Suprahuman Beings
Suprahuman beings are spiritual inhabitants of
the spirit world. Some of them are deities and/or
secondary gods, others are specified as ancestors.
Others are considered to have been deified to
assume the spiritual positions of guardians and
intermediaries between the Supreme Being and
human beings. Spirits of the departed inspire a
sense of superhumanity. For that reason, the pre-
sumption in Africism is to handle the spirits of the
departed with care.
Among some Africans, superhuman beings are
recognized as ancestors. Among other groups, spiri-
tual entities are specifically and honorifically
grouped in pantheons.Pantheonis the term under
which gods of a particular African people are
grouped and recognized together as the gods of that
particular people. Some of the most recognizable
pantheons in Africism include theOrisa(i.e., the
Yoruba Pantheon), theLubaale(i.e., the Baganda
Pantheon), and theVodun(i.e., the Fon Pantheon).
Some have argued that Africism is polytheistic
because of the existence and veneration of lesser
divinities and ancestral spirits. It must be noted,
however, that Africism recognizes the Supreme
Being to be the one God, above all gods without
any admixture. Africism is more correctly under-
stood as henotheism, that is, the acceptance of the
existence of secondary deities and lesser spirits,
without being distracted away from monotheism,
that is, the idea of a Supreme Being.
Human Beings
Speaking about human beings in terms of
Africism brings to mind the African concept of
Ubuntu.Ubuntuhas to do with compassion and
consideration for others. It is summed up in reli-
gious philosopher John Mbiti’s frequently cited
observation about the African view of man/
woman: “I am, because we are; and since we are,
therefore I am.” This is a dynamic statement that
accentuates the communalistic disposition of
Africans. Within the context of Africism, Africans
are by nature communally religious.
Their hierarchical identification with the
Supreme Being, the suprahuman beings and the
ritual activities around them, are visibly expres-
sive of their religiosity. The rites of passage and
other communal rites are clear instances of how
religion saturates all aspects of African life. The
rites of passage are practices, customs, and cere-
monies that people perform to move people
smoothly through stages of life, from beginning to
end. The stages include birth, childhood, puberty,
initiation, marriage, aging, death, last funeral
rites, and processes of reincarnation.The Universe
In Africism, the foremost attribute of God is
Creation. Creation is the Universe. When the
Buganda of Uganda look around and observe the
orderliness that surrounds them, they conclude
by calling the originator of the Universe
Kawamigeroto mean “the Greatest Dispenser of
Orderliness.” Religiously and philosophically,
Africism identifies the World and/or the Universe
to be the base of sacred space, sacred time, and all
sacred elements therein.The Development of the Concept
Sserinnya bbi lissa nnyini lyois a Luanda proverb
that means “An inadequate name disadvantages
its bearer.” Inadequate names, which reflect inad-
equate understanding, have not done justice to
African religion. Even today, Western mainstream
newspapers may continue to misrepresent
Africism. An article on religion in Sudan, for
example, may indicate that its residents include
Muslims, Christians, and “Animists.” Animism,
according to the original definition given by the
creator of the concept, the British anthropologist
Edward Burnett Tylor, is “the religion of lower
races.” It is precisely because of such challenges
that the termAfricismwas coined, as an attempt
to redress the imbalances of past and erroneous
approaches.
In 1950, Edwin William Smith published
African Ideas of God, the proceedings of a sympo-
sium on the religious system of Africa. Ten years
later, in 1960, the International African Institute
of London publishedAfrican Systems of Thought,
also the proceedings of a seminar on the subject.
During that period of time, these pioneering
activities led to serious academic studies on reli-
gious and thought systems of Africa. African uni-
versities also participated in the rigorous study of
African religion under the leadership of theAfricism 13