Religion, Race and Ethnicity in East Africa

Abstract

A close link can be discerned between religion on the one hand, and racial and ethnic issues on the other. Adapting a proposal by Spiro, Worsley defines religion as a system of culturally patterned interaction with a culturally postulated superhuman realm (Worsley 1968: xxxiii– xxxiv; Spiro 1966: 96). The entities in question are not empirically observable but religious beliefs and practices have observable consequences, and some of these relate to race and ethnicity. Ethnic units are often associated with religion. Religion gives support to and sustains certain values, which form part of culture, which in turn is related to ethnic identity. Although conversion to different religions, and to different religious bodies, can and does occur, overwhelmingly people in most societies continue to give allegiance to the religious tradition into which they were socialized. Religion for most people is a cultural matter rather than an allegiance based upon assent to a set of dogmas, or even upon an act of faith. For reasons such as this, religion is often seen as almost a primordial bond (cf. Geertz 1963: 109), and can manifest itself as such in the political sphere. In homogeneous societies religious and cultural values can reinforce one another: Durkheim shows this in his classic study (1915). Problems can however arise in a heterogeneous society when ethnic and religious identities are linked.