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This paper explores and analyses understandings of poverty in the Yorùbá traditional belief system, based on the concept of Orí and Ẹlédàá. The paper focuses on questions such as: how are the concepts of Orí and Ẹlédàá used in understanding, interpreting and addressing poverty? What implications do these belief systems have for the quest for poverty eradication in contemporary Nigerian societies? This belief system seems to be at variance with the World Bank and other international organizations' notions of poverty and suggested measures to eradicate it. I argue that the contribution of local belief systems to development discourses cannot be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores black African children's experiences of the child protection system in the UK. The central focus of the paper is a review of the available literature on the social circumstances and environmental influences affecting many black African families involved in the child protection system; specific parenting practices and caregiving environments; and their experiences of social work and other professional interventions aimed at safeguarding and promoting the needs of African children. This paper examines these themes to elucidate the factors that contribute to the pro- vision of effective, culturally competent interventions with black African children at risk of significant harm. It suggests that there are a number of tensions inherent for professionals in working with culturally diverse African families such as reconciling different beliefs and behaviours concerning child-rearing practices; affirming the parenting practices of these families in the engagement process; adopting a strengths-based orientation whilst at the same time safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since time immemorial, Africa has been rich in natural resources and sharing spiritual connections with the nature. Indigenous practices having spiritual significance nurtured African environment. Philosophers believe that Global industrial establishments and interference of western development and Eurocentric world views are responsible for the magnitude and severity of contemporary environmental crises in Africa. It resulted in changes in values, beliefs and world views which altered their socio ecological aspects of life and promoted extraction and exploitation of natural resources. Environmental crises seek holistic approach for healing nature, new values that would stress individual andjoint responsibility towards the environment and towards nurturing harmony between humanity and environment. Traditional practice of resource utilization proved to be systematic 'which enabled lands to regenerate it and promotes socio-cultural harmony among community. This paper highlights the interconnectedness of nature and spirituality within African communities; and explores the importance of African indigenous practices in environmental conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African Traditional Religion is the indigenous religion of the Africans. It has been debated among scholars whether ATR is an appropriate name for African religious belief. Some writers labelled and described African as polytheist. The Africans hold they are worshipping a Supreme Being who bears different names derived from African cultural languages. The Supreme Being has the characteristics of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and immortality. The Africans see God not only as the author of human life but as the giver of cultural heritage. Religion for the Africans propagates and touches every segment of life holistically. Worship in African Traditional Religion entails traditional beliefs, rituals, customs, social values, ancestors, divinities, death and salvation. Religion is inseparable from African culture. Hence, the Africans attach significant importance to the ancestors, spirits, and divinities to an extent that foreign observers often mistakenly, or ignorantly, consider it as worshipping of a dead God. In other words, there is a belief that the African Traditional Religion is a dead religion. Faith is the bedrock of African religious life. Out of ignorance and lack of understanding, a pathetic question can be raised: 'Are the Africans actually worshipping a dead "God" in a dead Religion "ATR"'? The Africans are living people with deep dynamic faith in their Supreme God. They are also indigenous in their spiritual belief in God. This paper examines the African concept of God, evil, and salvation in ATR, and puts Religion in its right perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the local, regional and international efforts to end the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Africa. Association of FGC with cultural norms of femininity, chastity and religious observance; Details on the magnitude of the health and psychosexual consequences associated with FGC; Promotion of reproductive health in the region.

Introduces a series of articles on the history of signs, texts and objects within African Christian belief and practice.

We hypothesize that there are two mechanisms by which religion can affect prosocial behaviors. Being reminded about religion can induce prosocial behaviors through an external, triggering effect. The underlying beliefs can have an effect through internal mechanisms. To untangle these competing effects, a lab‐in‐the‐field experiment was conducted in West Africa in which we asked people participating in a survey if they would like to donate their participation fee to a local charity. We randomly assigned respondents a question asking about belief in heaven and hell. We also vary the donation price to test whether there are limits on the prosocial behaviors. We find that the trigger has no effect on the decision to donate, but that belief in heaven/hell has a positive, large, statistically significant effect on the likelihood of donations. Religious belief does encourage prosocial behavior but those effects dissipate as the opportunity cost of giving increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern-day Western representations of Africa, the ordinary Africans are habitually depicted as people who have lost their agency to cultural illusions such as religious beliefs, whereas their political leaders are considered ruthless and calculating economic actors, who do not hesitate to take advantage of them. The research report at hand argues that these images of Africa can be traced to longstanding Western notions of fetishism. Most importantly, it is suggested that some important features of fetishism have re-emerged in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries as part of the concept of development. This has to do with debates on the question of whether traditional culture is an impediment or a support to socio-economic development in Africa. In its most general framework, the paper diagnoses a powerful tendency in contemporary Western culture: evaluating everything--even culture itself--in terms of economic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion and spirituality have long played important roles in fishery systems around the world, and yet are often neglected in modern fisheries management and research. We review current literature and analyse the major small‐scale fishery on Lake Tanganyika, Africa, to highlight how religion may mediate fishing behaviours. Our study surveyed 154 fishers across 11 landing sites in Tanzania, followed by 15 semi‐structured interviews with key informants including fishery officers and local religious leaders. We identified key connections between religious beliefs/practices and fisher perceptions, behaviour and compliance with harvest restrictions and regulations. We demonstrate that better understanding and accounting for religious dimensions is critical for engaging with fishery stakeholders more effectively and managing global fisheries more sustainably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving an adequate blood supply in Sub-Saharan Africa ( SSA) through donor mobilization and retention is crucial. Factors that motivate or deter blood donors vary according to beliefs and social norms. Understanding the factors that influence blood donation behaviour in SSA is vital to developing effective strategies to address blood donor motivation and retention. This review of 35 studies from 16 SSA countries collates available evidence concerning the perceptions, motivators and deterrents that influence blood donors in SSA. The review revealed a common understanding that blood and blood donation save lives. The main deterrent to blood donation was fear due to lack of knowledge and discouraging spiritual, religious and cultural perceptions of blood donation. The main motivators for blood donation were altruism, donating blood for family and incentives. The findings support the need for targeted, culturally sensitive education, recruitment and retention strategies to improve the blood supply in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have examined masculinities in African societies. However, these examinations cannot be generalised across Africa, given the socio-cultural, economic, political and historical factors that infringe with religious beliefs. This article offers a case study of masculinities in a specific religious context, the Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa (ZAOGA), a Pentecostal church. It utilises ZAOGA'S teachings on masculinities against the background of Shona religion and culture (the dominant ethnic group in Zimbabwe). The analysis specifically focuses on the role of the Jesus-figure in the discourse on masculinity in ZAOGA, exploring whether Jesus presents a model of 'redemptive masculinity' or rather reinforces hegemonic notions of masculinity. The article highlights the ambiguity of Pentecostal masculinity and offers an overall critique of the effects of masculinities upon Pentecostal faith and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Incorporating international human rights provisions into domestic legislation and implementing them have always been a challenge for several African countries. This is especially so where religious and customary values are involved. The limitations of conventional approaches employing legislation, litigation and protests alone often become radically exposed in such contexts. This was illustrated by a long public debate that preceded the passage of Ghana's Domestic Violence Act (Act 723), 2007. A national debate, facilitated by the proliferation of FM radio stations that employ both English and the leading mother-tongues, enabled citizens at the grassroots to also participate in the discussions. Using the debate mentioned above as a case-study, this article discusses constraints imposed on the growth of human rights culture in situations where religious and customary values are widely held. Since such values inspire behaviours and attitudes rooted in religious belief and custom, they remain largely resistant to purely secular methods. At the end the article proposes an integrative approach that combines conventional methods with religious and cultural resources in an effort to gain wide acceptance of international human rights norms in such societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ekong is a relatively modern notion of witchcraft which is spread throughout large areas of central and southern Africa. According to this belief, the witch does not devour his victims anymore, but transforms them into zombies and makes them work for the benefit of another person. In this manner, newly rich people supposedly owe their success to this particular form of exploitation. The article describes this belief according to empirical data obtained through fieldwork in Equatorial Guinea. It also deals with some reflections of a more general nature about witchcraft and the interpretative work of the anthropologist on this kind of phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clitoridectomy, or the practice of removing or irreparably damaging the clitoris along with other portions of the female genitalia, is primarily practiced in Islamic Northeastern Africa, though it is also found in scattered pockets of the Middle East. While the practice exists amongst a number of Christian, Jewish and Pagan/Animist tribes, clitoridectomy is most prevalent within Muslim societies. In regards to exploring the potential causes of clitoridectomy, much of the previous literature has primarily focused on the spiritual and religious beliefs of the practices proponents. For over thirty years, various African legislatures and grassroots organizations have drawn on this literature in an ongoing attempt to eliminate clitoridectomy through informational campaigns and laws banning the practice. However, most of these efforts have overwhelmingly failed. In countries such as Egypt and the Sudan, clitoridectomy rates continue to remain close to ninety percent. This Article breaks from previous literature by considering the potential legal and economic motivations behind clitoridectomy. The basic thesis presented is that clitoridectomy may be understood as an informal-or extra- legal-means by which men cope with, and parents capitalize on, the economic risks created by the Islamic Marriage and Divorce System ("IMDS"). Part I discusses the basic economic and legal problems faced by all marriage and divorce systems, including the American Marriage and Divorce System ("AMDS"), and establishes the link between the IMDS and clitoridectomy from an economic perspective. Part II refines the basic theory outlined in Part I by creating a falsifiable model regarding the relative prevalence and severity of clitoridectomy practices in a given Muslim society. Part II then tests this model against empirical data regarding the clitoridectomy practices of approximately twenty tribes in Islamic Northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and by comparing divorce and clitoridectomy rates in nine Egyptian governorates. The Article then concludes with a brief discussion of some of the normative issues associated with both eliminating the practice and the practice itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the contemporary judicial efforts by the African government on its struggle to combat against proliferation of new forms of witchcraft. It attempts to compare the initiatives of the African authorities to address the increasing fear pressure against witchcraft in Cameroon and South Africa. It claims that on the government's intervention against the art of sorcery, it caused to strengthen instead of weaken the popular panic about the increasing panic of witchery to the extent that older sanction would no law could suffice.

This article focuses on a study which was conducted to investigate causes of poor performance among students in Africa. Poor performance in science has been characteristic of students in the scientifically developed countries during the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. To test the extent to which traditional beliefs in Africa affect performance in science, a test in basic electricity, a rational thinking task, and a traditional beliefs questionnaire to selected students in Malawi was administered. A questionnaire measuring traditional beliefs and attitudes, consisting of 26 items drawn from the available literature, was used to assess students' level of commitment to traditional beliefs. Given that many of the electricity questions require an element of logical reasoning, there was a significant positive correlation between performance in the electricity test and performance in the reasoning task. Whatever method of factor analysis is used to examine the significance of these factors, the strength of their traditional beliefs and analysis accounts for a maximum of 11 % of the variance.

This article discusses the Mungiki movement's beliefs and practices as they relate to the traditional religion and cultural practice of the Gikuyu people. Mungiki is a Gikuyu word taken from the etymological root word, Muingi , to mean masses or people. The Mungiki is a fundamentalist movement with a religious, political and cultural agenda. It argues that, since African religion is discerned in terms of beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and religious officials, a conversion to other faiths is not practical. Its followers are therefore calling for re-conversion from foreign worship to indigenous beliefs. Although the Mungiki is largely a Gikuyu affair, the sect expects to embrace all other Kenyans. It calls for the teaching of African indigenous values before any change can take place. In practice, Mungiki followers have denounced the Christian faith. The movement has adopted Gikuyu religion as a weapon to challenge political and religious authority, and has raised an outcry from religious leaders and government officials. Mungiki followers affirm that theirs is a religious and not a political movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]