Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous
The history of religions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been closely tied to the classification of Indigenous religions. However, recent scholarship in the field of religion has increasingly drawn on the work of subaltern and postcolonial historiography as a way of disruptin...
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MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/60 |
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| author | Federico Settler |
| author_facet | Federico Settler |
| author_sort | Federico Settler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The history of religions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been closely tied to the classification of Indigenous religions. However, recent scholarship in the field of religion has increasingly drawn on the work of subaltern and postcolonial historiography as a way of disrupting the European canon and dislodging Indigenous and non-western ways of knowing and being from the tyranny of the classical taxonomies of religion. Recent approaches to religious diversity have been challenged for reproducing imperial hierarchies of religion—assuming an accommodationist approach to Indigenous religions while also rendering invisible the internal diversity, fluidity, and adaptive orientations within Indigenous religions. In this paper, I contend that in the postcolonial context, Indigenous religions uncouple themselves from traditional taxonomies of religion, and, in particular, I propose religious complexity as a suitable framework and approach for accounting, contending with, and reporting on religious change in postcolonial South Africa. I explore questions about how to account for, ‘classify’, or ‘measure’ change related to everyday African Indigenous religious efforts and practices in the aftermath of and in response to colonialism, where conventional ideas about religious authority and affinity are displaced by Indigenous practices that can variously be described as simultaneously vital, viral, or feral. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6b64935fc80745d8b698c92231eebee6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-6b64935fc80745d8b698c92231eebee62025-01-24T13:47:28ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-01-011616010.3390/rel16010060Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the IndigenousFederico Settler0School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South AfricaThe history of religions during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been closely tied to the classification of Indigenous religions. However, recent scholarship in the field of religion has increasingly drawn on the work of subaltern and postcolonial historiography as a way of disrupting the European canon and dislodging Indigenous and non-western ways of knowing and being from the tyranny of the classical taxonomies of religion. Recent approaches to religious diversity have been challenged for reproducing imperial hierarchies of religion—assuming an accommodationist approach to Indigenous religions while also rendering invisible the internal diversity, fluidity, and adaptive orientations within Indigenous religions. In this paper, I contend that in the postcolonial context, Indigenous religions uncouple themselves from traditional taxonomies of religion, and, in particular, I propose religious complexity as a suitable framework and approach for accounting, contending with, and reporting on religious change in postcolonial South Africa. I explore questions about how to account for, ‘classify’, or ‘measure’ change related to everyday African Indigenous religious efforts and practices in the aftermath of and in response to colonialism, where conventional ideas about religious authority and affinity are displaced by Indigenous practices that can variously be described as simultaneously vital, viral, or feral.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/60Indigenous religionSouth Africadecolonialsociology of religionreligious complexitytaxonomies of religion |
| spellingShingle | Federico Settler Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous Religions Indigenous religion South Africa decolonial sociology of religion religious complexity taxonomies of religion |
| title | Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous |
| title_full | Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous |
| title_fullStr | Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous |
| title_full_unstemmed | Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous |
| title_short | Religious Complexity in Postcolonial South Africa: Contending with the Indigenous |
| title_sort | religious complexity in postcolonial south africa contending with the indigenous |
| topic | Indigenous religion South Africa decolonial sociology of religion religious complexity taxonomies of religion |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/1/60 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT federicosettler religiouscomplexityinpostcolonialsouthafricacontendingwiththeindigenous |