The autobiography Of Water and the Spirit presents factual accounts of the interactions between different religious ideologies, and the quest to rediscover lost identity. The paper introduces afrocentricity as the main concept in the book from which different spiritual cultures are explained. A description of African ontological view is offered to contextualize the arguments advanced. The need for different worldviews of the concepts of spirituality and initiation is advanced in as the conflict to the thesis and an alternative view to afrocentricity. The paper concludes by reinstating the importance of the thesis and the need for alternative views of the phenomenon in decision-making.
Somé's book, Of Water and Spirit , epitomizes desacralization of African culture through demystification of Christianity, which Mazama (2002) argued to be culpable for White supremacy. Afrocentiricity main tenet is the centrality of African experience for African people and covers historical and cultural aspects. The implication for those concerned is that afrocentricity calls for absolute commitment without the double-consciousness depicted by some factions bent on treating it as part-time. The experiences of Somé embody this concept by highlighting the reestablishment of the process towards spirituality. In this respect, it is imperative to perceive Of the Water and Spirit as both an account of the life of Somé and an African worldview of the Dagara man. Abduction and subjection to traditional western thought of spirituality for fifteen years did not stop Somé’s resolve to reestablish their African worldview both physically and spiritually. The paper advances the argument of African ontological view that centralizes on afrocentricity philosophy as the valid way of viewing the world that potentially reestablishes the process of Africans’ arrival to spirituality.
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African Ontological View and Initiation Concepts
Afrocentricity entails the recovery of freedom and creativity, thus severs as a measure of African lives that informs all practices. According to Mazama (2002), the philosophy represents an emancipatory movement characteristic of African resistance to Western oppression. Of Water and the Spirit sough to break the tradition of progress towards the negative side of the cultural competence continuum comprising elements of destruction, blindness, and incapability, by shifting towards those of pre-competence, competence, and proficiency (Harvey & Rauch, 1997). Somé (1995) illustrated the need to transmute African ethos into African western culture to enhance survival against racist oppression. Somé had to undergo the Dagara’s Baar, a spiritual initiation process. Throughout the book Somé highlights important points in integration of the African and western culture. Notable is the definition of their name ‘Nicole’, which is derived from Greek and means victory. The name Malidoma in Dagara language means befriending the enemy, which was also Somé’s life mission. However, Somé delinks from the western world through application of magic in personal life and lives of the Dagara people, contrary to western teachings they were subjected to for fifteen years. Somé (1995) portrays magic as central to the Dagara and African culture and is viewed positively in the field of religion.
Soméharbors afrocentricity ideologies since childhood and in adult life, but to realize the journey to spirituality, they must reestablish their link to the Dagara culture through initiation. The author portrays themselves as a man of two cultures with contradicting versions of reality, a state that clearly brings out white religious colonialism in Africa. Somé must undertake the journey to the depths of the Daraga culture where the distinction between the natural and thee supernatural is nonexistent; a world of black magic, where the living converse with the dead, palpable spirits, and trans-dimensional journeys, whose existence they must convey to the west as knowledge of the African people. The initiation highlights the two core elements of spirituality and interconnectedness of afrocentricity philosophy that predated European and Arab influences (Harvey & Rauch, 1997). It is evident that Somé is in search of an African worldview, which defines human mission in life to be devine, by living life grounded in virtue and morality. The case presented by Somé (1995) showed that when humans are alienated from mutually supportive relationships, dysfunction occurs. Dysfunction can be addressed by connecting people to each other, which is the role of the initiation process.
Initiation is the central theme in Of Water and the Spirit because it represents transformation from western spirituality to African culture. According to Harvey and Rauch (1997), initiation as a rite of passage is a model in which afrocentricity ethos are crystalized. The African's shaman's initiation illustrated the importance of the rite of passage in gaining insights into the depths of African spiritual culture. The African's shaman's initiation corroborates the afrocentricity concept of life being transformational, where dead ancestors continue to exist as spiritual energies among the living, assisting them. Traditional African societies structures the rite of passage where the spirits were invoked to offer guidance to the child with the help of thee elders and the community. During initiation, individuals are impacted with knowledge, consciousness, and skills needed to lead adult life. By going through African's shaman's initiation, Somé gained deeper understanding of African spiritual culture and readiness to present the African ontological view off the world.
Conflicting Claims/Rebuttal of Thesis
Somé’s autobiography is an account of losing and discovering their cultural and spiritual heritage. It cannot be doubted that Of Water and the Spirit offers an insider’s account of the west’s religious colonialism in Africa, but it is important to point out that the story is a struggle with identity questions that affect all people. The account presents a worldview perspective of looking at spiritual cultures. One would argue that if the whites were the recipients of thee oppression, the reaction in the ultimate search for identify would have culminated in initiation to find meaning in the depths of culture. Therefore, the book must not be employed as a weapon for bashing the western culture, but rather as a framework for recognizing existential differences in spiritual cultures and the need to respect them. Some faced the struggle to understand the two sides of reality, and only by living each could they become apprehensive of them all. The decision to rediscover the lost African spiritual culture may not be a form of resistance as portrayed in Mazama (2002), but a quest for the other side of the story to enhance understanding of the differences and present a clear worldview of each.
Alternatives and Recommendations
An alternative perspective to the thesis is that afrocentricity is portrayed in negative light because the model in which its ethos and virtues in matters of spirituality is wanting. The conservative approach employed by adherents of African spiritual culture shields followers from exposure to other worldviews of spirituality, limiting their decision-making. Somé had the privilege of experiencing both sides of spiritual culture, and the evident lack of criticism of the western spiritual culture (Christianity), implies resistance was not the motive of their initiation, but soul searching to in understanding different worldviews. Therefore, it is important for advocates of afrocentricity to adopt a similar perspective that gives followers different worldviews of spiritual cultures to inform individual decision-making.
Conclusions
Attempts by white religious supremacists to portray the western religious culture as superior to African spiritual culture are misguided. However, the need to understand the former is imperative in the quest to rediscover lost connections to African culture. It is important to have visions that encompass both worlds to inform harmonious co-existence between humanity despite ideological differences.
References
Harvey, A. R., & Rauch, J. B. (1997). A comprehensive Afrocentric rites of passage program for black male adolescents. Health & Social Work , 22 (1), 30-37.
Mazama, M. A. (2002). Afrocentricity and African spirituality. Journal of Black Studies , 33 (2), 218-234.
Somé, M. P. (1994). Of water and the spirit: Ritual, magic, and initiation in the life of an African shaman . Putnam.
