Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

African religions are based on oral cultures. They represent the old tradition surviving within a context deeply influenced by monotheistic religions, mainly Christianity and Islam, not only through their various denominations but also by supporting the attack of modern secularism. To propose a definition of religion with reference to the oral African cultures is no easy matter. Within those cultures, religion does not exist as a distinct domain. Indeed, it is part and parcel of normal culture, i.e., the mode of life implying both the ideological perception of the world and a practical kind of social organization. In such situations, religion possesses a denomination of its own, but it may be only conceived as that particular aspect of any culture including beliefs and rituals. In such a perspective, it would be possible to describe religion as that part of culture, or of social life, connected with beliefs and rituals. Field research, in direct contact with the people, is the only method that can afford the possibility of obtaining reliable information on the theoretical ideas and the actual practices of the local people. As is known, such a method implies a fluent knowledge of the local languages and dialects so as allow for an intense observation of people's behavior and personal participation in their mode of life. Cosmological ideas are fundamental, but in order to acquire ... log in or subscribe to read full text