Africa

Abstract

There are very few examples of African near-death experiences (NDEs) or statements that afterlife beliefs were grounded in them. This corresponds to beliefs that often bore few similarities to NDEs, a scarcity of relevant myths, and revitalization movements that lacked any significant relationship to NDEs. Instead, there were many myths explaining why people do not return from death; beliefs in the continued presence of ancestor spirits on Earth, and fear of their potential malevolent influence; shamanic practices that focused on possession and sorcery rather than soul travel; negative attitudes toward death, the dead, and the possibility of their return; burial practices that would not have facilitated revival; and simply a lack of interest in otherworldly afterlife speculations. When such beliefs were found, however, they did bear similarities to NDEs, perhaps indicating distant cultural memories of such experiences.