- AutorIn
- Katharina Wilkens
- Titel
- African Socialism – A Blueprint for Secular State Formation at the Time of Independence
- Zitierfähige Url:
- https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa2-1002884
- Schriftenreihe
- Working paper series of the HCAS 'Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities
- Bandnummer
- 31
- Erstveröffentlichung
- 2025
- ISSN
- 2700-5518
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.36730/2020.1.msbwbm.31
- Abstract (EN)
- It has long been argued that “Africans” are supposedly “incurably” or “notoriously” religious. More specifically, traditional religions in Africa are regarded as operating outside of a secular framework, such as that which has been implemented in “Western democracies.” Recent studies, however, highlight a marked rise in religiosity, especially Pentecostalism and Salafism, and the loss of secularism and secular institutions in Africa. This leads us to question the inevitability of African religiosity, rendering implausible any claim that the continent has always been fundamentally religious. Indeed, at the time of their independence, many countries implemented socialist policies, with strongly secularist regimes in power. Considering whether the public sphere in African countries, or even the entire African population, is ‘more religious’ or ‘more secular’ is overly simplistic. It is necessary to instead scrutinise the motivations for differentiating between the religious and secular spheres, as well as any historical changes to the boundary between them. The concept of multiple secularities provides an analytical framework through which the boundary work between religious and secular spheres may be brought into focus. I will argue that, in most African countries, secularity was driven by the need to balance religious (and ethnic) diversity, and integrate the populations of the artificially created colonial states, after independence. In this paper, I reconstruct the relationship between institutions, social formations, cultural values, and ideologies, along the religious-secular divide, at the crucial time of state formation and independence.
- Freie Schlagwörter (DE)
- Säkularität, Afrika, traditionelle Religionen, Religiosität
- Freie Schlagwörter (EN)
- secularity, Africa, traditional religions, religiosity
- Klassifikation (DDC)
- 200
- Herausgeber (Institution)
- Kolleg-Forschergruppe 'Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities
- Version / Begutachtungsstatus
- eingereichte Version / Preprint
- URN Qucosa
- urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa2-1002884
- Veröffentlichungsdatum Qucosa
- 12.11.2025
- Dokumenttyp
- Forschungsbericht
- Sprache des Dokumentes
- Englisch
- Lizenz / Rechtehinweis
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