Marakwet: An Ethnographic Study of Religious and Cultural Identity in Africa
Ebook
This book attempts to provide an ethnography of the Marakwet and its encounter with colonizers and missionaries. The core of the book concerns the formation of the Marakwet person through the rites of passage. Indeed, cultural education is critical in establishing a socially mature identity. By virtue of repetition, humans connect to the past and create a continuum. Also, through rituals, the world is no longer an opaque mass of objects arbitrarily thrown together, but a living cosmos that can be intelligible and significant. It explains why things exist and to what ends. At the same time, through rituals, new ideas are given new interpretations. The missionary colonizing project unsuccessfully tried to dislodge such traditions. The African tradition is the context from which most Christians come, and to which many still practice to some degree. It is therefore necessary for both Marakwet and Christian tradition to interact. The book highlights the concept of inculturation as a viable resource in helping Christianity engage the culture with minimal disruptions.
“In this wonderful book, an African theologian speaks powerfully and persuasively of the impact of his faith on the people of his own culture. . . . Elolia draws our attention to the sophistication of Marakwet thought and religious practice. Christianity may have focused on humans to the exclusion of the rest of God’s creation, but Marakwet cultural beliefs did not and we have much to learn from them. . . . Elolia’s informed guide to the interaction of faith and culture is of paramount importance in a world where Africa houses the majority of its Christian faithful. A theology indeed for modern times.”
—Henrietta Moore, founder and director, Institute for Global Prosperity
“Samuel K. Elolia’s Marakwet masterfully depicts the rich cultural, civic, and religious traditions of the Marakwet people and land. While scholars have addressed the Marakwet people of Kenya, this book is the first work to offer an in-depth analysis and ethnography of Marakwet. Elolia beautifully weaves together archival research and ethnographic data to interrogate the role of religion in everything from land use to social rituals. His scholarship embodies the cutting-edge ethnographic research into indigenous religions that is much needed in the growing field of traditional religions.”
—Jacob K. Olupona, professor of African and African American studies, Harvard University
“Samuel Elolia’s case study of the tensions between traditional Marakwet cultural formation and the legacy of Western missions is a welcome contribution to contemporary reckonings of the impact of the latter on indigenous people and their cultures. His work urges us to consider how genuine dialogue could be liberating for all parties, helping them better discern together how incarnation as inculturation might be more faithfully embodied.”
—Philip D. Kenneson, professor of theology and philosophy, Milligan University
“This rich ethnographic narrative of Marakwet is set against the backdrop of the intersectionality of religious and cultural identity. Such a robust religio-cultural tapestry bears eloquent testimony to the urgency in relearning and retelling indigenous cosmological, mythical, ritual traditions and their interface with colonial and Christian missionary imaginaries. By combining archival resources with ethnography, the book unpacks the religious and theological constellations such a dynamic intercourse engenders.”
—Afe Adogame, professor of religion and society, Princeton Theological Seminary
- Title: Marakwet: An Ethnographic Study of Religious and Cultural Identity in Africa
- Author: Samuel K. Elolia
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781498241090, 9781498285797, 1498285791, 9781556358739, 1556358733, 1498241093
- Resource ID: LLS:9781498241090
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-24T20:44:50Z
Samuel K. Elolia is professor of theology and world Christianity at Milligan University in Johnson City, TN. He is the editor of Religion and Politics in Contemporary Africa (2006), and he writes out of his firsthand experience as a Marakwet.