The African Indigenous Lens of Understanding Spirituality: Reflection on Key Emerging Concepts from a Reviewed Literature

• Published in: Journal of religion and health 2018-12, Vol.57 (6), p.2523-2537
• Main Authors: Ohajunwa, Chioma, Mji, Gubela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African culture; Aging; Clinical Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Native religions; PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLORATION; Public Health; Religious literature; Religious Studies; Spirituality; Well being
• ISSN: 0022-4197; 1573-6571
• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-018-0652-9

In this paper, we will present a reflection on reviewed literature on African indigenous understanding of spirituality, highlighting the influence of this concept on notions of the self, motivation and well-being. The indigenous understanding of spirituality is central to the understanding of the self as distinct, but positioned within the relational–collective self. This African indigenous perception of the self is grounded within the autonomous experience of the tenets of spirituality, which is explored in this paper through the lens of self-determination theory. The experience of autonomy, which is represented in this paper as choice and consent, competence and relatedness within spirituality, is considered as an intrinsic motivation factor for African indigenous communities to achieve well-being. Hence, we argue for the relevance of identifying and exploring ways that an understanding of the African indigenous spiritual belief systems, and the various ways that this understanding impacts on well-being for African indigenous communities, can be unearthed and scrutinized.