Paper short abstract:

The paper will focus on the social and religious effects of Wade Harris' "passage" along the coast of Ghana (1914) and on the past and present meanings of Wade Harris' extreme battle against fetish and all expressions of traditional and ancestral beliefs.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will focus on the social and religious effects of Wade Harris' "passage" along the coast of Ghana (1914). Wade Harris was one of the most interesting and discussed African prophet of the twentieth century, because of the extraordinary effects of his preaching along the West African Coast. My research includes a discussion in historical perspective of the past and present meanings of Wade Harris' extreme battle against fetish and all expressions of traditional and ancestral beliefs. The paper deals in particular with the shifting alliances between different social actors, political institutions, colonial administration and Christian churches in the days of Wade Harris' preaching in Ghana, at a time when new religious movements, such as the anti-witchcraft movements, old systems of belief, itinerant prophets and confessional churches were trying to find a political position within the colonial system and to increase the numbers of their followers. The paper interrogates colonial policies towards new religious movements and the different positions of local beliefs systems in this political arena.