AbstractReference Number: MS-5249/0512 | Date: 2001 | Read the full record details for Photograph: Professor Elizabeth Isichei

AbstractThe scarcity of academic examination of religions in Africa, both the indigenous and externally motivated ones, has inadvertently led to the fabrication of narratives and opinions that do not reflect the religious reality of the people, especially concerning their collective disposition to a spiritual lifestyle. Aware of this knowledge gap, pioneering works from Elizabeth Isichei have reshaped our understanding of Africa’s religious landscape as they provide educative literature on the forms of religious practices available in Africa and how they are somewhat interacting with the existing indigenous African religions from inception to this time. If Isichei teaches us anything, it is that religions in the precolonial and even colonial times were largely determined by the religious beliefs of the leaders, kings, warriors, or anyone looked up to as the defender of their tradition. This necessitated adopting a strategy that helped to circulate external religions when missionaries and other religious proselytizers surfaced in Africa. Missionaries, among others, wooed kings to embrace their religion under the impression that it was relatively easy for society to follow suit once the king declared his discipleship to their religion. This work highlights the crucial roles played by these leaders in enabling the Christian religion to circumnavigate the African world, leaving a legacy that is preserved until now, and pinpoints the areas where aggressive ecumenical works were carried out to disarticulate the existing indigenous religious identities.

AbstractCet article analyse les changements dans la religion traditionnelle chez les Anaguta, petit groupe ethnique vivant près de Jos dans le centre du Nigéria. Le Dieu suprême, Uwyang, est un dieu lointain à présent facilement identifiable au dieu chrétien. Mais les esprits les plus importants dans la religion traditionnelle étaient andugubishe et anaburr, voix d'origine invisible, probablement indigènes, et Jankai, masque (mascarade au Nigéria), certainement venu d'ailleurs. On rencontre Jankai dans de nombreuses sociétés du Nigéria central, et il existe des preuves contradictoires du déclin de son influence. Durant le cours de ce siècle, le gouvernement colonial a supprimé les épreuves du poison et l'utilisation de certains tombeaux, pour identifier et punir les sorcières. Cependant, l'abandon, vers 1930, des rites de la circoncision à sept ans, n'était pas dû à des pressions extérieures.

AbstractThis chapter presents the way in which Christian mission has affected women among the Anaguta of central Nigeria, who have adopted Christianity only since the 1950s. At the heart of the Anaguta world lay the secret-sacred. Surounded by larger neighbours, they believed that safety lay in invisibility. The traditional Anaguta hero is one who can make himself invisible. A favourite proverb states that the Anaguta are a basket of water. The realm of the secret-sacred was entirely dominated by elderly men, who were believed to be sorcerers. In many parts of Africa, women are empowered by spirit possession cults which enable them to voice demands and grievances which are not otherwise readily expressed. The Sudan United Mission’s radical demands, which included permanent monogamy and the renunciation of local beer and dancing, made the adoption of Christianity difficult for the Anaguta. No area of missions-related change has affected Anaguta women’s lives more profoundly than that of marriage customs.

AbstractAsaba is an Ibo town, which, because of its position on the Niger, came into relatively early contact with Europeans. This means that we have materials for its history in European records for more than a hundred years. This article is based on these records, and on present-day oral traditions. It begins with an account of Asaba's traditional social and political structure, and its former role in the economic life of the lower Niger. Asaba traditions relate in detail how the town was founded by a man from Nteje, east of the Niger, called Nnebisi. There is less information about its subsequent history, though it seems that it went through a significant change from the rule of a single Eze to a system of personal titles, like that found in eastern Iboland. Some attempts have been made to make a king list for Asaba, but it does not seem possible to establish either this or any other useful chronological framework other than that provided by family genealogies. These suggest that Nnebisi lived in the seventeenth century. The main theme in Asaba's external history is her changing relationship with her powerful neighbour, Benin. The choice of Onitsha, rather than Asaba, as a missionary and trading centre, meant that Asaba went through a period of relative eclipse. The first C.M.S. missionaries came to the town in 1875, but they had little impact on Asaba life. In the middle eighties, Asaba became the administrative capital of the newly established Royal Niger Company. The impact of the Company on Asaba, though great, was short-lived. But one result of its choice of Asaba as a capital was the renewal of missionary endeavour, both Catholic and Protestant, in the town. This in its turn was to have a very great impact on Asaba's way of life.

AbstractAsaba is an Igbo community on the west bank of the Niger. Asaba people believe that it was founded by Nnebisi, the son of a pawn and a slave. This paper analyses the various versions of the myth and the ways in which it runs counter to Asaba values./Asaba est une communauté Igbo sur la rive Ouest du Niger. Les gens d'Asaba croient qu'elle a été fondée par Nnebisi, le fils d'un serviteur à gage et d'une esclave. Cet article analyse les diverses versions du mythe et en quoi cela va à l'encontre des valeurs d'Asaba.

AbstractCe texte explore les réponses apportées par les catholiques conservateurs néo-zélandais aux changements intervenus depuis Vatican II. Les uns ont rejoint divers groupes schismatiques (Palmariens, Lefebvristes), d'autres sont restés au sein de l'Église mais dans le cadre d'organisations comme le C.U.F. Pourtant, en cherchant à préserver l'Église du passé, ils se placent dans une situation paradoxale, dans la mesure où d'une part, l'obéissance à l'autorité constituait jadis un élément central du catholicisme. Mais où d'autre part, les changements que ces conservateurs déplorent sont précisément le fait de cette autorité. Ils gèrent ce dilemme de diverses manières: les uns considèrent que le Siège de Pierre est vacant, d'autres se rallient à un anti-pape, d'autres encore affirment leur loyauté à un pape conservateur mais dénoncent les évëques locaux. La recherche de formes alternatives d'autorité conduit de nombreux conservateurs à s'intéresser de près à des phénomènes de visions comme ceux de Fatima, de La Salette ou de Garabandal, qui sont ici analysés.

AbstractThis detailed exploration of the African past, from prehistory to about 1870, covers all facets of the continent's history. An up-to-date textbook, it offers an impressive survey of the current literature and reflects trends in recent scholarship. It focusses in particular on "history seen from below," on changing modes of production, gender relations and on ecology.

Abstract"A History of Christianity in Africa examines the origins and development of Christianity in Africa from the early story of Egyptian Christianity to the spectacular growth, vitality, and diversity of the churches in Africa today." "Isichei opens with the brilliance of Christianity in Africa in antiquity and shows how Christian Egypt and North Africa produced some of the most influential intellects of the time. She then discusses the churches founded in the wake of early contacts with Europe, from the late fifteenth century on, and the unbroken Christian witness of Coptic Egypt and of Ethiopia. Isichei also examines the different types of Christianity in modern Africa and shows how social factors have influenced its development and expression." "With the explosive growth of Christianity now taking place in Africa - 393 million adherents projected by the year 2000 - and the increasingly recognized significance of African Christianity, this much-needed book fills the void in scholarly works on the continent's Christian past, also foreshadowing Christian Africa's influential future."--Jacket

Abstractxii, 132 p., [2] leaves of plates : 22 cm. --; Includes bibliographical references and index

Abstractxii, 380 pages : 23 cm; Author joined the staff of University of Otago, New Zealand in 1992; Includes bibliographical references (pages 356-375) and index

AbstractAn ambitious new approach to African studies, utilizing indigenous sources to bring back the voices of the native Africans in their own words rather than that of colonizers and foreigners.

AbstractExisting studies on Nigerian historiography cover renowned historians, major historical writings and prominent historiographical traditions of the major ethnicities such as Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, with little or no attention paid to the multiple ethnic minorities in the Middle Belt area. Using a range of sources, from oral interviews with historians and activists, and a textual analysis of the writings of Middle Belt intellectuals, this study maps out the textual tradition of Middle Belt historiography, its ideological background and political undertones. This article argues that the writings of Middle Belt intellectuals represent the tension between distinct intellectual trends and political agendas in postcolonial Nigeria. Animated by a discourse of marginality and resistance to the dominant interpretations of northern Nigerian historiography, the article advances a fresh approach to the Middle Belt as an epistemic struggle by the ethnic minorities of northern Nigeria to reassert their ‘historical patrimony’ or reclaim their ‘historical dignity’ through the creation of projects that highlight their historical past.