Masondo, S. T., 2014, “The African indigenous churches’ spiritual resources for democracy and social cohesion.” Verbum et Ecclesia 35(3), Art. #1341, 8 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ve.v35i3.1341.

This article outlines resources possessed by the African indigenous churches (AICs) that help them engage with the democratic dispensation and could be used to foster social cohesion in South Africa. It starts off with the premise that social cohesion is that which holds the nation together. The South African rainbow-nation narrative tended to focus on tolerance and the recognition of diversity as strength. Tolerance does not address the fundamental issues that would facilitate cohesion. The idea of cultural justice as advocated by Chirevo Kwenda is seen as the most useful tool to move forward. Cultural justice ensures that all citizens are able to draw on their cultural resources without any fear of being discriminated against. The AICs have an assortment of resources at their disposal that are drawn from African religion, Christianity and Western culture. These resources enable AIC members to appreciate being African and Christian, as well as being South African.

(Source: abstract).

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Manglos, Nicolette D., and Alexander A. Weinreb. "Religion and interest in politics in sub-Saharan Africa." Social Forces Vol. 92,Issue 1 (2013): 195-219.  

Since the 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced a major wave of democratization, and concurrent expansions of independent Christianity and Reformist Islam. Scholarly narratives about the relationship between religion and politics have alternated between emphasizing religion's inclusive and divisive political potential. Using data from thirteen countries, we evaluate competing hypotheses arising from these narratives. Focusing on the grassroots level, we analyze the effects of religious identity, active membership, and education on political interest. We find that active religious membership positively shapes political interests in almost all countries. Yet contrary to extant elite-focused literature, we find no tradition to be uniformly more “political”. Further, religious identity and religious minority status frequently condition the effects of education on political interest. The effects of religion on interest on interest in politics are therefore context-dependent, exhibiting both inclusive and divisive potential.

(Source: article abstract).

MacGaffey, W. “Religion, Class and Social Pluralism in Zaire.” The Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 24, No.2 (1990), pp.261–2.

Like other post-colonial African societies, Zaire is engaged in the process of transformation from institutional pluralism to institutional homogeneity, stratified into classes. The process of change has been discussed by some scholars from a political perspective (pluralism), and by others, in terms of the articulation of modes of production. There is not necessarily a contradiction between these two points of view, and both need a third, complementary one, that of the concept of ideological articulation. Recent developments in Zaire's religious history are discussed from this perspective, as they relate to both emerging class and institutional change.

(Source: Article abstract translated from French to English with Google translate).

Kouvouama A, Burrell J. “Some New Religious Movements in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Diogenes. 1999;47(187): 62-70.doi:10.1177/039219219904718706

For some years now the proliferation of new religious movements in Africa and the search by individuals for new meanings in belief have held the interest of scholars of religion. But their interpretations of the significance of these ’religious flowerings’ raise a number of questions, in particular questions about the meaning and applicability of the word ’new’ in religion. Instead of taking it literally, we should understand this religious ’innovation’ on two planes of transaction with the sacred, the horizontal and the vertical. First, on the horizontal plane this religious innovation may be discerned in the ongoing adjustments made by traditional African religions as they encounter, whether peaceably or violently, religions originating in the West or Asia; the seen counters have given rise to neo-traditional and prophetic movements and to independent Churches. We shall touch later on the two-way borrowings and adaptations that have taken place in some prophetic religions as regards their organization, rites, liturgy and charismatic communication of religious truth. On the other hand, religious renewal is discernible in the adjustments and innovative processes of elaboration adopted by such ’travelling religions’ as Pentecostalism and Charismatic Renewal in relation to the basic process of making sense of the life of the individual and the community of the faithful.

(Source: Except from article).

Haynes, Jeff. “Religion and Democratization in Africa.” Democratization, Vol.11, No. 4, August 2004, pp.66–89

Two main issues form the focus of attention in this study. The first is the relationship of senior religious figures to the state in Africa and the role of the former in the region’s democratization in the 1990s. The second is the political importance of ‘popular’ religions in Africa. The overall aim is to examine the relationship of religion and politics in Africa in the context of democratization, to: (1) establish the nature of the links between senior religious figures and state elites in Africa, (2) make some preliminary observations about the political nature of popular religions in the region, and(3) comment on the overall impact of religious actors on Africa’s democratization.

[Source: Article abstract].

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Dei,George J. Sefa, 2002. “Learning Culture, Spirituality and Local Knowledge: Implications for African Schooling.” International Review of Education. Vol. 48, No. 5 (Sep., 2002), pp. 335-360.

Using a Ghanaian case study, this paper looks at the relevance and implications of local knowledge, culture and spirituality for understanding and implementing educational change in Africa. It examines how teachers, educators, and students use local cultural knowledge about self, personhood and community. Among the critical issues raised are: How do subjects understand the nature, impact and implications of spirituality for schooling and education? What is the role of spirituality, culture, language and social politics in knowledge production? What contribution does the local cultural knowledge base make to the search for genuine educational options in Africa?

[Source: article abstract].