By Leo Igwe
In December, I attended a workshop on Decolonizing Secularity in Africa. It was one of my best conferences because it highlighted issues that have worried me over the years. For the first time, I attended an academic conference on religion or secularism in Africa that featured a panel on atheism and humanism in Africa. Organized by Point Sud, this workshop was held at Stellenbosch in South Africa. Interestingly I did not know about Stellenbosch’s colonial history and significance. So I could say with the benefit of hindsight that the choice of Stellenbosch as a venue for this event was adequate. The goal of the workshop was, based on the coloniality of secularity, to interrogate the “liberating force of religion, the secular in ethnic nationalisms, and the ideologies of culturalization, not least in its current revenant, heritagization, in Africa and beyond”. It was great to meet, discuss, and exchange ideas on colonization, decolonization, religion, and secularity with scholars and activists from different parts of the continent and the world. Many issues that emerged at the conference have continued to agitate my mind. First is the so much emphasis on colonization. I have continued to wonder: Can’t we meaningfully discuss African issues without alluding to colonialism? Again, reference is always made to Western colonialism. What about Eastern and other forms? Many parts of America were colonized at one point or the other. Weren’t they? Same with Europe, Asia, and Oceania. But it is only in the case of Africa that there is an overemphasis on Western colonialism. Incidentally, many African scholars have unwittingly joined in explaining Africa through the lens of colonialism, western colonialism.
The fixation on colonialism is not without a reason. I attended an African studies conference some years ago and someone alluded to a comment by a Western scholar, that regarding Africa, before colonialism, there was nothing. There was nothing? I was shocked to hear that comment. Look, that I do not know or nobody knows about a period in history, does not mean that there was nothing. Is it not better to say I do not know than to make such a dimwitted statement? What applies to Africa, applies to other places in the world. There are stages in their histories nobody knows what happened. Or what is known is patchy. That should not be a reason to say that there was nothing.
One issue that engaged attendees was the meaning of ‘decolonizing’. What does it mean to decolonize? Some define decolonization as removing or undoing colonial elements and influences. And if that is the case, what do we remove or undo? And who does that and Why? how do we undo the Western colonial linguistic influence? What about the eastern and other colonial elements? Is it possible or feasible to remove or undo all colonial influences? By the way, is religion or secularity as introduced to Africa decolonized?
Some participants argued that decolonizing secularity implied going back in time before colonialism. So, how far can we go and why? In the process won’t we go back to that time “when there was nothing?” Can’t we decolonize without returning to the past? Can’t we decolonize looking forward and not backward? Is religion or secularity not an embodiment of layers of influences over the years? If we were to peel off these ‘colonial’ elements, what would be left? Some propose a return to the indigenous forms of secularity or religion as the case may be. The question is this: What does indigenous mean? Who defines or determines it? Is the indigenous the same for all? What is considered indigenous to South Africans may not be to Kenyans, Nigerians, or Malians. What is considered indigenous in a part of Nigeria may be a legacy of the colonial influence by another part of Nigeria. So what is indigenous to Africa is not monolithic and regionally applicable.
That leads me to another controversial issue that came up at the workshop, which is, one secularity or multiple secularities. Some of the participants especially those from the Department of Religion, at the University of Cape Town were of the view that there was one secularity, that is the western secularity is manifesting in other climes, in different forms. While other participants from Europe leaned towards the notion of multiple secularities highlighting forms of distinction and differentiation between religion and other social domains across cultures. Although secularism or secularity is Western in origin, what the concept represents manifests in other cultures and societies. Secularities predate Western secularity or manifest and feature in ways that do not fit into or align with Western secularity.
As I noted earlier, there have been colonialisms before Western colonialism. There have been secularities before Western secularity.
Although Western colonialism brought the influence of western religion and secularity to bear on various cultures and societies, the colonial encounter does not negate the social differentiation of religion and other domains in these societies. It is only in seeing or articulating secularity in its multiple forms that these situations, dynamics, and intersections could adequately be captured. So, the concept of multiple secularities has enormous explanatory power. It is useful and helpful in highlighting the social distinction of religion and other domains in cultures and societies beyond the West.
For instance, western missionaries introduced christianity and the Christian god to Africa. What we have is one Christianity or Islam manifesting in different forms. Africans have adapted and reinvented the Christian religion over the years, hence the notion of African Christianities. Again while western Christian missionaries introduced Christian religion or religiosity, they did not introduce religion. religiosity, or the idea of god. There are other religiosities apart from and beyond Christianities/Christian religiosities. There are other gods and deities beyond the Christian god/deity. I think the idea of multiple secularities or multiple religiosities has much more descriptive value.
Another issue that came up at the event, not surprisingly so, was apartheid. One of the presenters analyzed the song, Senzeni Na (What have we done?) to buttress his point. I have never heard of the song. I didn’t know its relevance to the anti-apartheid struggle. In the course of the discussions, it was noted how other Africans including Nigerians are not conscious or sensitive to the pains of apartheid. I noticed from the expressions of some South Africans at the meeting that they were not happy with the nonchalant attitudes of Nigerians towards their experience. I believe that black South Africans are right to feel that way. The apartheid was a tragic experience that still hurts blacks in contemporary South Africa. The painful memories won’t quickly go away. Black South Africans should also understand that Nigerians have a different history and experience. They should also not forget that the Nigerian and other African governments contributed a lot to the anti-apartheid struggle. Nigeria supported Nelson Mandela and other heroes and heroines of the struggle.
Many South Africans do not relate to the tragedy of the Rwandan genocide as Rwandans do. They do not relate to the pain and trauma of the Nigerian civil war. In meetings and conferences, they treat these experiences and encounters lightly because these experiences were not a part of their history. As I noted during my conversations with some of the attendees, while I appreciate the pain and trauma of apartheid, Black South Africans must learn to move on because as they say in the Igbo language, Nke chi ka, meaning, the one yet to come, the future one, the one that belongs to tomorrow, is greater. The greatness of South Africa does not lie in the past but in its tomorrow, in its future. It does not mean that we should not refer or draw from the past. We should and we must. But South Africa is not returning to those days when Senzeni Na was sung. The country is forging ahead and moving towards a better and more glorious future.
This song provides a thrust for this forward and onward movement. It highlights the challenges that South Africans face and are facing. But more importantly, this song codifies the pain and suffering of all humans because all oppressed people everywhere; all who suffer persecution within and without South Africa are singing, Senzeni Na.
Leo Igwe was a co-convener of Decolonizing Secularity in Africa, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 9–13 December 2024