to appreciate ATRs as living phenomena. His focus on African spirituality
(Olupona [ed.] 2003) is also motivated by the need to place it at par with
spirituality located in other traditions across the world. Olupona has been keen
to remove indigenous religions from the periphery, suggesting that some of
these religions could be regarded as ‘world religions’ (Olupona [ed.] 2004b).
Alongside the key thinkers described above, there have been a number of
significant scholars in the study of religions in sub-Saharan Africa. It is not
possible to review their contributions in the context of this chapter. In South
Africa, scholars such as John Cumpsty, David Chidester, Martin Prozesky,
Patrick Maxwell, and others have produced useful texts on methodology in
the study of religions (Prozesky 1996: 234–235). Chidester (1996) has
proceeded to examine the contestation around the primary concept in the field.
His examination of the application of the term ‘religion’ in colonial discourses
in Southern Africa is incisive. His work, Savage Systems: Colonialism and
Comparative Religion in Southern Africa(Chidester 1996) charges that the
study of religions is heavily implicated in colonial discourses. He writes:
The history of comparative religion emerged, therefore, not only out of
the Enlightenment heritage but out of a violent history of conquest and
domination. Accordingly, the history of comparative religion is a story not
only about knowledge but also about power.
(Chidester 1996: xiii)
Since the 1990s, a new generation of African scholars of religions has
emerged. Among others, these include two scholars from Nigeria, Afe Adogame,
who has published on African Pentecostalism, and Umar H. Danfulani, whose
writings focus on divination from Nigeria, Grace Wamue from Kenya, who writes
on gender in indigenous religions, and Ezra Chitando from Zimbabwe, who
concentrates on method and theory in the study of ATRs. Abdulkader Tayob
has provided sound reflections on Islam in South Africa and Africa more widely.
Like Olupona, these scholars have tended to locate themselves within the study
of religions rather than theology.
Institutionalization
The study of religions in sub-Saharan Africa tends to be concentrated in
departments of religious studies. As noted above (‘The Emergence of the Study
of Religion’), the emergence of such departments was closely tied to colonial
and Christian expansion. In most instances, such departments are located in
faculties of Arts or Humanities. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa do have
courses on aspects of religion in their public universities. In countries such as
Nigeria, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, private, often church-funded universities have
also emerged. They, too, offer courses on religions.
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
3111
4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1
2
3
4
35
6
7
8
9
40111
42222
3
411
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
117
