From certainty in imported religion to a quest for African sacred knowledge
Many Africans grow up fluent in Christianity, Islam, or other world religions — yet hear almost nothing about African religion except stigma: “sorcery,” “backward,” “devil worship.” That silence is not neutral.
Reclaiming often begins with dissonance: praying to a God introduced by the same historical forces that produced dispossession, while African cosmologies are erased or criminalised. The journey is rarely linear. It may start with a book, a crisis of faith, a grandmother’s name, or a simple question: What did my people practise before?
There is often no ready map. Urban life, lost elders, and colonial schooling severed transmission. Recovery means research, relationship, ritual experiments done with care, and listening to communities that still hold knowledge.