Episteme and the study of the African Religious Heritage: Towards the use of relative epistemologies

Abstract

The African religious experience and heritage have been a focal point of enquiry for many centuries. Unfortunately, the depiction of such an African cultural and religious heritage have often been characterized by misconceptions and elaborate distortions. These appear to be a result of detached approaches that western scholars used in the interrogation or evaluation of the African religious heritage. Most of these approaches centred on cultural absolutism rather than relativism. In such forms of inquiry, western ideals and culture became a rubric or a point of reference for evaluating non-western cultures, specifically the African religious heritage. Using a qualitative research method, characterised by document analysis, this paper critically debates against the use of cultural absolutism rather than relativism in the evaluation of the African religious heritage, and advocates for the use of relative epistemologies for the exploration of indigenous religions.