Indigeneity in African Religions

Until recently, Indigenous religious traditions have been marginalised, both in the growing international field of Indigenous studies and, curiously, in the study of religions.Despite the foundational contribution of African and other Indigeneities to ethnographic, sociological, and political thinking across the globe, there is a poverty in much of the scholarship that pretends to engage them.For example, many introductions to religions and cultures still typically treat Indigenous knowledges and lifeways as distant in time and space, static or inauthentically syncretic, and/or simplistic or even embarrassingly foolish.In contrast, Afe Adogame's close focus on a specific community in Edo State, Nigeria, provides an exceptional view of 'real and imagined' histories, contemporary lived realities, and potential futures of this and other African Indigeneities.Throughout Indigeneity in African Religions Adogame contributes to decolonization in both historical and contemporary arenas.Detailed studies of archival, oral, performative, interview and other sources enable Adogame to 'retool, retrace, reinterpret and retell' the histories and lives of Ọza people.In doing so, he challenges the ghettoization of 'religion' -especially but not only Indigenous religious traditions -from cultural, social, political, and philosophical imaginations and practices.In short, this is a book with dramatic and powerful ideas to speak into a world in which Black lives often still do not matter enough.I particularly recommend the first and last chapters for their insightful interventions into globally important challenges and concerns.The impressive details that justify these interventions develop in the six chapters composing the bulk of the book.In his first chapter Adogame demonstrates how good an introduction can be.The title 'Decolonising History, Memory and Method' tells some of the story of what is proffered here.History turns out to be about more than a fixed and singular past; rather, Ọza histories are plural and productive of a changing present and future.While it is possible for Adogame to draw on documents and maps that indicate Ọza migrations and the plural colonisations of Ọza and the wider region (e.g., by Yoruba, Fulani, British, and other powers), he also argues convincingly for careful scholarly engagement with oral and local knowledges.His own plural positionality and relationality -as a diasporic Ọza, with dual Nigerian and British citizenship, employed at a U.S. university, Christian, male, parent, and more -contribute importantly to his methodological practice and

Aesthetics · African studies · Diaspora · Indigenous · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Law · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Theological Perspectives and Practices