Prophets, Diviners, and Prophetism: The Recent History of Kiganda Religion

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Abstract
From an analysis of the rise of a politically important prophet in the recent history of Buganda, an attempt is made to demonstrate how the institutions of divination and prophetism are often closely interrelated in the contemporary African context. Some tentative generalizations about "African prophetism" are suggested. This analysis is set in the empirical situation of the divergent development of Kiganda "traditional" religion (a) in its public, political aspects, and (b) in its more popular, local, and intimate forms related to divination, healing, and protection, particularly in the modern urban and peri-urban community. In theoretical terms, the data presented suggest a necessary modification of the way in which the Weberian analysis of priests, prophets, and diviners has been applied to contemporary African data. It is also contended that, although useful in a very limited manner, the concept of secularization in either its bourgeois or Marxist senses as a necessary concomitant of social change (and particularly urbanization) is not upheld by the present data and analysis, and hence it may not be generally applicable in Africa without serious qualification.

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