By Kairu Wang, University of California, Irvine CIHA Blog Intern
Despite common assumptions that religious activities on the African continent are limited to western Christianity, Islam, and indigenous African religions, there are in fact many East Asian actors who have been actively involved in religious and educational activities across Africa for several decades, including Korean Christian missionaries, Chinese and Taiwanese Christians, Chinese working on Confucianism, and Buddhists. This post studies the changing membership and identities of these different groups and offers an overview of some of the East Asian religious and spiritual groups working in diverse parts of the continent. The piece aims to open up new conversations about the multiple religious and spiritual influences that shape and continue to be shaped in contemporary African contexts.
Introduction
Africa is a region with significant religious diversity. An Annual Review of Anthropology article by Stambach (2010) entitled “Education, Religion, and Anthropology in Africa,” provides a good overview of the influence of Christianity, Islam, and mission education in Africa.[1] However, the piece failed to address any information about Asian religions, organizations, or individuals actively participating in various parts of Africa. Similarly, many of the studies on African religions focus largely on western Christianity and Islam and how they interact with indigenous religions. For example, AfricaBib, a bibliographic database compiling forty years of Africana research, only contains “Islam in Africa” in its sub-categories. Moreover, among 94 academic books studying African Religion published by the American Academy of Religion (listed on the website: Reading Religion), only one book, The Monologic Imagination, mentions Asian influence on African religion. I believe it is important to recognize that there are, many active religious groups from East Asia who are participating in religious discourse and practice on the continent. These groups interact with local communities in different ways. For example, Korean missionaries have followed their western missionary counterparts and opened church membership to a broad population with the hopes of widespread uptake, while the Chinese and Taiwanese churches are still limited in who they target for church membership, largely focusing on communities of diaspora Chinese based in Africa. In comparison, Confucius Institutes, established by Chinese officials and usually in tandem with official Chinese economic investment programs, seem to target black Africans over diaspora Chinese or white expats.
Due to time and resource constraints, this post looks primarily at the presence of what I call “East Asian religions” on the continent. This is not to say that there have not been numerous influences of African religions on Western and Asian contexts as well. While I was unable to explore these aspects in this piece today, I encourage future work to explore this intersecting space of mutual co-constitution of different religious theories and practices. I would also like to acknowledge the representational challenges of categorizing huge swaths of cultural, historical and geographic diversity. By using the terms “African” or “East Asian”, I do not intend to present “Africa” as a singular geographic space nor do I intend to replicate the highly problematic divides between “Asian” and “Western” religious praxis vis-a-vis Africa. Rather, in this piece I seek to open up a conversation about the multiple religious and spiritual influences (beyond the strong “traditional” schools of Christianity and Islam) that continue to shape and be shaped in flux in contemporary African contexts.
Korean Churches in Africa
Christianity is the largest religion in South Korea. According to the latest data accessed through the official government website of the Republic of Korea (ROK), (Korea.net), 53% of South Koreans affiliate with a religion and over 50% of those who practice a religion are Christians, with 34.5% being Protestantism and 20.6% of Roman Catholic. The Pew Research Center also notes that, in 2014, 29% of the South Korean population affiliated as Christian. Similar to Christians in other parts of the world, Korean Christians not only focus on domestic religious activities, but have also been involved in overseas missions for several decades. Important mission field sites are found across Africa including countries like South Africa, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. While the current church membership includes Korean expats as well as African citizens in both urban and rural parts of the continent (e.g. in Kenya, about 40% Korean missionaries are in cities and 60% in rural area[2]), the religious activities of Korean missionaries before the establishing of Korean leading churches differed quite starkly. Until the 1980s, Korean missionaries focused on supporting Christianity for expat Korean citizens based across Africa, such as Korean seamen and businessmen. In other words, when they first established their churches on the continent, Korean missionaries did not explicitly seek to convert local African residents; they did not establish churches and only offered assistance to Korean citizens within small groups. At that time, Christianity appears to have been one way to unify the expat Korean community but did not appear to have a proselytizing mission per say[3].
However, the domestic situation in the Republic of Korea (ROK) changed in the 1980s, which also had huge effect on Korean religious activities in Africa. In the 1980s, due to increasing economic prosperity, a better political situation which encouraged the establishment and development of domestic Christian Churches, as well as huge growth of Korean churches, Korean churches shifted their focus to actively spreading their religion by sending members to other countries for missionary work. Moreover, an increasing number of South Koreans were immigrating to the continent and government traveling policies were changed that the extreme strict policy of traveling to foreign countries was abolished[4]. Particularly, ROK began an initiative for African development in 1991. This bilateral official development assistance focused on stimulating more investment and projects from South Korea to Africa, mostly towards members of African Union, and encouraged greater numbers of South Koreans to immigrate to South Africa and Kenya, including Korean church members[5].
The first recorded cross-cultural mission between South Korea and Sierra Leone appeared in 1979. Shin Dea-Won, a Korean missionary, established a Korean church in Sierra Leone in 1989 for the purpose of building a basis for future mission work focused on Sierra Leonean citizens. Other Korean missionaries, such as Cho Hyung Sub in Liberia and Lee Young Shin in Ghana, established churches throughout West Africa during the late 1980s and 1990s. These churches have later been expanded and now have active following. Not only do they participate in religious activities, they also conduct socio-economic activities and educational activities[6]. These earlier missionary groups mostly focused on West Africa, but today, there are Korean Churches throughout the continent.
Chinese/Taiwanese Churches in Africa
Christians from mainland China and Taiwan are also involved in religions activities in Africa. Their religious activities appear to be more similar to that of the Korean Christians prior to 1980s, i.e. activities are still largely focused on expat Chinese. Unlike Korean missionaries, these groups have thus far moved to the African continent mainly for the purpose of seeking economic opportunities for their own benefit instead of strictly focused on religious missions. Christianity appears to be leveraged as a way to reinforce a shared ethnic identity. One example of Taiwanese Christians on the continent is the Pangcah community in South Africa. Pangcah is one of the indigenous groups who lived in Taiwan before Kuomingtang (KMT) was defeated in the Civil War of China in 1949 and moved from mainland China to Taiwan. Pangcah community has largely stayed working class after KMT become the official government of Taiwan. In 1980s, they started to seek overseas working opportunities as they did not see opportunities to enhance their economic status under the domestic Taiwanese government. In 1988, the Pangcah established their first church, Pangcah Presbyterian Church of Taiwan in a village located near the border between South Africa and Lesotho. To date, the church membership does not appear to hold a proselytizing mission[7]. The Chinese house church movement in Africa also shares the same feature. It will be interesting to track the growth and changes of these churches over time to see if perhaps they follow the more proselytizing mode of the Korean Christian Church or otherwise.
The Confucius Institute
Besides Korean Christianity, Confucianism has also begun to spread across the continent. Though not counted as a religion officially in China, it is becoming widely leveraged by the Chinese state and government officials to promote Chinese cultural practices and languages. The Confucius Institute’s official website, HanBan-Confucius Institute, states that “Confucius Institutes/Classrooms adopt flexible teaching patterns and adapt to suit local conditions when teaching Chinese language and promoting culture in foreign primary schools, secondary schools, communities and enterprises.” Across Africa, the 54 Confucius institutes are largely located near African university campuses. While there are no official statistics about the demographics of membership at the schools, photographs released by media or shown on the official website seem to suggest the target audience for these Institutes are young Black African students. Various reasons would explain this target demographic.
A fundamental difference between Confucianism and other religions being practiced in Africa is that it was brought into Africa mainly by Chinese government officials instead of individuals or churches. China has experienced exponential economic growth over the last few decades along with increasing global economic and political participation and influence internationally, including in Africa. In 1970, China’s government-funded Professor Wheeler argued that the increasing economic and political presence simulated the need for China to maintain a favorable image in Africa, which explains the expansion of China’s “soft power” (i.e. “Soft power refers to a nation winning influence abroad by persuasion and appeal rather than by threats or military force”[8], for example, cultural influence). ; thus, it appears the Chinese government decided to use Confucianism to achieve this goal and started establishing Confucius institutions throughout Africa.[9]
In the 1970s, the Chinese government founded the railway authority (TAZARA) across East Africa to link the port of Dar es Salaam in east Tanzania with the town of Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia’s Central Province. TAZARA was also the largest single foreign-aid project undertaken by China at the time, at a construction cost of US $406 million (the equivalent of US $2.56 billion today). The symbolism of China’s support for newly independent African countries gave rise to China as an alternative to the West (and Western aid)[10]. There is a plethora of academic and media work analyzing China’s increasingly close relationship with the African continent (e.g. 2016 study by the China Center at Brookings Institute which largely focuses on China’s use of natural resources and labor in Africa; a 2017 report by the Council on Foreign Relations which also focuses on the China-Africa trade relationship). However, there has been less focus on China’s attempts to grow their cultural capital and “soft power” on the continent as well. According to Stambach and Kwayu (2017): “in addition to supporting private investment and international resettlement, the government of China is actively promoting Chinese cultural and linguistic knowledge, including at university level in the form of CIs”[11]. Carefully studying the growth and development of Confucius Institute centers across the continent could prove interesting to track the growth and influence of China on the continent.
Conclusion
This is a first attempt to highlight the various diverse religious and spiritual influences from East Asia that influence and are influenced by the African continent. In addition to those covered by this overview, other organizations such as the Buddhist temples on the continent should also be further studied. By understanding the histories and continued engagement by East Asian religions on the continent, religious or educational workers and anthropology scholars currently unware of such groups can seek for new opportunities and methods of better understanding and engaging in religious or educational works in Africa through cooperating with local East Asian actors.
[1] Stambach, Amy. 2010. “Education, Religion, and Anthropology in Africa.” Annual Review of Anthropology 39 (1): 361–79. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.012809.105002.
[2] Zirulnick, Ariel. “WHY ARE KOREAN MISSIONARIES FLOCKING IN KENYA”. The Christian Science Monitor. Nov. 16 2017.
[3] Omenyo, Cephas N., and David Choi. 2000. “KOREAN MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN WEST AFRICA 1979-1999: A PRELIMINARY STUDY.” Exchange 29, no. 3: 213.
[4] Oh, Kyung H., and Piet G. J. Meiring. 2009. “CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR KOREAN MISSIONARIES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 65, no. 1: 43-48.
[5] Mi Yung, Yoon, and Moon Chungshik. 2014. “KOREAN BILATERAL OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT TO AFRICA UNDER KOREA’S INITIATIVE FOR AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT”. Journal of East Asian Studies 14, no. 2: 279-301.
[6] Omenyo, Cephas N., and David Choi. 2000. “KOREAN MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN WEST AFRICA 1979-1999: A PRELIMINARY STUDY.” Exchange 29, no. 3: 213.
[7]法撒克, and 那墨禾. 2015. “從臺灣到南非的跨國Pangcah： 家、教會、族群認同、適應和發展.” Taiwan Journal of Anthropology 13, no. 1: 131-169.
[8] Pan, Esther. “CHINA’S SOFT POWER INITIATIVE”. Council on Foreign Relations. May 18 2006.
[9] Wheeler, Anita. ” CULTURAL DIPLOMACY, LANGUAGE PLANNING, AND THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE”. Journal Of Asian & African Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) 49, no. 1 (February 2014): 49-63.
[10] “TANZANIA-ZAMBIA RAILWAY: A BRIDGE TO CHINA?”. New York Times. Jan 29, 1971.
[11] Stambach, Amy, and Aikande Kwayu. 2017. “CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES IN AFRICA, OR HOW THE EDUCATIONAL SPIRIT IN AFRICA IS RE-RATIONALISED TOWARDS THE EAST”. Journal Of Southern African Studies 43, no. 2: 411-424.
About the Author:
Kairu Wang is a 3rd year student at the University of California, Irvine majoring in International Studies with a regional focus on Asia. She is an international student from China. She is interested in studying East Asia’s growing global influence and its political, economic, and cultural impact on the rest of world. After completing her studies, she plans to enter graduate school to continue studying international affairs.
Very interesting esp the part which relate to South Africa