African Belief Systems: Religion and

Health
 Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students would be able to:
• Give an overview of the concept of religion and
health.
• Discuss some traditional perspectives of the
composition of man.
• Explain the relationship between traditional
African religion and the environment.
• Examine the effect of African belief systems on
health delivery.
 What is African Traditional Religion
(ATR)?
• ATR entails the beliefs and practices of Native
(indigenous)African peoples with regard to the
supernatural and handed down by the ancestors which
people hold on to as their link with both the past and
eternity (Pobee 1976).

• The pluralism of Africanness renders the religion as

ethnocentric.

• It may be accurate to speak of African religions,

although some ideas in one ethnic group will find
parallels in other African groups.
 GHANAIAN RELIGIOUS PROFILES
In Africa there are countries that are predominantly
Moslem (Senegal, Magreb, etc.), some are Christian
(Ethiopia). Many are multi-religious
Islam: 16% of Ghanaians –majority Sunni, but Sufi and
Ahmadiyya etc. exist. (N-Region: 56.1% are Moslem)
Christians: 68.8% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 24.1%,
Protestant 18.6%, Catholic 15.1%, other 11%)
Traditional Religion: about 8.5% (U-East Region:
46.4%);
No religion - 6.1%; Others - 0.7%.
African religiosity: some descriptions

Ghanaians are compulsively religious. ... ‘they

are notoriously religious’. Religion is
pervasive in Ghanaian society; it brushes the
corridors of power including contemporary
politics. …power seekers, play the religious
card so often, …it becomes difficult to
separate religion from politics …when they are
competing for votes.
Belief in the supernatural
Su
pr
e
m
e
B
Ancestral
ei
Spirits
ng

Deities

Natural Objects

Animals and Plants

Mystical/Psychic powers

Charms, amulets and talismans

 The Supreme Being
• Almost every society has its worldview about the Supreme God; referred to
with different names, expressions etc.

• He is considered by the African people to be just.

• He dispenses justice. When Akan is cheated he says ‘God will give due to
recompense’.

• In fact, the utterance is an invocation of a curse on the wrongdoer.

• Most myths are connected with God: the Yoruba myth of creation has it that
originally, heaven was very close to earth but man’s sin took God away from
the earth.

• An Ewe myth has it that God created the first man and woman with clay. But
clay was very difficult to come by, thus He created new humans with the
bodies of the dead. This explains why children resemble their parents and have
a link with the dead.
 The ancestors
• The ancestral spirits are next to God. They are normally
treated with reverence.

• It is believed that the ‘spirit’ of humans never die: it

continues to influence the life of the community.

• The spirit of the deceased is invoked during ancestral

worship and at funeral services.

• Ancestors preside spiritually over the welfare of the

family or community. They are therefore willing to help or
treat them favourably.
• The deities, unlike the Supreme Being and the ancestors, may be
treated with contempt depending on their relevance or role in the
lives of the members of the society.

• They can reward/punish members of the society with misfortunes,

diseases or even death. They are interested in social relations and
help check environmental abuses. See MDG7/SDG15 .

• Plants and animals (Totems) may also be revered. Some trees are
also abodes of the supernatural, and they may be used for
medicine.

• From the perspective of the African, medicine is rendered

inefficacious/incomplete if it does not involve traditional procedure.
Ritual invocations are significant in medicine.
• Other psychic powers that aid or cause harm
to humans; witchcraft, sorcery and magic.

• There is the belief in charms, amulets and

talismans. People (including pregnant
women) use talismans.
 What is Health
The WHO definition of Health
• Health is a state of complete physical, mental and
social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.

Comment
Health does not always come from medicine, most
of the time it comes from peace of mind, peace in
the heart, peace of soul, it comes from laughter and
love (in JEAM Memorial Lecture).
• In the view of the Akan, it is impossible to
examine the healing, health and illness without
relating it to religion. Appiah-Kubi examines
health as part of the magico-religious fabric of
[human] survival.

• In African villages, disease and misfortune are

religious experiences and it requires a religious
approach to deal with them.
 THE CONCEPT OF MAN
• Man is composed of material and immaterial
substances (body and spirit).
• Body perishes after death, but spirit survives.
• It is believed that any part when damaged may
affect the other.
• In terms of illness, attention is paid not only to
the physiological causes, but also spiritual.
• Good health can only be attained when body and
soul are taken good care of.
 Concept of man: The Akan example
• Man is made up of kra, sunsum, ntoro and mogya .
The soul is the most significant.

• Soul is the undying part of man and is given by God

before man is born into the world. Its departure from
the body signifies death.

• The kra seeks leave from Onyame, taken with it

Nkrabea which is unalterable.

• Animals and plants do not have the kra, but have a

kind of spirit, sasa, in Akan.
• The Akan believe that the Kra is not only the soul of
the person, it is also a guardian spirit which protects
him/her.

• The Kra may desert a person temporarily in the face

of danger leaving him with fear.

• At the time of death, the Kra leaves the body

gradually to give account of its earthly existence.

• The Kra can, however, be called back immediately

after death to be communicated with.
 Destiny of man
• We hear of statements such as ‘my destiny is gloomy’.
• As indicated, man has a destiny which he receives from God
and is unalterable which stresses the omnipotence of God.

• Destiny of man is known as ‘nkrabea’ in Akan.

• Literally then, nkrabea is the manner in which the soul bids

farewell to its maker. It also means fate, allotted life, final lot.

• Expressions – Nea Onyame ahyehye no odasani ntumi nnan

ani to wit, the order God has settled, no living man can alter.
• According to the Yoruba people, before a
person enters the world, his destiny has been
sealed twice, and his life on earth is a precise
unfolding of this destiny. Some have good
ones, and others – bad ones.
• Although in theory the destiny of man is said to be
unchangeable, in actual practice it does not seem to be so,
since several factors can influence a person’s destiny.

• A person may consult a divinity to either maintain or

change his/her destiny.

• Evil forces such as witchcraft can cause harm to a

person’s destiny.

• Peoples rashness or impulsive behaviour can affect their

destinies.
• Heeding advice of the elders can also affect
positively one’s destiny.

• Some parents speak good of, or curse, their

children.
 The concept of the spirit child
• Spirit children dwell in the bush. The spirit wants to enter the house
to gain access to the “good things” a family provides e.g food/care.

• Once born, the spirit child will take over the house and destroy the
family, breaking it apart through conflict, sickness, and death.

• Community members describe spirit children as impulsive, wise,

crafty, and mischievous characteristics also regarded as snake-like.

• Spirit children enter the community through taboo sexual activity.

Sex outside of the house attract a spirit to enter the womb of women.

• Eating while walking is a common way for a woman to attract a

spirit child. There is the danger that the woman will drop the food
(Denham 2010).
 Characteristics of the spirit child

Common physical characteristics

• Hydrocephalus: born with teeth, facial hair, or other secondary sex

characteristics.

• Born with misshapen or broken limbs, and may have a variety of

physical disabilities.

• The child’s behavior is also subject to scrutiny e.g excessive crying

• There is significant concern regarding the eyes.

• A spirit child may look at you differently, have a wandering eye, or

fail to make eye contact (Denham 2010).
 Spirit children as Source of misfortune
• They can instigate conflict, cause sickness in the
house, and killing of family members.

• They may cause infertility, or may not allow the

mother to recover fully from childbirth.

• Families may blame crop failure or death of livestock

on a spirit child.

• Implication: If societies consult the diviner to confirm

his state they will destroy the child (Denham 2010).
 Investigating realities of the spirit child

• The Nankani people frequently consult the ancestors via a

soothsayer for explanations of all misfortunes and involve them in
decision-making processes (Adongo, Phillips, & Binka, 1998).

• A male consults the diviner at least twice, but more often he would
visit multiple diviners on multiple occasions to seek the truth.

• Additional tests and verification e.g Physical appearance, putting

oil on the feet. When they find dirt on the feet, it means the child has
gone out walking. The child cannot walk, where did he go?

• Families will also place ash or sand at the entrance of the room
where the child is sleeping (Denham 2010).
The Power of African Religion for good and
evil
• African Religion can prescribe the following:
• When to go to hospital or not.
• What food/drinks you eat or don’t eat - taboos;
• What work you do, or don’t do;
• When to work, or relax;
• What to do with your income and earnings;
• How you relate to your neighbour;
• How you vote at elections and for whom;
 Illustration: River Tano & Goats
.. at Elubo, goats are, in effect, "out of bounds." No one
can rear or slaughter goats there, or cross the River
Tano with them. The punishment for flouting this
unwritten order is death.
According to some of the .. people of the town, it has
been a taboo from time immemorial for anyone to
rear, eat or cross River Tano with a goat into the
town.
o

… people who dared to bring the animal to Elubo

"paid dearly for it" and the animals only lived for less
than three hours and died.
Ghanaian Rivers Under Attack (the Pra)
 Deities and Environment Protection
• For the Akan, health is the relationship between one
and one’s environment: the supernatural environment,
the world around one and one’s fellow men and women.

• ‘Chiefs and fetish priests of the Akyem state in the

Eastern Region and its environs have performed
necessary rituals to appease the god of the Birim River.
• The river god is believed to have been angry at the
youth in the town who were engaging in illegal mining
(galamsey) activities and polluting the river.’
 If African gods dictate, chiefs will act
The paramount chief of Kade … warned against
polluting the Birim River to avoid the wrath of
God. Osabarima Agyare … noted that if pollu-
tion of the river does not come to an end, greater
calamity will befall the people living around it.
The chief gave the warning in the wake of the
current heavy flooding ..
Reader’s Comments: A whole community of
intelligent people has been misled by uneducated
fetish priestess. Science or religion?
 The Witchcraft Issue in Africa:
Comment
‘If entrepreneurs refuse to expand their business
because of the fear of envy leading to witchcraft
attacks then the whole country is suffering as a
result of this belief system’ Sefa-Dedeh (2004:
101)

What does Sefa-Dedeh mean?

Witchcraft is based on a belief system that has
implications for development
 Witchcraft : Use/Abuse of Psychic Powers
Witchcraft: possession and exercise of personal spiritual or psychic
powers for good or evil.

• It is believed that while God, deities, ancestors, wild spirits, etc. are sources
of misfortune, it can also come from man’s malice.

• Those responsible: an associate, a relative (spouse, child, parent).

• Such misfortune may take any form – failure in social or economic

ventures, illness, accidents, injury, death etc.

• It’s believed that some people have powerful spirits that do strange things –
fly, change into dangerous animals, carry out nocturnal misadventures etc.

• Such powers possessed by humans may be inherent or acquired.

 Witchcraft and Sorcery
Witchcraft as psychic & spiritual, its modus
operandi not visible to the ordinary eye.
Characteristics vary from society to society. In some
societies. It can be involuntary (Azande case): a
witch may not know s/he is responsible for the harm
caused to others. But some witches are aware.
Sorcery – ‘juju’, which is equally harmful, is based
on learnt techniques and manipulation of objects.
In both cases proof is often hard to come by; much is
based on suspicion or what the witch doctor or
diviner says. Occasionally there is self-confession.
 Pervasiveness of Witchcraft
W-craft beliefs go back a long way in human
history; some scholars see them as unscientific
searches for causality or explanation of uncanny
phenomena?
W-craft answers the question why certain
misfortunes happen.
Science can answer the question how but not always
the why. The why: the remote cause, may not be
self-evident. Yet people need answers.
This quest explains persistence of w-craft beliefs
even among scientifically educated people.
 Academic Concerns
From our point of view the question is not whether
witchcraft exists or not, or whether witches are capable
of the harm that others or they themselves claim.
What is significant is the effect of the beliefs on society.
This makes it a developmental issue.
W-craft beliefs can have positive & negative socio-
economic implications.
W-craft has gender implications;
It affects community life & individual participation as
well as choices.
The negative effects of w-craft outweigh any good.
 Witch-Hunting: Fault-Finding
As evidence for guilt is often difficult to establish W-Craft is
inevitably associated with accusations.
Who tend to be Accused
The highly successful – phenomenal success invites suspicion of
spiritual intervention (even malpractice).
The marginalised:
– Women (the childless, widows) etc. Also the orphan.
The anti-social
– The cantankerous, the talkative, the reticent, the envious, those who
engage in incest, homosexual intercourse etc.
Extraordinary physique
– The deformed, the very ugly, the very beautiful, the red-eyed etc.
Technically then who can be spared?
Case: Killing a 62-Year Old Widow
Police in Tamale have arrested two people who
allegedly battered to death a woman they accused
of being a witch. The two accused ... a 62-year-old
widow of bewitching a 23-year-old boy, ... in Gilic,
a community close to Bunpkrugu [sic] Yunyoo
district in the Northern Region. The deceased was
said to be in possession of the soul of the 23-year-
old for which reason she was subjected to severe
beating until she collapsed and died ..
 Case 2: Neglect & Death of 9 Year Old Boy
The Takoradi Police have arrested a couple for negli-
gently causing the death of their nine-year-old son.
The couple, .. a fisherman, and … [his wife], ..
were said to have kept their son indoors on the
orders of a spiritualist who said the boy was
possessed by witchcraft.
The spiritualist, ... was alleged to have declared that
the boy was possessed by witchcraft and ordered
that he should be kept in a room until he died.
The boy always complained of excessive heat and ate
abnormally, resulting in his body getting swollen
 The Accusers
-Those who suffer calamities.
- Ritual Specialists: Witch doctors & medicine men.
Some Pastors & religious people in their healing
sessions have attributed illnesses to witches.
- The unsuccessful: people seeking a scapegoat.
- The envious: Those who are jealous.
- Competitors: co-wives and work mates, etc.
- Close kin and associates.
 The harm due to Witchcraft Beliefs
Witches may be maltreated, ostracised, & even killed
A person’s character is defamed without justification
Pragmatic solutions to problems are not sought,
especially where health or business are concerned.
Distrust of kin and associates.
Reluctance to exhibit one’s achievements/talent for fear
of arousing suspicion or exposure to attack by witches.
Dangerous ordeals & procedures may be used in the
search for the Witch, all of which have health
implications.
Witchcraft marginalises the marginalised.
 Any Positives?
• Promotes psychic healing: some of the cases
attributed to w-craft may be psychic in nature and
amenable to treatment by witch doctors.
• The association of the weak with witchcraft may
result in the powerful not abusing the rights of the
weak.
• The demands of the vulnerable may be attended
to, to avoid possibility of bewitchment;
• Promotes an egalitarian society by discouraging
the flaunting / obscene display of wealth.
 Summary Outline
Nature of African Religion;
Country religious profiles,
Witchcraft (magic & sorcery) &
development
- Implications for individual rights.
- Implications for attitudes to contemporary
business culture
- Implications for the individual’s health.
 Some Reading
Opoku O. 2001, ‘Deliverance as a way of Confronting
Witchcraft in Modern Africa: Ghana as a Case History’
Cyberjournal for Pentecostal Charismatic Research. No. 10

Evans-Pritchard, E. E. 1937 Witchcraft, Oracles and magic

Among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Goody, E. N. 1970,‘Legitimate and Illegitimate Aggression
in a West African State’ in M. Douglas ed. Witchcraft
Confessions and Accusations. ASA Monograph 9, London

Chapter Six in Culture and Development book.

See also media and other e-material on religion
&witchcraft.
 TAKE NOTE!
In the university, students don’t run to board buses, they
walk gently

THANK YOU
AKPƐ
MEDA MU ASE
ANSƐ KUSUNŋ

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK