–– Lennox Kalifungwa

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What would you do if embracing Christianity demanded the death of a cherished cultural tradition? Though posed as hypothetical, this is a pressing question that every Christian, sooner or later, must confront.

In the wake of British and European colonial withdrawal, many African nations turned enthusiastically to postcolonialism—a postmodern creed animated less by a hunger for self-determination than by a visceral loathing of Western thought and custom. What followed was an era obsessed with the preservation of all things deemed authentically African. In the fevered rush to cast off colonial vestiges, Africans began re-engineering every corner of their cultural landscape—from attire and rituals to language, politics, and ceremonial pomp.