African spirituality cover

African spirituality

by Anthony Ephirim-Donkor

Focusing on the Akan people in Ghana as a resource for examining the overall conception of human development, this study is the first of its kind to concentrate on specific developmental processes of an African people from the ancestral world to the mundane and back to the ancestral world. From their beliefs concerning reincarnation, conception, birth, education, ethical existence and generativity, eldership, and death, the Akan people have developed a sequence of culturally defined life stage. This paradigm is predicated on a theory of personality that has its ontological basis in God (Nana Nyame) and the primordial woman and her children that formed the original matrilineal community, the ebusua. This structural model utilizes myths and concepts, rites, dreams, and elements that form the basis for human development among the Akan people. Applying the work of Erik Erikson and James Fowler, the author examines the vast, systematized, and holistic Akan concept of personality.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?