PERSONHOOD IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION: UNDERSTANDING THE NGAS PERSON

Nenman Danjuma Wapwera

Department of Religion and Philosophy,

University of Jos, Nigeria.

Email: nwapwera@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The search for the meaning of the concept ‘personhood’ has generated a huge debate in various disciplines and religions for a long time across the globe. This article examined the concept of personhood in Ngas traditional religious thought and also how the Ngas person is made. Persons are at the centre most worlds’ religions and in Ngas traditional religion they also occupy the centre stage. Understanding the Ngas person will give one the opportunity of understanding the Ngas religion. To carry this anthropological research, the researcher was able to use the ethnographic method of data collection. Interviews were conducted mostly with practitioners of the religion and also some elders who were part of the religion before now. Participant observation was also employed. Secondary sources of data from existing literature were also used for the compilation of this work. This research work has brought into lime light the understanding of the Ngas person, his identity and also that the status of a person amongst the Ngas is not something that one is birthed with but rather a status that one acquires as he/she grows in conformity with the laid down rules and procedures of the community. Rite of passage plays an important role in this capacity. The researcher recommends that more scholarship be carried out in this field for future of the tradition.

Keywords: Personhood, Ngas, Traditional Religion