BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE CROSS: RELIGION, SLAVERY, AND THE MAKING OF THE ANLO-EWE

The idea that mission Christianity played a pivotal role in the creation of modern African ethnic identities has become paradigmatic. Yet, the actual cultural and social processes that facilitated the widespread reception of specific ethnic identities have been under-researched. Suggesting that hist...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of African history Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 45 - 64
Main Author: VENKATACHALAM, MEERA
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2012
Subjects:
20th century
African Christianity
African culture
African history
Christian history
Christian missionaries
Christianity
Christians
Colonization.(colonial history and chronicles)
Cultural identity
Deities
Ethnic groups
Ethnic Identity
Ethnicity
Ethnology
Ewe
Ewes
Females
Ghana
Historians
Historical source materials
History
Identity formation
Missionaries
Non-Christian
Politics of Ethnic Identity Formation
Religion
Religious rituals
Rituals
Slave women
Slavery
Slaves
Social processes
Sources and methods
Theology
Twentieth Century
Women
Colonial period
West Africa
Ghana
slavery
Ghana
ethnicity
religion
Slavery
Ethnicity
Anlo Ewe
Religion
Social role
Missions
Formation
Ethnic group
ISSN:0021-8537, 1469-5138
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The idea that mission Christianity played a pivotal role in the creation of modern African ethnic identities has become paradigmatic. Yet, the actual cultural and social processes that facilitated the widespread reception of specific ethnic identities have been under-researched. Suggesting that historians have overemphasised the role of Christian schooling and theology in ethnic identity formation, this article examines how the Anlo people of south-eastern Ghana came, over the twentieth century, to recognise themselves as part of the larger Ewe ethnic group. Although Christian missionaries were the first to conceive of ‘Ewe’ as a broad ethnic identity, a corpus of non-Christian ritual practices pioneered by inland Ewe slave women were crucial to many Anlos' embrace of Eweness.
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ISSN:0021-8537
1469-5138
DOI:10.1017/S0021853712000059