crossed tribal frontiers, not only by borrowings, but also by the enduring sense of a wider community. Major territorial ... log in or subscribe to read full text