The Adaptations Made by Various West African Religions to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The introduction of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade unquestionably changed West Africa, and religion was commonly used as a vehicle for understanding and justifying these changes. For the Diola of Southwestern Senegal, wealth was reconceptualized as a source of power. The roles of certain spirits were altered to fit the new slave-raiding and slave-trading economy in Diola communities as well as in Temne communities of Sierra Leone. Even after the end of the slave trade, new practices were integrated into West African religions that referenced the slave trade and allowed for self-protection against the anger of the spirits for the wrongs committed during the time of the slave trade.
The acephalous rice-farming Diola of southern Senegal reconceptualized wealth and authority as the economy was drastically altered by the slave trade. Being acephalous, the Southern Diola (as observed in the late 20th century by Professor Robert Baum especially) are cautious about the concentration of power in any one person or family’s hands. Due to this worry, blacksmiths (“jejus”) aren’t allowed to marry other blacksmiths, as they are thought to be especially religiously sacred thanks to their control of fire; having two blacksmiths get married would form too powerful an alliance. Other observed examples of this fear of concentration of power are found in simply their terminology. The Diola view the concept of whiteness as a way of acting and the primary characteristic of a “white” person/thing is that he/she/it externally determines punishment—a grave offense in a community where local decisions are made by town council, and prisons don’t exist. The Diola apply this pejorative “white man” to the government for this exact offense. Lastly, the Diola also refer to the rich with something that loosely translates to “give me some,” suggesting that the rich are expected to distribute their resources and not hoard wealth. This is consistent with the fact that those who are successful are considered morally obligated to help those in need, and if they don’t, it is expected that they will be denied when they are in need. These redistributive views, paired with the terminology that accompanies them, demonstrate how the Diola seek to socially enforce the distribution of power among several locals, rather than concentrate power among a few individuals (even if the individuals are local—in the case of the exogamous blacksmiths).
However, these modern Diola opinions on wealth and authority have not been continuous. Though large undistributed wealth is looked down upon now, during the slave trade, wealth often came with power. Nowadays, membership as the religious authority is usually based on age and/or charisma, but during the slave trade it was often based on wealth.
In addition to reconceptualizing wealth and authority, the Diola also changed the spiritual role of certain gods. For the Diola, the spirit Hupila and its accompanying shrine in the home of each Diola family are currently understood to promote the well-being, health, and sometimes fertility of the family with the shrine. During the slave trade, captives (who were often allowed to be taken because of their lack of known family) were held at the Hupila shrine. Raiders would also sacrifice 40 pigs and a bull to Hupila before a raid. This incorporated long-standing ideas of using personal wealth for shared prosperity, as well as incorporating ideas on the importance of family via the weaponization of a lack thereof. However, the very expensive pre-raid sacrificial requirement clearly marked off Hupila as a shrine for the rich. In addition, the priests of Hupila during this time period had to be connected to slave raiding. This version of Hupila that was closely linked to the slave trade became known as Hupila Hudjenk. Other versions of Hupila were also conceptualized during this time, like the shrine Hupila Hugop specifically for kidnappings. There was even a Hupila HouDiemberingai shrine that was thought to preside over human slave sacrifice.
The role of some deities changed in the traditional religion of the Temne of Sierra Leone as well. Thanks to the slave trade, the spirits are thought to have moved to a more peripheral geographical spot in the Temne community. They are now more on the outskirts and they are thought to raid towns as well as patrol roads hoping to take victims. Water spirits also pestered the Temne community, offering life-depleting transactions. Local spirits and ancestors are expected to defend Temne towns from encroachment by these forces. Shaw argues that this dynamic, of spirits and ancestors at home protecting from incursions from the bush, may be a spiritual manifestation of the long-standing fear of slave raiders that took root during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The long-lasting religious effects of the slave trade weren’t just felt by the Temne, nor were they limited to struggles between the village and outside; religion has also been adapted as a method of protection by descendants of those who did wrong. This is true of the Diola descendants of kidnappers, who still make sacrifices to Hupila shrines to protect themselves. In southern Togo, some people in the Ewe Vodu ritual communities feel grateful and indebted to those in northern Togo who were slaves to their ancestors. Some members of the Ewe Vodu even allow their bodies to be possessed by these spirits, believing they are better off thanks to these rituals and recommending that white Americans try the same. In other parts of southern Togo and in Benin, descendants of slave traders in the Dahomey kingdom have wooden carvings of slaves that are thought to concentrate the anger of the spirits in the objects and away from their owners. In these various ways, descendants of those partly responsible for the cruelty committed during the slave trade protect themselves spiritually.
West African religions had to adjust to the reality of slavery. Due to the new economy, wealth was reconceptualized among the acephalous Diola as worthy of authority, not implicit accusations of hoarding. Spirits also shifted function, including the Diola Hupila shifting from governing health and prosperity to governing captivity; new forms of gods emerged to distinguish some slaving activities from others, including kidnapping and human sacrifice. Spirits also shifted place, as they did in the Temne, residing on the outskirts ready to encroach at any time, pushed back by protective spirits and ancestors. Finally, self-preservation methods were utilized by the descendants of slave raiders and slave traders to stave off the spirits’ anger with the immorality of slave raiding and slave trading.