Interview

Molefi Asante’s Africa: The Ideology To Understand The Past

Published

3 years ago

September 24, 2021

NewTimes

Dele Jegede In Conversation With Prince Yemisi Shyllon

THE TOYIN FALOLA INTERVIEWS

A CONVERSATION WITH MOLEFI ASANTE, PART 3

Toyin Falola

Do please allow me to reveal Professor Asante’s mind in its full complexity! At this stage of his career, it has become irrelevant whether you agree with him or not!! Many historians construct a people’s past intending to understand the peculiarity of the worldview that shapes their identity in the way it appears. This is hinged on the understanding that the people’s history provides the materials for living their world and knowing why they choose a line of philosophy with which they have been identified from time. Historians push such frontiers because they believe it would be difficult to understand why they have continued in a direction that they are known for without understanding a people’s historical foundation. There is, therefore, an assumption within the historical scholarship that when a people are disconnected from their history, they stand the possibility of losing their identity and eventually their respect in the community of people because not only would they have been dispossessed of their spiritual and moral principles, they would also have embraced a different historical material that contests the originality of theirs, and eventually, subsumes their identity in the end. Curiously, Africa has become one of the continents in the world whose history is either deliberately or maybe systematically taken away from them for reasons that are not unconnected to the attempt by the orchestrators to keep them suppressed.

Meanwhile, the African intellectual geography identified these problems from its incubating period. They immediately recognize that the most potent way to challenge such destructive moves by their identity predators is to embrace their cultural traditions unapologetically. Asante is among these intelligent minds whose advocacy for indigenous Africa epistemic revival has reached the rooftop in recent academic engagements. Throughout the 20th century, this critical mind has continuously served as a front-liner in Africa’s activism of historical and cultural regeneration. Despite the impressive contributions that he has made in this case, his light of intellectualism did not go down in the 21st century either because he has championed the course of African mental freedom through the historical reconstruction of the African past. His intimidating stature in academic history cannot be overemphasized. So, when I asked him in one of the recent Toyin Falola Interview Series about what he considered as his intellectual legacy, I was not trying to claim ignorance of his wide-ranging intellectual potential; I was only interested in him restating it for revalidation before the international audience in the virtual meeting. Laden in that question is the attempt to excavate the ideology that can be used to understand the African past.

From the introductory expressions of this timeless sage, you can tell that the knowledge of the African past blossoms in his entire career and life. In the habit of paying homage, he began with acknowledging African ancestors, recognizing their efforts that have brought about the excellence he and other scholars of his network represent. Beyond the honour that he accorded to his ancestors is the epistemic exposition that Africans believe in the successive knowledge production where a generation makes efforts to preserve the wisdom and understanding of the ancient people and, under the same energy, transfer the inherited legacies to the generations that would succeed them. Considered superficially, one could think that such perception reveals an occultic hallucination about their traditional sources. Still, when considered deeply, one would see that such a mindset developed from the awareness of every individual’s uniqueness in making knowledge and transforming it into something valuable and eventful for society. In other words, everyone in the pre-colonial African society is a potential knowledge curator, and they are known to spread this knowledge at every given opportunity. So, the intellectual legacy of Asante is something linkable to what the African ancestors have accomplished. It is a continuation of it.

In all of the things this man has rolled out for African future generations, one thing stands out, and that is the project of creating an autobiography of discipline to which he has committed his lifetime attention, resources and energy . Creating such academic discipline is excellent for many reasons, chief of which is its capacity to reorient the African people about their history and recalibrate their minds towards accepting their identity, which has faced centuries of mindlessly callous derogation by the Euro-American imperialists. The argument consolidates the need for such indigenous knowledge production process that African mental and identity dislocation is a product of ceaseless disarticulation of their cultural heritage and spiritual value for at least 500 years. It is an irrefutable confession that a people who experienced such level of psychological re-engineering appearing in the form of the rhetoric of condescension, and some other cases, the strategic disqualification of their thought processes that informed their identity carving, cannot but experience the level of self-hate that exists in areas of Black community across the world, either in Africa or in Black America. Asante believes, and so do every Afrocentric scholar, that the problems facing Africans in contemporary time are socially constructed and can be surmounted by social re-engineering.

It should therefore come as no surprise, Molefi fired, that Africans of the contemporary time have lost their sense of direction. This conclusion is informed by observing their engagement in the current time, which indicates that they are generally consuming ideas from every other race of people but themselves because they do not produce theirs, as their ancestors uniquely did. Africans in modern times indulge in activities of the European practices, drag their African neighbours into it, and sometimes actively get involved in promoting the economic system that such European establishments have created. While they do this with no modicum of awareness, they become the targets of all other people because of the implicit conclusion from African behaviour that they are a people who undermine what their ancestral identity can give them. Meanwhile, all these things happen because Africans have been miseducated about themselves, reoriented about their history, and socially re-engineered to favour everyone but themselves. From all directions, the people have become a stockpile of disrespect and a statue of dishonour. Asante is confident that restoring the lost dignity can be achieved when institutions like the discipline he jointly created with others get the attention of people who think in similar directions.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable to expect that a man who has this lofty ambition about Africa showcases his commitment to such engagement beyond words. This explains why Asante was asked by one of the interviewers about his memoir and some other writings. Asante’s memoir, As I Run Toward Africa, which even from the title shows a thematic focus that seeks to validate the ethereal essence of the African continent and the people. In his response, he conceded that knowing Africa in the totality has been his ambition. There cannot be a contention that it involves a circle of the process that requires dedication, determination, and commitment. It is a process where one would be faced with a body of challenges that would want to douse the spirit of the ones doing this metaphorical running to their ancestral sources. It entails getting fabricated responses that would justify the identity of the Europeans, which has been imposed on the Black people. However, one’s level of discernment would assist in debunking materials aimed towards the deracination of the African identity because not only are there much of this stuff, but they are also capable of making individuals doubt what they were told to be their true history. Imagine a situation where people have a warped sense of an aspect of their culture; they would have internalized these values because they have been fed only with them.

Seeking knowledge is generally an arduous task, but seeking one’s identity in a provocatively hostile world to such redemptive engagement is more challenging. Therefore, it is expected that people would react dramatically to the ideas and philosophies to which the intellectual has dedicated his time and resources. This informs the question that I threw to the professor: how does he respond to the critics of the Afrocentric agenda, especially those who are excessively combative of anything that challenges the supremacy they have created in their minds? The Professor opened another discursive engagement in responding to this question, exposing an exciting debate line. He mentioned that the first waves of criticism directed to Afrocentricity came in the early 1980s after publishing the first work he did on the subject. Coming from a Marxist camp, they questioned the silence of the book on Black’s economic system and status, which, to them, forms a solid foundation for the promotion of racial discrimination and prejudices against them. The readied way by which Asante felt he could absorb this pressure was to reply that he did not mainly produce the work to serve as an expository essay for African economic systems and statuses in the world’s political order. He argued that it was meant to reinterpret the reality of the African world.

Despite its silence about the economic structure and culture as conceived by the Western society, the book does not, Asante explained, fail to express the African notion of economic growth, which he confessed stands on the principle of economic relations with people based on what they can share not necessarily in terms of material possessions. The underlying issue in this economic orientation is that the people are considered participants and not ordinary things in their immediate society’s economic engagement and system. Since it is based on the relationship between people, the total concentration lies in the values of the individual regardless of their material worth, as emphasized by the Western Marxist ideologues. However, criticism from the Marxist School would be the tip of the iceberg, as several others were coming from different angles. One of such angles is from the white conservatives who immediately became engrossed in the fear that Afrocentricity seeks to promote a black nationalist agenda, which they believe would challenge their racial superiority and technically reduce the privileges that come with it in the American society. It cannot be overemphasized that Black nationalism is a factor in American society and a potent instrument of emancipation among the Black community. However, the academic revolutionary Afrocentricity sought to serve was to announce itself as a cultural transformation seeking to find lasting solutions to African problems.

This discussion leads us to another exciting dimension of intellectual exchange that fueled the topic of Afrocentrism. In his interest in African history and culture, Asante has written many books on Africa, and it is logical to ask him of his motivation to do this. When asked, he once again held the audience spellbound with his very educative insights. Asante provides a rough-hewn view about the reasons for the continued undervaluation of the African people. He stated that the discovery struck him that several books which were written about Africans were authored by non-black educators and intellectuals, which confirms the assumption that there is a systematic effort for the marginalization, suppression and the oppression of these people or their deliberate underdevelopment through the production of knowledge that undermines the African identity. It is believed that when others author the materials about the African people, some among them will continue with their discriminatory and exploitative agenda. By the time an African is engrossed in such materials, they would have been wrongly designed to stand at variance to their ancestral values. This would inevitably create a self-hatred to their epistemic and spiritual beginning.

To Asante, many books were racist. They make essential efforts for the dislocation of African history because the authors were aware of the immeasurable danger it would mean to white supremacist people if it is discovered that Africa was indeed the economic stronghold of the American and other European societies. In recent years, discoveries have exposed the Western world to complicating the erosion of African worth and values. To the extent that the narrative shared in many of these books have a baseless historical foundation, no replicable archaeological engagement and obviously no reliable evidence to corroborate their wild assertions. Therefore, the awareness of this is enough motivation to embark on a research engagement that would help him make findings of the people he shares genetic (in)formation with. It would help provide an alternative perspective, albeit a revolutionary one, for the people who have hitherto been fed with fallacies that exist only in the imaginative world of the writers. Such writing would elevate and then animate the values of the African people, their cultural traditions, their arts, their knowledge production and even their philosophical history.

To achieve a feat such as this, there is bound to be some resistance level from different angles. Such resistance would have emerged for various reasons. It would be difficult for an American society that has successfully created the impression that the African people had no history or anything worthy of academic exploration to embrace an idea that contradicts this position. They would most likely violently rise against such a campaign because it would challenge the superstructure of the West founded on a foundation that the African people were devoid of past and records to assuage themselves of the character assassination that already follows them around. These are the initial challenges that confronted establishing a metaphysical foundation that will help promote African history in any respect. In essence, the recognition of the African historical scholarship and discipline in the American society is creditable to the ceaseless and endless demands by the African-American student populace who remained intransigent about their determination to include African history into their curriculum. Irrespective of contentions and controversies that this struck, their commitment to this ambition helped facilitate Africology and Black Studies to date.

In all of these, members of the African diaspora are usually confronted with the dilemma of tracing their cultural traditions and ancestral sources to a particular ethnic group and challenging the extremely racial American environment where they found themselves. Because of this identity plight, it is of essence that we know the contribution that genetic tracing could make in the enhancement of the search for a lost past. When asked about the possibility of disconnection between an African in the diaspora, especially those who have survived hundreds of years of oppression, marginalization and suppression, Asante answered that it should not generate the heat attributed to it in the recent years. He mentioned that although the people who are descendants of enslaved Africans are usually caught in the web of an identity crisis, they are stuck in the frenzy of finding their genetic beginning. However, people in this category should be informed that their shared experience in the diaspora has been the very foundation for the uniqueness of their Black identity.

Meanwhile, when ideas are set in motion, they continue to generate conversations that lurk themselves around matters of relatable values. Therefore, while the quest for Afrocentricity came to the zenith, there erupted the idea of decolonization. It is essential to understand how the scholars of Afrocentricity relate to this intellectual experience, hence the question posed by me to the versatile professor. It appears that there is a fundamental dissimilarity that exists between the two concepts, that is, Afrocentricity and Decoloniality, even when there are areas of convergence. Asante maintained that while both seek to achieve similar aims and objectives, they differ in their approach to getting the job done. According to him, the term decolonization has a way of placing Europe at the centre of African history, making the issues concerning their past, values, culture and political ideas revolve around European politics of imperialism. Sadly, this creates some challenges for the identity of Africans because it shows them as though their history began with the European penetration of their continent. Such strict concentration limits and then hinders their prospects of discovering their true identity.

The problem is multifaceted on many grounds. Even when you, for example, decolonize successfully, there is an aftermath discovery that the individual still battles with the vestiges of colonization either symbolically or ideologically. For instance, a decolonized African person can demonstrate their zeal for the colonial system even unconsciously; that is why they are in most cases bound to repeat the activities of their colonial masters in different but somehow complementary ways. Looking at the beautiful fabric of the Afrocentric agenda, it is apparent that they are out to achieve more than the mere destruction of the European civilization and or history which was imposed by the colonial experience. They are on the campaign to challenge the systematic racism that undermined African knowledge production and cultural beauty because their forebears were enslaved. In other words, they seek to advance the question of domination and subjugation and rejuvenate the African identity by questioning the structure that silences their identity. To them, Africa is the center of their protest, and the ambition was that it must be brought back to its deserved position in the scheme of things. Therefore, as Asante implies, when the decolonial scholars complete their expeditions, they would still need to be Afrocentric to replace the destroyed civilizations by Europe that have undermined and undervalued them for long.

(This is the first report on the interview with Professor Molefi Asante on September 19, 2021. For the transcript, see YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNMT3q-Psqc
and on Facebook. https://fb.watch/87kf9tlYA5/)

Falola is a Nigerian historian and professor of African Studies. He is currently the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.

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INTERVIEW

How A Dull Student Graduated From University With A First-class Degree

Published

6 months ago

June 18, 2024

NewTimes

Edirin Onomuakpokpo

How do you feel after making a first-class degree from the Nasarawa State University?

I feel very elated, in fact it’s a dream come true. At the time I got admission into Nasarawa State University Keffi, a lot of students tried to discourage me, including some of my course mates for being too serious with my academics, some of them even said “nobody will give you first class”. But after my first semester result at 100 level came out, I had 4.30/5.0. This was the moment that changed everything, I realized it was a goal possible to attain only if I put in more effort and work smarter. At the 200 level first semester, I already had a first class CGPA of 4.53, so I just kept on with the tempo. Although faced with so many challenges, at the end graduated as the best student in my department with a CGPA of 4.59

What are you doing currently?

Currently, l’m serving my father’s land under the umbrella of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). It’s a privilege to serve, I must say and I’m using this opportunity to impact the students at my PPA and ensuring they get the best education in both practical and theoretical aspects of their studies.

Judging by your name Emmanuel Edirin Onomuakpokpo, you are obviously from Delta State in the South-south. Why did you leave all the universities in the South-south to attend Nasarawa State University?

After I wrote my first JAMB in 2017, Delta State University, Abraka (DELSU) was the first school to which I applied. My dad wanted me to go for medicine but unfortunately I applied for medical biochemistry instead because I didn’t hit the cut-off mark for medicine in my JAMB. However, I had 98/100 in their Post-UTME exam but yet was not given admission to study medical biochemistry. I could remember crying my eyes out that year, seeing my friends whom we graduated from secondary school together gaining admission to universities, I never wanted to sit at home doing nothing. May be it was actually God’s plan not to get admission then because medicine was never something I envisaged for myself. My drive had always been agriculture because I have always loved the idea of growing food and feeding the nation as a kid. So, studying an agricultural discipline would be to me a fullfiment of that dream. The next year 2018, thanks to Engr. Uzoma Kenneth .K, a neighbour of ours at the time and a family friend who introduced me to the concept of agricultural biotechnology, he told me this was the future of modern agriculture and encouraged me to focus my attention there since I already had interest in agriculture. So that very year I researched schools that offer this course, to the best of my knowledge Nasarawa State University Keffi was the closest I could find. Proximity to the university was another advantage to me since we resided in Nasarawa State. These and many other factors contributed to me leaving all the universities in the South and studying at the prestigious Nasarawa State University, Keffi.

What inspired you to attain that academic height?

Let me cut the long story short. I wasn’t always this brilliant and intelligent. There was a time I was called dull by my principal when I was in primary school. I struggled with my academics so much that my principal had to advise my mum to change my school because he couldn’t help my situation. This made my mum cry so much and I could feel her pains. After my mum agreed to change my school, I was repeated and had to be in the same class with my younger sister at the time. The moment I will never forget was one fateful morning, I was seated at the back sit of the class writing my exams, I think English Language, as I was focused on my paper suddenly I heard my name Emmanuel!! with a thunderous and aggressive voice, when I raised my head up it was my quantitative reasoning teacher Mr. Haruna. I will never forget his name. He called me out to the front of the class, and without first telling me the crime I had committed, he gave me a dirty slap. After which in an angry tone, he told me I failed his quantitative reasoning exam, that I had 16/70. I held my face with my hands, because I was very fair, the marks of his hands were visible on my face. I went home that day with that trauma and anger and told myself that never again would I be humiliated because of my academic performance. I didn’t just tell myself out of emotion, I backed it up with actions. Nobody was telling me to read my books, I told myself, I stopped playing too much and I began focusing on my books. The next term after the previous one the incident happened, I came second in class. This made my mum so happy . My dad was in Benin at the time, he had to send a bicycle for me as his present to show his appreciation of my performance. I was happy with myself too. From then on, there was this consciousness I woke up to that ignited my desire to become the best in everything I do. I was also inspired by my dad’s academic performance, Mr. Augustine A. Onomuakpokpo. He graduated with a second class upper. At the time I got into the university I told him I was going to beat his results. He challenged me to it and now I guess I won, all glory be to God.

Did you envisage coming out of the university with that class of degree?

At first I envisaged graduating with a good grade, maybe second-class upper degree. But after my first semester result at the 100 level, I took a pen and wrote on a sheet of paper “l’m a First-class Plant Biotechnologist” and pasted it on my wall in my room. At this point I knew it was possible and waking up everyday to the writing on my wall, I became restless and heavy each time I missed out on my reading timetable because the man on the wall was the only thing I could see.

What were the challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?

The challenges were numerous but the most daunting one was the issue of balancing my academic life, social life and spiritual life. I had to find a way to be active in all. To surmount the issue of socialization, when I got into the university at the 100 level, because of how pro-active I was in all things pertaining to student welfarism, I was made the course representative. This exposed me to interacting with students from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions. I had to develop leadership skills, listening skills and attentiveness to be able to shoulder the responsibilities of being a course rep and secretary general of the department. I was also very active in religious activities. During the 100 level second semester, I discovered that from 100 – 400 levels, there was no group dedicated to actively putting my school especially my department in prayers, so I formed one and congregated students to intercede for the department. I believe our prayers worked and God helped us. Although I was engaged with all these activities, I also ensured that only 20% of my time was given to them and 80% of the time, I was always on my books.

How did your lecturers support you ?

I wouldn’t have achieved this great feat without the help of my lecturers. At this point, I’m proud to call them my mentors. They include Dr. Bello Abdulkarim, Dr. Muhammad Hassan Sani Loko and my very unquantifiably supportive supervisor Prof. J. C. Onovo. They saw the potential I was carrying, and they drew me close like a father would a son and constantly fed me with words of encouragement. Dr. Bello Abdulkarim and Dr. Muhammad Hassan Sani Loko would always admonish me and call me to order when they noticed I had derailed. University is a place filled with so many distractions, sometimes we may get carried away by activities forgetting the very reason why we are there. Having people like these was a blessing to me and I’m proud to say these were the people that encouraged me and pushed me beyond my self to bring out academic excellence in me.

What is your plan after your youth service?

My plan after my youth service is to get a fully funded scholarship in Canada, USA or Europe, to further my academic career in order to gain advanced knowledge in scientific research especially in the area of biotechnology, genome sequencing, environmental conservation, plant breeding and genetics, and bio-resource engineering. So that with the scientific skills acquired from this programme, I would be able to positively impact the Nigeria agricultural sector and the world at large, to help combat the issue of food insecurity and to proffer solutions to plant-related issues using biotechnology.

What advice do you have for students who desire to graduate with a first-class degree?

My advice is simple, make your academics your priority and exclude unnecessary distractions and put God first. Have a CGPA goal for each semester and remember each time you fail is an opportunity to reinvent yourself to do better the next time you try.

Interview

Toyin Falola Interviews To Hold Panel Discussion On Languages And Archives In Knowledge Reproduction About Africa

Published

11 months ago

February 8, 2024

NewTimes

The Toyin Falola Interviews has scheduled a discussion with distinguished panelists, Professors Ngom Fallou, Ghirmai Negash, Abiodun Salawu, and John Mugane, who will be sharing their expertise on “Languages and Archives in Knowledge Production About Africa”.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

5 PM Nigeria

10 AM Austin

https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/Languages

Join via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81714206181

Interview

Pentecostalism In Africa (1)

Published

11 months ago

February 1, 2024

NewTimes

Prof. Toyin Falola

By Toyin Falola

Of all the things that have happened to the African continent in the past decades, the growth and expansion of Christianity and Islam have been one of the most impressive. This deep commitment to faith is not totally removed from the natural gravitation toward hope and positivity. Against the background of declining opportunities, many Africans have found solace in religion and the promise of a better life. If things don’t work well on Earth, the afterlife offers more than a promise.

Within the enormous growth of Christianity in Africa has been the steady rise in the popularity and expansion of Pentecostalism. The socio-economic, religious, and political nuances of the rise of Pentecostalism will be one of the subjects of the Interview with a preeminent figure, Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, on February 4, 2024.

Pentecostalism on the African continent dates to the early 20th century, with the earliest movements such as the Apostolic Faith Mission, Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal Zionist Movement (all in South Africa), l’Église Harriste (in Côte d’Ivoire), Christ Apostolic Church, morphing from Precious Stone Society, and the Apostolic Church (all in Nigeria). Some would argue that I may be confusing some of these churches with latter-day Pentecostal ones.

Pentecostalism took off during the colonial era, heavily influenced by the American Pentecostals, including but not limited to William Seymour (who wrote the Apostolic Faith newspaper that sparked the influx of Pentecostalism into the continent), Lucy Farrow, Paul Marty, and Julia Hutchins. Like all successful expansions in history, the Pentecostalist movement came to Africa at a time when the environment was fertile for its growth. Some would also argue that Pentecostalism was homegrown.

The African people were subjected to colonialism, and in seeking a way out, they found hope in the core ideals of the new movement — grace, salvation, an afterlife, spiritual empowerment through the Holy Ghost, healing, and wonders — promises that held liberation for the people and freedom from the shackles of the second-class citizenship that colonialism offered them on their soil.

The case has often been made in favour of classifying religion as a social concept. This classification does not seek to discredit the divinity that any of the religions claim. However, it is a way to argue that religions belong in the human society, by humans; as much as cultures and civilizations belong to the human society. A point of note in the argument for the classification of religion as a social concept is religious syncretism. Just like any other human social phenomenon capable of influencing and being influenced by other phenomena, religions and religious denominations and factions influence and get influenced by other religions and religious denominations, and Pentecostalism is not an exception.

Pentecostalism has witnessed several cultural adaptations and syncretism. Religious worship among Christians is subjected to personal perceptions and subjective interpretations of the divine. A Christian can only offer worship in the best way he can conceive in his mind who his Creator is. He can imagine the wonders of the Creator. Therefore, as the Pentecostalism movement grew in popularity across and spread across the African continent, it was influenced by several indigenous African belief systems and practices.

The result has been a dynamic interplay of Pentecostal Christianity with traditional African spirituality, giving rise to unique, Afrocentric expressions of faith. One of these unique, Afrocentric expressions of faith is the upbeat mode of religious worship among Pentecostal churches. This upbeat mode reflects vibrant and lively music, energetic dancing, loud prayer sessions, and an insurmountable belief in the intervention of divine forces in terrestrial affairs.

Furthermore, the communal nature of African societies, influencing the people’s strong belief in and connection to their ancestral heritage, has made the belief in and war against ancestral curses, “village people”, and witchcraft popular elements in the Pentecostalism practised in the African continent. From the earliest years, prayers of war against witches, wizards, and enemies formed an integral part of churches such as the Christ Apostolic Church and even served as one of the biggest factors in the swift growth and expansion of African Pentecostal churches.

I stated above that Pentecostalism has been one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the African continent. However, it is vital to note that Pentecostalism’s growth has not only been about the founding of several churches and the expansion of such churches across Africa and other continents. Beyond its spiritual dimensions, Pentecostalism has highly influenced the social landscape in Africa. The swift growth and expansion of Pentecostal churches, the construction of mega-church buildings, and the management of several church-owned operations have also meant that these churches have become large employers of labour, with thousands of members earning their living through church operations. Some of these large Pentecostal churches own printing presses, primary schools, secondary schools, and universities — some of which have gone on to be ranked among the best institutions on the continent.

These large-scale operations have afforded people access to education and employment, two of the most critical elements in any society. Furthermore, donation and support outreaches are an integral part of the existence of many of these churches. There is no denying the level of influence Pentecostal churches wield in society, from the grassroots to the elite strata, especially as their large sizes mean they can always boast of members in every industry and at every level. The brotherhood approach of these Pentecostal churches means members are quick to identify and help each other. This, often called “being favoured”, is a case where members of mega Pentecostal churches belonging to the elite strata of society find placement for their fellow church members at government parastatals and institutions, multi-national companies, and other companies.

The founding of mega Pentecostal churches and the construction of grand worship centres have also been instrumental in the construction of healthcare centres, road networks, and housing structures. Furthermore, several African Pentecostal churches have been involved in the organization of large-scale empowerment programs, especially for women and youth, and community development initiatives, including serving as pressure groups to influence government policies.

In saying that Pentecostalism in Africa has experienced immense growth, I am also saying that while globalization has become increasingly realistic with the increased connectivity of people across the globe, Pentecostal churches in Africa have tapped into the advantages of technology to bring their operations to a global audience. Several Pentecostal African churches — such as The Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Christ Apostolic Church, The Apostolic Church, United Family International, Church Doxa Deo, CRC Church, the Living Faith Church, Deeper Life Bible Church, and the Church of Pentecost — have established a global presence spanning hundreds of countries, influencing the diaspora community, and contributing to the global Pentecostal movement.

The introduction of satellite television networks played a crucial role in the expansion of African Pentecostal churches into the diaspora. As members of these African churches relocated to other countries, they sought the need to continue in fellowship with their churches and founded branches in their new locations, getting an easy connection to the headquarters through the internet, satellite television, and transnational networks. African Pentecostal churches in the diaspora do not only impact global Christianity, but they also play an unmistakable role in the shaping of the religious experiences of the African diaspora, serving as a haven and a new family for new immigrants and positioning as centres of cultural preservation, spiritual solace, and community building.

Although there has been immense growth and expansion within the Pentecostal movement in Africa — with an undeniable socio-economic impact — there are deeds and developments among Pentecostal churches on the continent that leave room for criticism and questions.

To properly explore Pentecostalism in Africa, it is vital to examine some of the critiques that have been levelled against Pentecostal churches on the continent. The first and perhaps biggest concern that has been brought up in the wake of the growth of Pentecostalism has been the commercialization of spirituality, a phenomenon that has manifested itself through several dimensions. There have been cases of churches categorizing spiritual problems and assigning financial costs to each category for members seeking deliverance.

There has also been an emphasis on tithes, offerings, and giving back to the church, sometimes overly emphasized at the detriment of the giver, who may not be financially buoyant but must succumb to the pressure and belief in the promises of manifold blessings and the multiple returns on every token given for every token given.

Several Pentecostal churches in Africa promote the prosperity gospel, which has seen their leaders rank among some of the wealthiest spiritual leaders in the world. The theological concepts of the prosperity gospel emphasize material wealth as a sign of God’s favour, sometimes elevated as the core of a church’s message, thereby ignoring the possibility of members seeking wealth, including through financial misappropriation, fraud, embezzlement, and other crimes.

Over the years, doctrinal controversies have also rocked the Pentecostal movement in Africa, sometimes threatening to disrupt the movement and tear it asunder. Although Pentecostal churches on the continent share some common beliefs revolving around salvation through grace, healing, and some other concepts, there are stark differences in some of their doctrines, with some churches accusing others of peddling heresy. The doctrinal divergence in the African Pentecostal movement has sparked theological debates, including spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, the role of women in the church, and what constitutes holiness.

Pentecostalism in Africa has come a long way, and by all indications, it shows the potential to grow in leaps and bounds. It is, therefore, with utmost pleasure that I invite you to join us on the next edition of The Toyin Falola Interviews, where we will host Apostle Professor Onyinah — a scholar of excellence and a leading theologian in the field of African Pentecostalism.

Sunday, February 4, 2024

5:00 PM Nigeria

4:00 PM Ghana

10:00 AM Austin CST

Register and Watch:

https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/opokuonyinah

Join via Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87059407807