The Transnationalization of the Akan Religion: Religion and Identity among the U.S. African American Community
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2015, Vol 6, Issue 1
Abstract
In 1965, Gus Dinizulu, an African American percussionist, traveled to Ghana with the dance company he was leading. There, he took the trip as an opportunity to explore his African roots and met Nana Oparebea, the Ghanaian chief-priestess of the Akonedi Shrine, one of the most famous shrine houses north of Accra. At the Akonedi Shrine, Nana Oparebea performed for Dinizulu a divination, during which she explained that his enslaved ancestors were parts of the Akan people of Ghana and gave him the mission to search for other African Americans who, like him, were of Ghanaian ancestries. She also offered him a set of altars, containing the spiritual forces of the deities revered in the Akonedi Shrine and asked him to import in the United States what was then labelled the Akan religion. Based on research led both in Ghana and in the United States, the aim of this paper will be to describe the process of diffusion, importation, transnationalization and indigenization of the Akan religion between West Africa and the East Coast of the United States. Focusing on ethnographic data, we will argue that this process can only be understood if it is placed in the context of African American identity formations. Therefore, we will show how in the context of globalization, religion and identity constructions are walking hand-in-hand, creating new discourses on hybridity and authenticity.
Authors and Affiliations
Pauline Guedj
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25409
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6010024
- Views 349
- Downloads 8
Faith in the Ghosts of Literature. Poetic Hauntology in Derrida, Blanchot and Morrison’s Beloved
Literature, this paper argues, is a privileged language that can give form to those specters of existence that resist the traditional ontological boundaries of being and non-being, alive and dead. This I describe as th...
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Religions in 2013
The editors of Religions would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2013: Ahmad, Attiya Aksan, Virginia Altamirano, Teofilo Anbar, Ran Baker, Kelly Bakht,...
Augustine’s Introduction to Political Philosophy: Teaching De Libero Arbitrio, Book I
Book I of Augustine’s work On Free Choice (De Libero Arbitrio) offers a helpful introduction to some of the most important themes of political philosophy. The paper makes a case for teaching this text in introductory c...
How a Model of Communication Can Assist Nurses to Foster Hope When Communicating with Patients Living with a Terminal Prognosis
Nurses play a central role in joint decision-making and person-centred care, whereby care is focused on the needs of an individual patient. A key part of person-centred care is the way nurses engage with patients becau...
The Impact of Religiosity on Tax Compliance among Turkish Self-Employed Taxpayers
The aim of this study is to explore the impact between religiosity and voluntary tax compliance and enforced tax compliance for self-employed taxpayers in Turkey, where Islam is the predominant religion. A questionnair...