| Popis: |
This essay explores the history and historiography of religion in Nigeria before the twentieth century, focusing on interconnectivity across different communities and across periods divided into the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial eras. The richness of Nigerian sources, studied with a critical eye to historical power dynamics and the subjectivities of those who produced religious narratives, reveals many insights about precolonial Nigerian cultural heterogeneity. In recent centuries across different cultural traditions, it is possible to trace tendencies towards narrowing conceptualizations divinity, piety, and other aspects of religious thought and practice, giving rise to the increased presence in the public life of religious reformers and revolutionaries. The essay argues that religion has long been an important sphere for the negotiation and management of difference and diversity outside state power, giving some hint as to why the modern Nigerian state has faced challenges in its efforts to control sectarian splinters and interreligious conflicts. |
