The Sacred as Theory: Decolonizing Anthropology through African Indigenous Religions in Nigeria
Abstract
Anthropology in Africa remains shaped by colonial legacies that influence curricula, research priorities, and scholarly canons. While calls to decolonize the discipline are not new, structural, epistemic, and institutional barriers continue to obstruct real transformation, raising urgent questions about the feasibility of meaningful change. This paper critically engages the paradoxical nature of decolonizing African anthropology, its seeming impossibility and simultaneous necessity by drawing on reflections from Nigeria to examine how global hierarchies, western epistemologies, and educational systems reproduce colonial logics. Informed by personal academic encounters and anchored in both historical and contemporary sources, I argue that young African scholars, especially graduate students working in and on Africa, must treat the decolonization project not as a distant ideal but as an urgent academic and political responsibility. Using Nigeria as a case study, I explore the tensions between global academic recognition and local epistemic justice, and call for a shift toward research and pedagogy rooted in African histories, communities, and futures. This paper joins ongoing efforts to reclaim anthropology as a practice of liberation, grounded in accountability and epistemic courage.