Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SAMUEL AWUAH-NYAMEKYE
kwasi.nyamekye@yahoo.com
Abstract
Unlike several decades after the World War II, there is now a growing
recognition of the importance of religion for designing development pro-
grammes and projects. However, the involvement of religions of the indig-
enous peoples is not given the desired attention. This article, therefore, aims
at presenting African traditional religions voice in this important discourse
by using the traditional Akan people of Ghana as a case study. Despite its
suffering from stereotyping, African traditional religion continues to play a
critical role in the life of the traditional African. The term Development
is not easy to define, the divergent theories on it point to this fact. The tra-
ditional Akan peoples understanding of development, however, is derived
from their religious worldview. The institution of chieftaincy, gerontocracy,
institution of taboos, kinship ties and their attitude towards nature are the
main development mechanisms among the Akan. Despite the threats these
mechanisms are undergoing today, the potential of these indigenous mech-
anisms for development is not in doubt, hence the need for further research.
Keywords
development, African traditional religion, Akan, kinship ties, totem,
sacred groves
Introduction
I am yet to see a community or a society that is anti-development. The concept
of development, however, is conceptualized differently by different people at
different times. In other words, what may be termed as development may be
relative to time and space. It is important to note that within development
discourse and practices, recent years have witnessed a growing recognition of
Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2012, Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield S3 8AF
76 Religion And Development
the importance of religion for designing development programmes and pro-
jects (Deneulin and Bano 2009, 24), unlike several decades after the World
War II, where most Western governments and development agents viewed
religion as part of the development problem (Haynes 2007, 1, 104).
Unfortunately, this involvement of religion in development discourse has
been highly selective. That is, the focus has been mainly on the so-called
higher religionsChristianity, Judaism, Islam and some eastern religions
such as Hinduism and Buddhism. The spirituality of the black Africans is not
given the attention that it deserves. It is this neglect of the so-called primal
religions in the discourse of development in modern world that has moti-
vated me to present the African Traditional Religious voice in this important
discourse. This would be done by using the traditional Akan, the largest eth-
nic society in Ghana as a case study (see Figure 1).
To put the discussion into perspective an attempt will be made to clarify
the two key terms in the topicAfrican traditional religion and Devel-
opment. In this article, traditional Akan people should be understood
as those Akan people who still hold on to the African indigenous religion
bequeathed to them by their ancestors as opposed to those who have been
influenced deeply by Western culture and other impinging faiths such as
Christianity and Islam and other foreign religious traditions. Even though
the Akan are being used here as a case study, other traditional Ghanaian soci-
eties and even other African societies will also be used in the discussion where
it is deemed appropriate.
What is African traditional religion?
I am aware of the long debate over whether the spirituality of the African
should be known either in the singular or plural form. That is, African tra-
ditional religion or African traditional religions (Mbiti 1969, 12; Idowu
1973, 103; Booth 1977, 3; Ikenga-Metu 1987, 19; Alolo 2007; Ejizu n.d).
The arguments cannot be discussed here due to space constraints. Permit me
simply to stipulate the singular form as preferred.
There is no doubt about the fact that African traditional religion can be said
to be one faith that has suffered abuses in terms of its nature and meaning
at the hands of people who claim to be scholars in the field, particularly the
armchair scholars. In consequence, African traditional religion, the spiritu-
ality of a descent race has been described in highly objectionable, obnoxious,
derogatory and pejorative terms such as: paganism, fetishism, animism, poly-
theism, juju, heathenism, native religion, etc. Many erroneously felt that the
African did not know God, and thus have to introduce God to the African.
Emil Ludwig, for instance said: How can the untutored Africans conceive
God? ... How can this be? ... Deity is a philosophical concept which savages
are incapable of framing (cited in Smith 1950, 1). Or take Mary Kingsley:
When I say juju or fetish, I mean the religion of the native of West Africa
(cited in Opoku 1978, 4).
It is important to note that none of these descriptions of African traditional
religion is correct, for even the etymologies of many of the terms have nothing
at all to do with religion. For instance, paganism may be the oldest of the
names adopted to describe the religion of the so-called primitive or uncivi-
lized peoples of the world. This word has a Latin origin (paganus) and means
a village-dweller or a countryman, a person who lives away from the civilized
community. Thus, originally, the word was a sociological term, a term of dif-
ferentiation between the enlightened, the civilized and the sophisticated, on
Anane, Mike.
n.d. Implementing Agenda 21: Religion and Conservation in Ghana. Accessed
August 20, 2010. http://www.un-ngls.org/documents/publications.en/agen-
da21/12.htm