The history of African Traditional Religions (ATRs), both inside and outside academia, is one dominated by exclusions. These exclusions were created by the colonial framing of ATRs as primitive, irrational and inferior to other religions. This colonial legacy is in danger of being preserved by the absence of ATRs from the academic study of religion, legal definitions of religion, and global and local conversations about religion. This thesis will explore the ways that a more considered and accurate examination of the understudied religious dimensions within ATRs can potentially dismantle this legacy. It will do so by demonstrating what this considered examination might look like, through an examination of Yoruba divine conceptualizations and the insights they bring to our understanding of three concepts in Religious Studies discourse: Worship, Gender, and Syncretism. This thesis will demonstrate how these concepts have the ability to challenge and contribute to a richer understanding of various concepts and debates in Religious Studies discourse. Finally, it will consider the implications beyond academia, with a focus on the self-understanding of ATR practitioners and African communities. It frames these implications under the lens of the colonial legacy of ‘monstrosity’, which relates to their perception as primitive and irrational, and concludes that a more considered examination of ATRs within the Religious Studies framework has the potential to dismantle this legacy.

Ubuntu is a worldview and a way of life shared by most Africans south of Sahara. Basically Ubuntu underlines the often unrecognized role of relatedness and dependence of human individuality to other humans and the cosmos. The importance of relatedness to humanity is summarized by the two maxims of Ubuntu. The first is: a human being is human because of other human beings. The second maxim is an elaboration of the first. It goes; a human being is human because of the otherness of other human beings. John Mbiti combines those two maxims into, "I am because we are, and we are because I am." Ubuntu worldview can provide insights about relationships with communities and the world that contribute to the meaning of Global Bioethics. <br>Ubuntu can be described as involving several distinct yet related components that can be explored in relation to major strands of discourse in contemporary Bioethics. The first component of Ubuntu deals with the tension between individual and universal rights. The second component of Ubuntu deals with concerns about the cosmic and global context of life. The third component of Ubuntu deals with the role of solidarity that unites individuals and communities. Ubuntu has a lot in common with current discourse in bioethics. It can facilitate global bioethics. It can inspire the on-going dialogue about human dignity, human rights and the ethics that surround it. It can inspire and be inspired by global environmental concerns that threaten the biosphere and human life. Ubuntu can critique the formal bioethical principles of autonomy, justice, beneficence and non-maleficence. Above all, Ubuntu can create a basis for dialogue and mutually enlightening discourse between global bioethics and indigenous cultures. Such a dialogue helps make advancements in bioethics relevant to local indigenous cultures, thereby facilitating the acceptability and praxis of global bioethical principles. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Philosophy / PhD / Dissertation;

Ce mémoire présente une réflexion critique sur différentes représentations des religions traditionnelles africaines (RTA) au sein de réseaux régionaux et disciplinaires africains et occidentaux. Dans un premier temps, plusieurs formes de représentations (cartographiques et graphiques) issues de milieux universitaires occidentaux sont explorées pour comparer le traitement des RTA. Cette exploration soulève le problème des catégorisations employées qui ne rendent pas compte de la diversité, du dynamisme, de la complexité et de l’importance des RTA; et de manière plus générale, cette analyse révèle un problème sur le plan de l’équité dans les représentations des religions du monde. À l’aide d’une analyse conceptuelle, un certain nombre de catégories utilisées pour définir les RTA, notamment celle de « religion ethnique », sont remises en question, tout comme la notion de religion du monde (world religion). Dans un deuxième temps, les stratégies de recherche utilisées pour retracer des réseaux de chercheurs africains sont présentées. Différents outils et ressources documentaires occidentaux sont analysés et évalués selon qu’ils donnent accès ou non à la production de chercheurs africains sur les RTA. L’analyse de ces documents, laquelle est inspirée d’une démarche d’analyse de discours, révèle à quel point la contribution des chercheurs africains est peu prise en compte à l’intérieur du corpus sélectionné. Or, l’exploration de la situation actuelle de l’enseignement et de la recherche sur les RTA dans certaines universités du Nigéria met en lumière la somme importante de travaux sur les RTA et la diversité des canaux de communication. En somme, ce mémoire démontre à quel point le savoir est localisé et lié aux ancrages culturels, disciplinaires et idéologiques des chercheurs. Il ouvre, à partir de l’analyse de textes africains, sur la question plus large de la difficulté de la représentation de l’unité et des particularismes des RTA. / This thesis provides a critical analysis of several different representations of African Traditional Religions (ATR) as found within a number of regional and disciplinary networks in Western and African countries. First, numerous means of representation (geographical maps and graphics) from different western scientific media were used to examine different ways in which ATR are represented. This analysis reveals that the categorization systems employed in these media to represent ATR do not reflect the variety, vitality, complexity and significance of ATR; and, on a more general level, reveals a lack of equity in the representations of different world religions. A conceptual analysis puts into question a number of categories (e.g. “ethnic religion”) used to define ATR as well as the notion of world religion. Second, the research strategies that were used to identify African research networks are presented. Several different Western tools and documentary resources (Database, encyclopedic articles, etc) were evaluated on their usage and citations of African research on ATR. This analysis, which was drawn from a qualitative discourse analysis approach, highlights the limited importance that is given to African researchers. In contrast, our evaluation of RTA-related education and research in Nigerian universities reveals an enormous amount of RTA-related research as well as a diversity of communication channels. On a more general level, this thesis demonstrates the extent to which knowledge is localized and linked to the cultural, disciplinary, and ideological presuppositions of researchers, and, from the analysis of African documents, opens to the larger question of the difficulty to represent the unity and specificities of ATR.

Ce mémoire présente une réflexion critique sur différentes représentations des religions traditionnelles africaines (RTA) au sein de réseaux régionaux et disciplinaires africains et occidentaux. Dans un premier temps, plusieurs formes de représentations (cartographiques et graphiques) issues de milieux universitaires occidentaux sont explorées pour comparer le traitement des RTA. Cette exploration soulève le problème des catégorisations employées qui ne rendent pas compte de la diversité, du dynamisme, de la complexité et de l’importance des RTA; et de manière plus générale, cette analyse révèle un problème sur le plan de l’équité dans les représentations des religions du monde. À l’aide d’une analyse conceptuelle, un certain nombre de catégories utilisées pour définir les RTA, notamment celle de « religion ethnique », sont remises en question, tout comme la notion de religion du monde (world religion). Dans un deuxième temps, les stratégies de recherche utilisées pour retracer des réseaux de chercheurs africains sont présentées. Différents outils et ressources documentaires occidentaux sont analysés et évalués selon qu’ils donnent accès ou non à la production de chercheurs africains sur les RTA. L’analyse de ces documents, laquelle est inspirée d’une démarche d’analyse de discours, révèle à quel point la contribution des chercheurs africains est peu prise en compte à l’intérieur du corpus sélectionné. Or, l’exploration de la situation actuelle de l’enseignement et de la recherche sur les RTA dans certaines universités du Nigéria met en lumière la somme importante de travaux sur les RTA et la diversité des canaux de communication. En somme, ce mémoire démontre à quel point le savoir est localisé et lié aux ancrages culturels, disciplinaires et idéologiques des chercheurs. Il ouvre, à partir de l’analyse de textes africains, sur la question plus large de la difficulté de la représentation de l’unité et des particularismes des RTA. / This thesis provides a critical analysis of several different representations of African Traditional Religions (ATR) as found within a number of regional and disciplinary networks in Western and African countries. First, numerous means of representation (geographical maps and graphics) from different western scientific media were used to examine different ways in which ATR are represented. This analysis reveals that the categorization systems employed in these media to represent ATR do not reflect the variety, vitality, complexity and significance of ATR; and, on a more general level, reveals a lack of equity in the representations of different world religions. A conceptual analysis puts into question a number of categories (e.g. “ethnic religion”) used to define ATR as well as the notion of world religion. Second, the research strategies that were used to identify African research networks are presented. Several different Western tools and documentary resources (Database, encyclopedic articles, etc) were evaluated on their usage and citations of African research on ATR. This analysis, which was drawn from a qualitative discourse analysis approach, highlights the limited importance that is given to African researchers. In contrast, our evaluation of RTA-related education and research in Nigerian universities reveals an enormous amount of RTA-related research as well as a diversity of communication channels. On a more general level, this thesis demonstrates the extent to which knowledge is localized and linked to the cultural, disciplinary, and ideological presuppositions of researchers, and, from the analysis of African documents, opens to the larger question of the difficulty to represent the unity and specificities of ATR.

This study investigates how Mbiti and Oduyoye articulate their understanding of God in connection with the African traditional religio-cultural heritage to make the concept of God to become relevant to African Christians and to help African Christians feel at home in the Christian faith. Chapter 1 briefly describes the background of the study, the problem statement, the purpose of the study, the research hypothesis, methodology, delimitation, and structure of the study. Chapter 2 provides a historical sketch of origins and development of African theology and diverse types of African theology. This chapter maintains that African theology emerged not only as a theological reaction to the dominant Western interpretation of the gospel in Africa, but also as a theological attempt to secure the African cultural identity by reaffirming the African past. Chapter 3 describes the basic beliefs in African traditional religions, several African ethnic groups’ concepts of God, and the African theologians’ Christianization of the African God by employing Christian theological terms. This chapter concludes that it is not possible to presume a homogenous or one unified concept of God in Africa. One and the same God whom all Africans have worshipped is not real. In chapter 4, Mbiti’s understanding of God is scrutinized in relation to his methodology, the African concept of time, his understanding of revelation and of salvation. Mbiti has maintained African monotheism and ATR(s) as a praeparatio evangelica and has arrived at his conclusion that the God revealed in the Bible is the same as the God worshipped in ATR(s). This chapter criticizes Mbiti’s way of Christian theological interpretation of anthropological data of the African concepts of God. Chapter 5 presents Oduyoye’s understanding of God, her methodology, the status of African women in ATR(s) and the African church, her appreciation of salvation, of the Bible, and of the locus of experience. In Oduyoye’s theology, women’s experience becomes a crucial factor for doing theology, and salvation is understood as liberation from all oppressive conditions. Her understanding of God is closely connected with the theme of liberation. Chapter 6 examines the similarities and differences between the two theologians’ understanding of God, critically compares their way of understanding the interplay of the gospel and African culture, and categorizes the two theologians’ ways with their models of contextualization: Mbiti’s gospel-culture oriented model of contextualization and Oduyoye’s gospel-liberation oriented model of contextualization. By a comparative-dialogical study of the two theologians’ models of contextualization, this chapter attempts to make a dialogue possible between the two, and suggests the interculturation model of contextualization in which each theology keeps its own theological characteristic and has an open mind to learn from the other through mutual understanding. It aims to overcome the absolutism of contextualization, syncretism, cultural relativism, and provincialism, to keep a balance between locality and catholicity, and to affirm cultural identity and Christian identity. On the basis of the interculturation model of contextualization, this chapter proposes some criteria for African Evangelical theology in order to do a biblically faithful and practically relevant theology in Africa. This study also suggests some guidelines to articulate the understanding of God so that it has theological relevance and legitimacy to African Christians as well as to Christians worldwide. Chapter 7, as the final chapter, gives a general summary and concluding suggestions for further research related to the subject of African theology. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted