over and above all categories of supernatural
beings? Although divinities, in many cases, serve as
mediating forces between human beings and the
Supreme Being, it is God who controls the affairs of
the divinities and human beings. The Supreme
Being is the center and the core of WAR. All the
attributes of the divinities are subsumed and, in
fact, reinforced in the Supreme Being. Among
the Yoruba,Olodumareis known as the ultimate
Orisa. Among the Ewe,MawuisTogbe(Grandfather)
of all. The Ga call Nyonmo by the titleAtaa-Naa
(Grandfather and Grandmother) of all creation. If
we are to go by the Yoruba cosmology and theology,
which is not different from what obtains in other
West African nations and ethnic groups, we can say
that West African religion is Olodumareism. The
uniqueness of the position of Olodumare caused
Idowu to describe Yoruba religion as diffused
monotheism with Olodumare as the kernel of
the doctrine and theology of the religion.
Olodumareism, Nyameism, Mawuism, Chukwuism,
Nyonmoism, and so on, taken together, may be
called WAR or, as Asante and Nwadiora say,
Popular Traditional African Religion Everywhere
(PTARE) or, as Lugira claims, Africism.
Deji Ayegboyin and Charles JegedeSeealsoAfricism
Further Readings
Asante, M. K., & Nwadiora, E. (2007).Spear Masters:
Introduction to African Religion. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America.
Idowu, E. B. (1973).African Traditional Religion:A
Definition. London: SCM Press.
Lugira, A. M. (2005).Africism:The Unifying Name of
African Autochthonal Religion and Philosophy.
Winchester, MA: African Resource Institute.
Omosade, A., & Adelumo, D. (1979).WestAfrican
TraditionalReligion. Ibadan, Nigeria: Onibonoje Press.
WHITE
Colors, in general, can have a profound effect on
human emotion, state of mind, and spirit because
they are visual energy radiating from spectrums of
light. Volumes of complex scientific research have
been carried out for years on the subject of colors
to support the fact that humans feel and react to
various spectrums of light wavelengths that regis-
ter on the human eye and brain’s light photore-
ceptors. For example, reflect on the emotional
effect of viewing a large arching rainbow across a
brilliant blue sky after a rainstorm, gazing at a
botanical garden overflowing with exotic multi-
colored flowers, and looking out at a gathering of
people of African descent dressed in bright-
colored dashikis, robes, and dresses. The science
of chromatics often attempts to find answers to
the questions surrounding humans’ color percep-
tion and reactions. Scientifically, the color white is
the fusion of all the colors of the visible light spec-
trum. Technically, white is not a true color,
but achromatic like black because it has no hue.
However, in the art and spirituality of color inter-
pretations, uses, and myths—white has positively
affected and elevated people of African descent
and humans, in general, spiritualitly, emotionally,
and socially for thousands of years. But white can
be a controversial color in some Western cultures,
as can the colors red and black. For example, red
is associated with uncontrollable anger, aggressive
sexual energy, senseless violence, and “Native
American” people. Black is aligned with bad, low-
est level, ugly, and African descendants. White is
linked with good, purity, beauty, and European
descendants. Colors, like other aspects and ele-
ments of a society, can be politically and culturally
defined or infused with a belief system.
One extremely controversial aspect of the color
white is that it has been infused with a Eurocentric
cultural and political belief that the group of
people with pale to olive white skin have superior
intelligence, culture, and religion. The politicizing
of the white human body as superior to black,
brown, red, or yellow skin tones has caused
untold suffering of millions of people of color.
Two helocausts (worst of holocausts) occurred on
the soil of the Western Hemisphere; they were ini-
tiated and sustained by the malicious political,
cultural, and economic thrust of white supremacy:
“Native American” genocide and West African
enslavement. White skin does not make a person
superior, nor is the color white superior. In the
final analysis, it is a person’s or people’s consistent
deeds toward people and nature that reflect theirWhite 713