ENG197 Studies in African Film

It is, of course, impossible to speak of "African Culture" or "African Religion" as a monolith. For one thing, the continent possesses a super-abundance of ethnic groups and languages (over 2,000). In addition, each culture's values and practices have always been in a constant state of adaptation and transformation.

Still, there are a number of features that are widely pervasive throughout the continent, and it is useful to look at them. Dr. David Sperling of the University of Nairobi has laid out eleven that I'd like to share with you.

1. Religion is ethnocentric. Though there is a great deal of overlap, every tribe has its own specific religious practice, defined by its geographic space.

2. Spirituality is intimately associated with the natural world. The natural world itself contains the answers to all questions. Our job is to understand nature's lessons.

3. The art of healing--the ability to set right anything that is wrong--is the art of getting into better balance with nature.

4. The culture is based on kinship, which governs all kinds of relations. And the pre-eminence of kinship is not only with the living, but also with the dead, as well as with those not yet born. The dead participate in the corporate life of the community.

5. The individual relates to the natural world as a member of a community. Individual action outside of a group brings negative results. As Lévy-Bruhl put it in The Soul of the Primitive, "The individual who does not belong to a social group counts for nothing." A corollary would be, "The individual who is part of a group counts for everything."

6. Great respect for ancestors. There is generally not ancestor-worship, but rather deference to and respect for the wisdom of ancestors, which leads to obedience. Belief that ancestors can harm us spiritually.

7. Philosophy is utilitarian. It tends to be more action-oriented than theoretical. One prays for certain results.

8. Absolute integration of "church" and "state." Religion (whether traditional or an established religion such as Islam) permeates the whole of society.

9. It is impossible to separate moral order from social order. Good and evil are values associated with the good of the community and the harm that can be done to the community. This is in contrast with the Western notion of a purely personal (and hidden) guilt. If you break a taboo, there will be social repercussions.

10. A moral order in which the good and the just are rewarded (or the opposite punished) in this life. Concept of an afterlife is much more nebulous than in the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic sense. No heaven or hell per se, though ancestors can remain with us.

11. Religious impulses are highly assimilative and accumulative--if something looks as if it is working, is giving power, they will try it, while simultaneously retaining previous practices. Thus, a real tendency towards religious hybridity.

Return to HUM199 Page.