Religion and Society in Central Africa: The Bakongo of Lower Zaire [Paperback]

Wyatt Macgaffey (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 295 pages
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press (September 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226500306
• ISBN-13: 978-0226500300
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,596,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for Anthropology, Cultural & History Enthusiasts, January 5, 2010

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Derric "Rau Khu" Moore author of MAA ... - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Religion and Society in Central Africa: The Bakongo of Lower Zaire (Paperback)

I being an African American male, love to read books especially those books that help give me insight into my cultural heritage. So, when this book became available I jumped at the first opportunity I had to purchase it. After doing so, I was not disappointed because it has served as an invaluable reference for me. The reason is because before the Transatlantic Slave Trade begin, the first people the Portuguese met were the Kongo people. As a result, the first people enslaved and taken to the Americas were the Kongo people and consequently, the first Sub-Saharan Africans that Westerners had a chance to learn from were the people of the Kongo.

Discussed within this book is how the Kongo society use to function prior to slavery. Kongo thoughts and ideas about the universe, the ancestors, magic, rites-of-passage, religion, religious movements after slavery and many other concepts, that would clearly indicate that many of the cultural roots of Afro-American culture come from Central Africa.

The reason why I like this book so much is because it helped me to see that many of the cultural practices that my family and friends practice to this day 500 years later, exist and came from this region. In that regards, this book has helped to dispel the notion that certain practices were superstitious and gave rhyme to reason to why the practices were done.

Like most books written from an ethnographer perspective, it presents findings and tends to be quite dry, but, it has enough rewards in it to make the subject matter interesting. That being said, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in cultural anthropology, history and the study of resistance through culture and religion.