CONFLICT PREVENTION, PEACE BUILDING AND SACRIFICE: THE AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN PERSPECTIVE
Abstract
Purpose of Study: The main objective of the study is exploring the use of indigenous traditional methods known to the indigenous people in conflict prevention and peace building in African traditional community. The study’s focus is on the Dagara in the Upper Western Region of Ghana – Nandom to be precise.
Methodology: The descriptive analytical sample survey was the research design that was used. This design was employed because it was the most appropriate design for a phenomenological research method. As a descriptive design the researchers went to the field to observe things for themselves and to ask the traditional believers about their sacrificial rites and how these rites influenced their moral lives. The study was a qualitative one, the method for its data collection were interviews and participant observations as its main instruments.
Result: The findings of the paper reveal that sacrifice and reconciliation are sine qua non for true peace building and conflict prevention in African traditional community for they not only reconcile man to his neighbour but they also reconcile man to his ancestors and the other deities. Despite this important role in conflict prevention and peace building, it seems Africans are overly concerned with imported mechanisms of peace building based on ‘imported’ or western mechanisms which eliminates a diversity of cosmologies and worldviews, thereby leaving out African traditional religious beliefs and practices as outmoded and irrelevant. The study revealed that as bedrocks of peace building and conflict prevention in traditional communities, sacrifice and reconciliation should not be neglected in the process of peace building and conflict prevention in our communities, the paper concludes.
Recommendation: The paper, therefore recommends that despite the orthodox approaches to peace and conflict resolution, in situations where these modern approaches have failed, there will be the need to revisit indigenous systems and mechanisms to achieve peace and resolve these conflicts.
Keywords: African Traditional religion, Conflict Prevention, Reconciliation and Sacrifice, Peace Building
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