Primitive Religion? ‘Africa’as a Marker for Transformations In European History Of Religion

Abstract

The 19th and early 20th century European discourse on religion in Africa is coined by colonial taxonomies. While postcolonial criticism raised awareness for this problem, my paper proposes an analysis of the discourse on ‘primitive religion’ not as a way of ana-lysing religion in Africa, but ‘religion’ in Europe. The article there-fore outlines how writing about religion in Africa reveals Europe’s self-representation and the late 19th century study of religion. The discourse on religion is further disclosed as the construction of a world order by positioning the category of «religion» in references to other values, positions and features.