Paper short abstract:

Based on West African sources from as early as late nineteenth century, the paper investigates new global genealogies of African traditional practices, particularly Ifá, at the intersection of religion, science, and esotericism. This can open up new approaches to religion in Africa in the future.

Paper long abstract:

Like many African traditional practices, the divination and healing practice Ifá has travelled across national borders and oceans. This kind of globalisation of African traditional practices is often discussed under the rubric of the “neo-traditional,” thereby suggesting that the proper traditional practices are local and idiosyncratic to the indigenous context with which they are often identified as their origin. In the case of Ifá, for example, it is seen as the gateway to Yoruba cosmology, original to the Yoruba in West Africa. This seems to be paradoxical considering Ifá’s obvious ability to transgress these cultural boundaries. The paper seeks to address this paradox by looking into West African sources as early as the late nineteenth century which conceptualized Ifá. In these sources, it is noticeable that Ifá is embedded within global discourses of religion, science, and esotericism. Ifá is seen as a practice comparable with Kabbalah and Theosophy and rising beyond the emerging materialist demarcation of science and religion, uniting both of these entities. The paper argues that this global affirmative comparison was not accidental but arose from and ultimately adapted missionary and travel literature’s perception of African traditional practices. Thus, the paper calls for writing new and different genealogies of African traditional practices in which they did not fall outside of global debates but took active part in the formation of them.