The emergence of a Diola Christianity

Abstract

Opening ParagraphAfrican religious history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has been dominated by the rapid growth of Islam and Christianity. This has been especially true of the Senegambia region of West Africa, which has witnessed the adoption of Islam by approximately 80 per cent of the region's populace and the development of a small, but influential Christian minority. Among the Diola of the Casamance region of Senegal, Islam and Christianity have both enjoyed rapid growth. The approximately half million Diola, however, include the largest number of adherents of their traditional religion within the Senegambian region. They are sedentary rice farmers and are usually described as acephalous peoples. While Muslims and Christians have been in contact with the Diola since the fifteenth century there were few conversions during the pre-colonial era (Baum, 1986). During the colonial era Islam became the dominant religion among the Diola on the north shore of the Casamance river, and Christianity also attracted a considerable following (Mark, 1985). Among the south shore communities neither Islam nor Christianity became important until after the Second World War. Seeing the increased momentum of recent years, many observers are confident that the south shore Diola will follow the northern example and convert to Islam or Christianity. Louis Vincent Thomas, the doyen of Diola ethnographers, described Diola traditional religion as ‘a false remedy to a very real crisis; fetishism will become a temporary response that will be quickly swept away by another attempt, even larger and undoubtedly more profound: Islam and perhaps we could add, Christianity’ (Thomas, 1967: 225; translations are my own, unless otherwise stated).

Of Rice and Men

“…Diola see rice as part of a covenant with their supreme deity, Emitai, in which they work hard to cultivate the crop and Emitai sends rain to nourish it (Baum 1999). But in contemporary Guinea-Bissau, Diola can no longer grow enough rice-not only to meet their ceremonial needs, but even to feed their families.…”

“…What are the processes of conversion (Baum 1990;Engelke 2004;Horton 1975aHorton , 1975b? How are different metaphors and codes assimilated and transformed in these processes (Fernandez 1978(Fernandez , 1986James 1988;Werbner 1989)?…”

Reconversion and Retrieval: Nonlinear Change in African Catholic Practice

“…Take, for example, an article by Mario Aguilar, the title of which-"African Conversion from a World Religion"-reveals an alternative, one involving fluidity and "reconversion" insofar as the Waso Boorana of East Africa stress traditional practices even while keeping Muslim public rituals (Aguilar 1995). Consider too an article by Robert Baum, who also describes as "reconversion" the manner in which the Diola of West Africa reject, in this case, Christianity after first embracing it (Baum 1990). Both scholars follow Horton in emphasizing local African dynamics-herd diversification strategies in the case of Aguilar, indigenous spiritual needs in the case of Baum.…”

‘How, for God's sake, can I be a good Muslim?’: Gambian youth in search of a moral lifestyle

“…The first trend pays attention to conversion from traditional religion to Islam (e.g. Mark, 1985; Searing, 2003; Dramé, 2009; Miran-Guyon, 2012; Thomson, 2012; for reconversion to traditional religion see Baum, 1990), whereas the second trend focuses on conversion from one branch of Islam to another (e.g. Umar, 1993; Rosander, 1997; LeBlanc, 2000; Augis, 2009; Leichtman, 2009).…”