African Traditional Religion in Contemporary Africa: The Case of Ghana

Abstract

Globalisation does not permit any religion to be an island to itself. Indigenous cultures all over the world bear the brunt of a consequent of globalisation--religious pluralism. On the continent of Africa, the five major world religions, notably Christianity and Islam, are slugging it out against each other and, most of the time, collectively against the indigenous religion of the African. Besides the challenges religious pluralism poses to the indigenous religion, Africa, like never before is being opened up for investment and the intrusion of the mass media and the internet. This paper is a general survey examining how the traditional religion of the African is responding to these realities using Ghana as a case study. It aims at an understanding of the current manifestation/s of the religion. The paper observes that syncretism has been used to analyse the current expression of the religion, but the paper takes the position that syncretism is not an adequate theory to explain current developments in the religion. It rather, advocates thetheories of the market and religious field as additional theories to explain current developments in the religious space in Africa, and for that matter, Ghana. The paper notes that though there is competition in the market, especially from impinging religions especially Christianity and Islam, opportunities have been opened to the indigenous religion making it to assume a transnational posture. It concludes that the future of African Traditional Religion will largely depend on its ability to respond to market realities in order to be continuously relevant to contemporary society.

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