scholarly journals Ozo Title: An Indigenous Institution In Traditional Religion That Upholds Patriarchy In Igbo Land South-Eastern Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 4640-4652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madukasi, Francis Chuks
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
African Religion ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Igbo People

In Igbo land, the institution of Ozo title has underpinnings of male chauvinism and often used by men to remind those who appear to be very forward of their subordinate place in the society. Among the Igbo people, the Ozo title is an indigenous institution that is regarded as a central aspect of African indigenous religious practice through which they engage questions about the meaning for life. Through an ethnographic study conducted in recent years, I propose to explore the origin of the Ozo title and the symbolic significance of this indigenous sacred institution with specific reference to its religious, cultural, political, ethical and social significance, a method by which the indigenous communities keeps in constant religious communication with their deities and ancestors. However, I propose to not only examine the various ways in which Ozo title as a sacred institution has been used by their initiates to mediate religious beliefs and practices in African religion, but to specifically focus on its members as agents or ambassadors of different communities. Through an evaluation of significant Igbo religious practices involving Ozo title as a sacred institution performed by initiated men only which upholds patriarchy, I wish to suggest that the Ozo title as a sacred institution has two significant and related functions. The first one is that it enables the initiates to bridge the gap between the visible and unseen world of the ancestors and thus making possible an Igbo understanding of those forces that are believed to control the destinies of man. Secondly, Ozo title as a sacred institution of the Igbo is believed to uphold and sustain the Igbo religious system, and a complex of traditional religious rituals which uphold the privileges of those men who have been initiated into the ancestral cult. This paper point to particular understandings of Ozo title as integral to African religion, and proposes to illustrate this through an examination of Traditional Igbo Religion through the mediation of Ozo title as a sacred institution as part of the broader socio-sacral order.

Traditional Religion, Popular Piety, or Base Superstition? The Cause for the Beatification of Teresa Higginson

1998 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Davies
Keyword(s):  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Great Flexibility ◽  
Popular Piety ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Shared Beliefs ◽  
Religious System ◽  
The People ◽  
The Relationship

Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars has reinvigorated the debate over the nature of late mediaeval religious practice and belief, examining the ‘richness and complexity of the religious system by which men and women structured their experiences of the world, and their hopes and aspirations within and beyond it.’ Duffy questions the assumption that there was in that period a wide gulf between ‘popular’ and ‘élite’ religion. In so doing he has not only illuminated the religious practices and beliefs of late mediaeval England but he has stimulated discussion about the relationship between ‘popular’ and ‘élite’ religion in other periods. Duffy eschews the use of the term ‘popular religion’, which he argues carries questionable assumptions about the nature of ‘non-popular’ religion and about the gap between the two. He prefers ‘traditional religion’, on the grounds that it does greater justice to ‘the shared and inherited character of the religious beliefs and practices of the people…’ ‘Traditional religion’ while being rooted in inherited and shared beliefs was, nevertheless, capable of great flexibility and variety.

How Environmental is African Traditional Religion?

Exchange ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisbert Taringa
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Theoretical Level ◽  
Global Village ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
African Religion ◽  
Plant Life ◽  
Environmental Force

AbstractThis article examines some of the beliefs and practices underlying traditional African religion's attitudes to nature with reference to Shona religion of Zimbabwe. At the theoretical level, assuming a romantic view of Shona attitudes to nature, it is possible to conclude that Shona traditional religion is necessarily environmentally friendly. The strong beliefs in ancestral spirits (midzimu), pan-vitalism, kinship, taboo and totems have the potential to bear testimony to this. The aim of this article is to critically examine the extent of the claims that Shona traditional religion is environmentally friendly. It shows that Shona attitudes to nature are in fact discriminative and ambivalent. I argue that the ecological attitude of traditional African religion is more based on fear or respect of ancestral spirits than on respect for nature itself. As a result we need to re-examine Shona attitudes to nature if Shona traditional religion is to re-emerge as a stronger environmental force in the global village. After introductory remarks the article gives an overview background about the Shona focusing on their socio-political organization, world-view and religion. An examination of Shona attitudes to nature focusing on the land, animals, and plant life and water bodies follows. After this there is a reflection on the ethical consequences of Shona attitudes to nature. The last part considers the limits of the romantic view of Shona attitudes to nature.

Rethinking Iconoclasm in Early Modern England: the Case of Cheapside Cross

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 379-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Budd
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Traditional Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Complex Variety ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The City

AbstractProtestant iconoclasm has generally been understood as an assault on the beliefs and practices of traditional religion. This article challenges that understanding through a detailed study of Cheapside Cross, a large monument that was repeatedly attacked by iconoclasts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It draws on contemporary pamphlets and the manuscripts records of the City of London to reveal the complex variety of associations that Cheapside Cross acquired before and during the Reformation era. It argues that perceptions of the monument were shaped not only by its iconography but also by its involvement in ceremonies and rituals, including royal coronation processions. The iconoclastic attacks on Cheapside Cross should be interpreted not merely as a challenge to traditional beliefs but as attempts to restructure the monument's associations. The paper concludes that attacks on other images may be understood in a similar manner.

scholarly journals Humour in Sports Coaching: ‘It’s a Funny Old Game’

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nicholas Edwards ◽  
Robyn L Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Ethnographic Film ◽  
The Social ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Sports Coaching

The primary purpose of this article was to investigate the use and manifestation of humour within sports coaching. This was particularly in light of the social significance of humour as a critical component in cultural creation and negotiation. Data were gathered from a 10-month ethnographic study that tracked the players and coaches of Senghenydd City Football Club (a pseudonym) over the course of a full season. Precise methods of data collection included participant observation, reflective personal field notes, and ethnographic film. The results demonstrated the dominating presence of both ‘inclusionary putdowns’ and ‘disciplinary humour’, particularly in relation to how they contributed to the production and maintenance of the social order. Finally, a reflective conclusion discusses the temporal nature of the collective understanding evident among the group at Senghenydd, and its effect on the humour evident. In doing so, the work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the social role of humour within sports coaching.

Ibo Spirituality and Marriage Customs On the Eve of Nigerian Independence: the Testimony of Onuora Nzekwu's Wand of Noble Wood

2000 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-39
Author(s):  
Frederick A. Hale
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Chinua Achebe ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
African Religion ◽  
Imaginative Literature ◽  
To Come ◽  
Indigenous Religions ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractFor many years scholars of African religion have appreciated the potential insights that imaginative literature can provide into religious beliefs and practices in rapidly transforming societies, not least with regard to the confrontation of indigenous religions and missionary Christianity. Generally ignored, however, has been the fiction of Onuora Nzekwu, a talented Ibo novelist who during the 1960s was hailed as one founder of Nigerian letters but who stood in the shadow of Chinua Achebe and a handful of other contemporary literary giants. The present article is a study of enduring commitment to Ibo spiritual and marital traditions and the critique of Roman Catholic missionary endeavours in Nzekwu's first novel, Wand of Noble Wood (1961). It is argued that in this pioneering treatment of these recurrent themes in African literature of that decade, Nzekwu vividly highlighted the quandary in which quasi-Westernised Nigerians found themselves as they sought to come to grips with the confluence of colonial and indigenous values and folkways on the eve of national independence in 1960. Nzekwu did not speak for all Ibo intellectuals of his generation; his portrayal of the weakness of Ibo commitment to the Roman Catholic Church is squarely contradicted by other literary observers, such as T Obinkaram Echewa.

scholarly journals MEANINGS OF WATER FOR THE FAKCHA LLAKTA INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY OF OTAVALO, ECUADOR

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
CARMEN AMELIA TRUJILLO ◽  
JOSÉ ALÍ MONCADA RANGEL ◽  
JESÚS RAMÓN ARANGUREN CARRERA ◽  
KENNEDY ROLANDO LOMAS TAPIA
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Indigenous Community ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Cultural Objects ◽  
Sustainable Resource Management ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Andean Highlands ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Water is a multidimensional element for the indigenous communities of the Andean highlands. The Kichwa community Fakcha Llakta, of Otavalo, Ecuador has a close relationship with the existing water bodies in their territory. However, traditional knowledge associated with these resources is fading, giving way to new forms of use. The purpose of this research is to reveal the meanings of water for this indigenous community, in order to propose guidelines for sustainable resource management. It is an ethnographic study with a qualitative approach. The information was collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation by the research team, and the gathering of cultural objects. The findings were organized and sub-grouped according to four recurring elements: vital and sacred; diversity of use and value; a threatened natural resource; and the sustainability of water from the ancestral perspective.

scholarly journals Mark of the Spirit: Body Marks as Icons of Spirituality among the Dangme in Ghana

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Alice Korkor Ebeheakey ◽  
Steve Kquofi ◽  
Eric Appau Asante ◽  
Charlotte Buerkie Nubuor
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
The Body ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Higher Power ◽  
The Will

In African traditional religion, priding oneself in the beliefs and practices of one’s culture is intensely essential. The driving force for this is mainly the need to satisfy the will of a higher power. Cultural practices, being a channel between the living, the dead and the spirits is one of the ways in which a group of people satisfy the will of these higher beings. Body marking, among the Dangme, forms a great deal of aspects of cultural practices which connotes spirituality. This study discusses the concept of spirituality as enshrined in the body marks of the Dangme people of Ghana. To obtain the relevant information needed, the qualitative approach to research has been adopted using interviews and observation as the main data collection tools. These give a rich and in-depth understanding of the body marks that are practiced for spiritual purposes among the Dangme. This paper is a collation of findings from studies conducted between February, 2012 and February, 2019. It is evident from the research that, marks for spiritual purposes seemed to be practiced irrespective of the clan individuals hail from. These marks are seen as methods (or modes) of maintaining direct contact and proving allegiance to the spirits that protect them as a people.

scholarly journals Eco-Cosmologies and Biodiversity Conservation: Continuity and Change among the Karbis of Assam

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ujjal Kumar Sarma ◽  
Indrani Barpujari
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
The World ◽  
Present Context ◽  
Conservation Of Natural Resources ◽  
New Religion

Eco-cosmologies of indigenous communities which regard the world of humans and the world of nature as closely related to each other, and rites and rituals based on such belief systems are important for the conservation of nature. The objective of this paper is to examine how the culture, particularly the cosmologies and religious beliefs of a indigenous tribal group-the Karbis living near Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India have insinuations for the conservation of natural resources. Based on fieldwork conducted in two Karbi villages, one still adhering to the traditional religion with a deep seated reverence for nature and all life forms, and the other which has converted to a new religion, the paper throws light on the changes and challenges to the indigenous ecological ethos in the present context.

scholarly journals Postcolonialism in Africa Based on Colonialism Analysis in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Adi Yusuf Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Herbal Remedies ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Things Fall Apart

Adi YusufUniversitas Pesantren Tinggi Darul Ulum [email protected] AbstractOne of the interesting things in the study of literary works is to explore the representation of a literary work itself to the culture of real life. More specifically, when it is related to the history – in this case, the condition of precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial times. This article discusses postcolonialism analysis on Things fall Apart by Achebe. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. It is found that the novel represents “precolonial tribal” life in Africa: earning a living by farming land and keeping the cattle, diverse cultural backgrounds including belief of traditional religion. Then, the things lost as a result of colonial contact are “religious practice and government”. Then, Colonizers’ strategies in indoctrinating the native population to their way of thinking  include building a school, convincing the society of the importance of education for the future generation, and building the court for judgement and protection. There are some reasons that make colonizers’ successful, they are: they make mutual benefit of trading, use a soft way to spread the belief, and use an innovative way to link the religion and the education. Furthermore, after colonialism, Africa experiences mixed reaction of religious practice, education becomes the key to get success in career, two ways of healers: the traditional African healers i.e. “using ritual and herbal remedies and modern cures, hospital, and the establishment of Courts of Justice and Human Rights”.Keywords: precolonial life, positive effects, negative effects, postcolonialism.  AbstrakSalah satu hal yang menarik dalam studi karya sastra ialah mengeksplorasi representasi  karya sastra itu sendiri dengan budaya kehidupan nyata, lebih khusus lagi, ketika dikaitkan dengan sejarah - dalam hal ini, kondisi pada saat pra-kolonial, kolonial, dan postkolonial. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk membahas tentang  postkolonialisme pada novel Things Fall Apart oleh Achebe. Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah deskriptif qualitative. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa novel tersebut merepresentasikan kehidupan suku “precolonial di Afrika”: mencari nafkah dengan bertani dan memelihara binatang ternak, latar belakang budaya yang beragam termasuk keyakinan agama tradisional. Hal-hal yang hilang/ negatif  akibat dari kontak kolonial pada penduduk asli yaitu “praktik agama dan pemerintahan”. Ada tiga strategi yang dilakukan oleh penjajah dalam mengindoktrinir penduduk asli terhadap cara berpikir mereka antara lain:   “membangun sebuah sekolah, meyakinkan masyarakat akan pentingnya pendidikan bagi generasi masa depan, dan membangun pengadilan untuk mencari keadilan dan perlindungan”. Penjajah sukses karena mereka mengadakan “perdagangan yang saling menguntungkan, menggunakan cara yang lembut untuk menyebarkan keyakinan, dan menggunakan cara yang inovatif untuk menghubungkan antara agama dan pendidikan”.  Beberapa efek dari kolonialisme tersebut antara lain: (1) terdapat beberapa agama di Afrika, (2) pendidikan menjadi kunci untuk mendapatkan kesuksesan dalam karir, (3) ada dua cara penyembuhan: (1.penyembuhan tradisional Afrika yaitu menggunakan ritual dan herbal, dan 2. obat modern, rumah sakit), dan (4) pendirian Pengadilan Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia.Kata Kunci: kehidupan prekolonial, efek negatif, efek positif, postkolonial

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