Colonialism, Christianity, and Personhood in Africa
“Africans labor under the weight of a crisis of personhood, self-identity, and a split self that is a legacy of Christianity and colonialism,” Nimi Wariboko argues. In his recent publication, “Colonialism, Christianity and Personhood,” which appears in the Blackwell Companion to African History, edited by William H. Worger, Charles Ambler and Nwando Achebe, Wariboko explores the dual nature of African identity, its source in African tradition and Western colonialism and the spread of Christianity. He ends in hopeful expectation that the twin forces within the African self will no longer stand in opposition to one another, but begin to create a new combination.