The Usage of African Religious Symbolism, Proverbial Wisdom and Myths in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding

Abstract

All civilizations continue to tackle the challenge of finding peaceful solutions to protracted violent conflicts arising from everyday economic and socio-political interactions. In African societies, traditional religious beliefs, symbolism, proverbs, myths, rituals and practices constitute valuable resources for conflict management strategies for resolving everyday conflicts among individuals and inter- and –intra ethno-political forces. Nonetheless, violent and deadly conflicts continue to erupt periodically which necessitates the intervention of authoritative third parties (such as traditional political actors and community elders) employing mediation strategies like consensus-building and reconciliation, in order mitigate or restrain violence and restore peace and stability in the society. This comes as a surprise considering the fact that the religious and philosophical bases of African conflict transformation mechanisms has been given less attention in most of the peace and conflict programmes in the leading academic institutions in Africa and overseas. Hence, this piece enhances our understanding of the role of African religious doctrines, canons and philosophy expressed as proverbs, myths and symbols underpinning conflict resolution and peace-building activities. These African expressive cultural elements conform to the universal values of peace, tolerance, love and the respect for human life embedded in the major world religions. In sum, they have the potential to contribute immensely to the existing peace education programmes and the development of moral values and ethical norms for the building of sustainable peace in Africa and beyond.