Paper short abstract:

Across Africa, many Christians and Muslims associate indigenous African traditions with backwardness and witchcraft. This paper examines how Giriama people in coastal Kenya protect their indigenous traditions against such criticism, by (re)presenting it as art, religion, or heritage.

Paper long abstract:

In many African societies today, Christians, Muslims and state actors denigrate indigenous African traditions as backward, idolatrous, and connected to witchcraft (Kresse 2019; Smith 2008; Larkin and Meyer 2006). This puts pressure on indigenous groups who struggle to preserve and practice their traditions. This also pertains to the Giriama, who coexist with Christians and Muslims in coastal Kenya (McIntosh 2009). This paper examines attempts of Giriama people to protect their indigenous traditions against Muslim and Christian criticism by arguing their traditions are not witchcraft, but art, heritage, or religion instead. These are different frames through which elements of the past are selected as relevant for the present (cf. Burchardt 2020). These frames circulate globally, and thus are not initially of the Giriama’s own making. This raises pertinent questions about the opportunities and challenges these frames offer for marginalized indigenous groups who wish to preserve their traditions. This paper addresses these questions based on an examination of attempts of Giriama people to gain recognition by (re)presenting their indigenous traditions as arts (usanii), religion (dini), or heritage and culture (utamaduni). The paper asks: what elements of Giriama tradition are highlighted and/or downplayed when Giriama people creatively (re)frame their traditions in these ways? How do these articulations overlap or contradict with understandings and evaluations of Christians, Muslims, and others with whom they interact? And how do different articulations of Giriama tradition allow for various ways to understand and regulate diversity?