The Impact of Religion on African Civilization in Light of the 21st Century
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation is to define the religious experience of Africa over the span of pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial eras. The methodology will analyze and integrate epistemological approaches with religious, historical, and political interactions between external forces and African societies. Scholars on civilization have in recent years contemplated the operationalization of scientific thinking. The sense of nationalism that tends to look at civilizations as sacred attributes of societies is challenged by the secular features of quantitative analysis. The expansion of global trade and commerce effectively facilitated by the swiftness of Information Technology (IT) provides opportunities for identifying cross cultural and civilizational variables of peace and "wisdom." This chapter argues the scientific approaches are good only in explaining policies and technical administrations. The chapter focuses on Africa's religious and political experiences and will argue that Africa's problems are intractable even to the dynamic theories of IT and globalization. The outcome of historical, religious and political interactions places Africa as a victimized Continent, transgressed by Islamic and European Civilizations. Africa prides itself in its ancient civilizations, but this study finds that the celebratory value of those civilizations is overshadowed by the residues left from the extrusion of extra-African civilizations, in this case, Islamic and European Civilizations. The practical and social implications are derived from the above analysis and from the state of affairs in African societies today. Recurrent challenges of poverty, political and religious wars, ethnic strife, and unrelenting tyrannical rule currently in vogue today in Africa are symptoms of the civilizations that had thrived on the bounties of slavery and colonialism. Africa suffers from institutional paralysis, because Africa has gone astray from its civilization. The inabilities of state institutions to reconcile religious and ethnic divisions represent the ills of slavery and colonialism as aped by African tyrants in the 21st century.
Recommended Citation
Isaac, T. (2015). The Impact of Religion on African Civilization in Light of the 21st Century. African Civilization in the 21st Century, pp. 105-115. Nova Science Publishers, Inc..
Department(s)
History and Political Science
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-1-63463-636-0
Document Type
Book - Chapter
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2015 Nova Science Publishers, Inc., All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2015
