Akofena (Sep 2022)
Religious dualism and social sustainability in Cyprian Ekwensi’s Burning grass
Abstract
This article intends to elaborate on african traditionalism, magic and spirituality as they peacefully coexist with the Fulani’s islamic practices in Burning Grass. It becomes actually interesting to probe into how the islamic Fulani of Ekwensi’s novel get african traditional and magical practices coexist side by side with their islamic religion to favor social sustainability. The Fulani islamic group portrayed in the novel constitutes an excellent model of religious dualism, since it shows how african and imported islamic beliefs can coexist and collaborate. In Burning Grass, the two religions are never opposite against one another as it has for long been proclaimed to create religious chauvinism and clashes. This article shows how, in Burning Grass, the islamic religion peacefully coexists with the Fulani’s traditional african values, magic and spirituality in accordance with the dualistic ideology. Besides, the study demonstrates that religious dualism avoids religious discords and promotes social sustainability. A major result is that religious dualism better fits the african context for a peaceful collaboration between different religions to guarentee development. Religious purism has no chance to survive in a highly religious African continent. Another result is that the policy of association as promoted by the dualistic ideology transpires in the way Ekwensi’s characters make coexist African and islamic practices.
