Cosmology

Cosmology refers to worldview and myths in general or, more specifically, to the cultural and religious imagery concerning the universe. African cosmology, which often takes the form of oral narratives, describes the web of human activities within the powerful spiritual cosmos; it transmits the beliefs and values of African peoples. African cosmology, then, is an attempt to describe and understand the origin and structure of the universe, how humans relate to the cosmos, and how and to what extent their thoughts and actions are shaped by it.

African religion poses an interesting and complex problem of description and interpretation. In fact, African languages have no equivalent word for religion. Indeed, African social structures and cultural traditions are infused with a spirituality that cannot be easily separated from the rest of the community's life at any point. To analyze religion as a separate system of beliefs and ritual practices apart from subsistence, kinship, language, politics, and the landscape, for example, is to misunderstand African religion in general and African cosmology in particular. Thus, African culture could be described as a complex web of religion, attitudes and behavior, morality, politics, and economy. The African thought system influences the African cognitive process and lifestyle.

Owing to the apparent complex diversity of African societies and their religious systems, it may seem, at first sight, problematic to homogenize Africa into a single whole or develop overarching generalizations about the religious life of its people. However, a survey of a great number of various traditions in Africa allows one to identify certain common themes and affinities. For example, a common and most obvious denominator of the respective local cosmologies is orality. Indeed, the beliefs and practices are transmitted from one generation to another through oral traditions, myths, legends, art, paintings, sculpture, songs, and dances. This is not all, however, because African societies display many common affinities in their religious worldviews, such as the belief in spiritual entities, the use of concepts to represent them, in rituals and similar attitudes toward their manipulation and control.

To understand the complex spatial and temporal constructions of African cosmology, and the values associated with it, one must comprehend a multiplicity of local cosmologies. These cosmologies consist of constructed special spaces that provide the setting for ritual action and an enabling environment for ritual enactments, special roles that evince the pertinacity of actors in the religious activity, and special powers or beings with which the actors form prescribed relationships within a ritualized context.