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Paper short abstract:

Traditional religious presences are an integral feature of Africa’s multireligious cityscapes. Investigating Accra’s Akonnedi Shrine, I trace the multiple ways in which African religious traditions become part of people’s urban lifeworlds and enable them to cope with life in this metropolis.

Paper long abstract:

Traditional religious presences are an integral part of people’s lives in many African cities and a substantial feature of Africa’s multireligious cityscapes. Investigating the Akonnedi Shrine in Accra, I trace the multiple ways in which African religious traditions are present in people’s lives in the Accra metropolis; and I consider how this shrine is, in turn, affected by its urban surroundings. Since its foundation in the late nineteenth century, Akonnedi has become one of Accra’s most prominent shrines as it has adapted itself to the needs and expectations of its urban clientele. Its paramount deity, the female spirit Akonnedi, and the other deities of this shrine are renowned to attend to the needs and worries of socially marginalized people, especially women, who seek the shrine’s help in times of distress. Furthermore, as Accra’s citizens widely consider Akonnedi as guarantor of social justice they come to settle their disputes and conflicts at her shrine. Invoking Akonnedi by name enables people to make moral claims on one another in their daily lives or to curse wrongdoers. As a site of social support and justice, the Akonnedi Shrine promotes a ‘traditional’ vision of the good city. However, ‘traditional’, Muslim, and Christian actors compete with one another for religious hegemony in Accra’s multireligious cityscape. Consequently, Akonnedi and other traditional religious presences have become ardently contested matters in this city. In my paper, I discuss the multiple ways in which Akonnedi is an integral and contested part of Accra’s city life and its urban dynamics.