Counter-Hegemonic Mobilities: Burgerisation and the Transnationalisation of Ghanaian Indigenous Religions
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Counter-Hegemonic Mobilities: Burgerisation and the Transnationalisation of Ghanaian Indigenous Religions
Publisher: Journal of Indigenous and Shamanic Studies
Pub: 2026-08-13 13:38:07
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This papere xamines the activities of Indigenous Religious Traditions’ (IRTs) priests and priestesses who cross borders from their localities to international destinations. This is grounded in an ongoing, unacknowledged religious competition within Ghana’s religious market, which pits Christianity against others, including IRTs. Over the years, the leading Christian group in Ghana has called IRTs the devil’s stronghold that keeps followers in servitude and has often celebrated their victory, hibernating it. In contemporary times, a new breed of indigenous priests engages in positive, rebellious activities, employing counterhegemonic strategies, discourses, and claims to authenticity through the media to advance their advocacy. The counter-hegemonic approach openly posits that IRTs are authentic and possess potent spiritual powers, which Christian pastors seek to tap into and utilise for their miracle services. It argues that the internationalising agenda by IRTs priests is part of a new strategy meant to stage an IRTs comeback not only on the religious scene in Ghana but also to announce their presence to the world. Data were gathered through an ethnographic method. The religious market and the concept of burgerisation were used to analyse the data. The findings indicate that the transnationalisation of IRTs is not incidental; instead, it is strategically constructed and rooted in earlier cultural revival movements of the 1960s and 1980s, driven by diasporic demand and supported by institutional efforts such as the Ghana Psychic and Traditional Healers Association (1962) and the Afrikania Movement (1982), which were targeted at modernising IRTs.
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Keywords
Indigenous religious traditions, burgerisation, cultural revival, religious tourism, reverse mission, religious marketplace
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Keywords
Indigenous religious traditions, burgerisation, cultural revival, religious tourism, reverse mission, religious marketplace