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Accepted Paper:
Present yet invisible: the study of African indigenous religions at the University of Ghana
Rose Mary Amenga-Etego
(University of Ghana)
The establishment of the University College of the Gold Coast, now the University of Ghana (UG), in 1948 was a significant landmark for the contemporary academic study of religion in Ghana. The Department of Divinity, as it was called at its inception, would by 1962 be renamed the Department for the Study of Religions reflecting the religio-cultural dynamism and religiously pluralistic nature of the new nation state of Ghana. This change also saw the inclusion of Africa’s Indigenous (Traditional) Religions in the curriculum which over the decades has developed into the nexus of the department’s programmes of study. As the current lecturer of African Indigenous Religions at UG, this contribution is a reflection on the trajectories in its development, taking into consideration the challenges and opportunities. As a lived but not professed religion in Ghana, its study as an academic subject reflects the ambiguity associated with it and how Ghanaians consistently negotiate the realities of daily life.