Understanding African philosophy and African spirituality: challenges and prospects

Abstract

African believe that there need to communicate with those who have left this world and went to the spiritual realm. This communication serves as a relationship even after death. The contention of African philosophy is that people leave the human stage to the spiritual stage wherein they can be approached in times of joy and calamities. The spiritual world serves to allay the fears and to offer protection at all times. To understand this phenomenon, one has to be able to understand why are this spiritual phenomenon exists in an African philosophy. In bringing forth a better understanding, the paper will expound on African spirituality and the understanding thereof from an African perspective. Then highlights how can African spirituality be understood from an African philosophy. That premise will take the paper to the challenges and prospects of the understanding. The paper will close in indicating why is African spirituality understanding is supreme in African society and its contribution in assisting the postmodern world in relating to Africanism.

Keywords: African philosophy; African Spirituality; Afrocentric studies