‘Returning to our Spiritual Roots’: African Hindus in Ghana Negotiating Religious Space and Identity

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the phenomenon of the ‘African Hindu’ in the context of the discussions on ‘transnational Hinduism’. I also report on how these African Hindus resort to a reinterpretation of the history of their Ghanaian indigenous (traditional) religion and culture in their attempt to find religious space in the almost-choked religious environment of Ghana, and also how they attempt to negotiate their new religious identity in relation to their identity as Africans (Ghanaians). I conclude with a prognosis of the form that Hinduism is likely to assume in the near future on Ghanaian soil as its African converts try to live their faith in the context of their local culture.