Modernizing Indigenous Priesthood and Revitalizing Old Shrines: Current Developments on Ghana’s Religious Landscape

This study is about the upsurge in the activities of the agents of more than one indigenous religious tradition (IRT) in contemporary Ghana. We concern ourselves with two case studies. These are the neo- and the old indigenous religious agents represented by two major shrines. The two shrines, headed by a priest and priestess, both claim to be rooted in indigenous Akan religious traditions (Nananom som), yet they show contrasts in discourse and other features. The study links the rise in the activities of these indigenous religious agents to the contemporary ethos of intense religious competition in Ghana. The quest to attract clientele for their religious goods and services in the Ghanaian religious field has changed how the individual religious groups operate. To remain visible and viable these groups deploy delegitimizing strategies to undermine other competing religious traditions.The contest is largely an inter-religious contest between Christians and non-Christian “others,” especially, Ghana’s indigenous religious traditions, though there are also intra-religious contests between the indigenous religious traditions themselves. The mainstay of religious life in Ghana before the arrival of foreign religions was the indigenous religions. Yet, Christianity, currently largely represented by a Pentecostal-Charismatic strand, dominates Ghana’s religious terrain. Historically Christianity has launched a vicious attack on agents of the indigenous traditions, demonizing them and forcing them to operate under cover. The rise in the activities of indigenous religious agents this study focuses attention on therefore represents their staging of a public comeback, the most important sign of which is the increase in the activities and newly constructed discourses of a group of neo-indigenous religious priests or agents and revitalized old priests and priestess. Gathered through the use of ethnographic methods, the data from the study shows the resilient nature of IRTs in Ghana in spite of and contrary to scholarly claims. It argues that the delegitimizing campaign of Charismatic Pentecostalism and demonization by colonial Christianity has paradoxically contributed to the growing appeal of agents of the indigenous religions in Ghana. The data also establishes a link between the rise in indigenous religious specialists in Ghana and the growing demand for spiritual power in Ghana, as many seek to enlist ritual experts to address hardships linked to socio-economic dislocations and other sources of modern malcontent.The study identifies economic motives behind the activities of the agents of the indigenous traditions in addition to their religio-cultural functions and extensively explores the strategies these agents are using to establish their presence locally and in some cases globally.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Universität Bayreuth

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Nrenzah, Genevieve

Contributors dc:contributor

• Berner, Ulrich

Repository record source_url

https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/2178/

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:epub.uni-bayreuth.de:2178