Performing Religiosity: Protest and Prayer Performance in a Nigerian University
- Title
- Performing Religiosity: Protest and Prayer Performance in a Nigerian University
- list of authors
- Stephen T. Ogundipe
- Abstract
- This chapter focuses on campus religiosity at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, by exploring the connection between labour activism and spiritualities. It examines the convergence of prayer practices of Christianity, Islam and African traditional religion as political praxis. It considers the sacred space and some practices that allowed three ideologically distinct religions to stay simultaneously connected. The study relies on materials gathered from in-depth interviews, participant observation and media reports. It utilizes Welsch’s (1999) transculturality and FitzGerald’s (2012) prayer performance as frameworks to bring to light religious tolerance and harmonious relationships among the three religions on the campus. The study discovers that multi-religious prayers were largely ennobled by the protesting non-academic staff’s shared identity of transcultural values. The non-teaching staff unions of Nigerian universities comprise the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT). The study concludes that the paradigm of traditional African religion, with its obsession with rituals and sometimes malicious purposes, may have a polemical purpose.
- Book Title
- Religiosity on University Campuses in Africa: Trends and Experiences
- Place of Publication
- Berlin
- Publisher
- LIT Verlag
- Date
- 2023
- page start
- 219
- page end
- 242
- Language
- Anglais
- Type
- Chapitre de livre
- Spatial Coverage
-
Nigéria
Part of Performing Religiosity: Protest and Prayer Performance in a Nigerian University