Cécile Fromont argues that the adoption of Christianity involved inward-looking reflection on the side of Central Africans. In her two essays, she offers shreds of evidence to support her claim to convince the reader regarding how Christian identity was partly self-generated.

In the first essay, the writer shows how wars of succession were used to win over kingdoms to Christianity. Through this, leaders did not have to depend on the Europeans to show them the way. For example, Afonso Mvemba “imposed Christianity as the kingdom’s state religion and integrated it into the symbolic and historical fabric of the realm” (52). In the second article, the author asserts that the arrival of the Christian cross in 1483 did not lead to colonial conquest. Instead, the rulers determined whether their people will take in a new faith and practice it or not. This meant that it was not entirely an idea of the Europeans to impose this religion on them. Fromomt claims that “Christianity entered into the political, social, and religious realm of the Kingdom of Kongo at the demand of the rulers” (111). Thus, it was self-generated since the leaders had to approve the new cultural orientation.

As the Africans of the Kongo region adopted Christianity, art played a significant role. This can be seen through the Sangamentos, which was a dance carried out in the 14^th century and carried forward to the Christian era. The dancers put on “the characteristic brass crucifix” (53) which was highly synonymous with Christianity. This shows that they identified with the new religion although the dance existed even before the European invasion. Also, when local objects which represented worship were destroyed, the stone cross was used as the new symbol for Christin identity, and this lasted for long. This showed how material culture played a role in this identity.

Works Cited

Fromont, Cécile. “Dance, image, myth, and conversion in the kingdom of Kongo, 1500–1800.” African Arts 44.4 (2011): 52-63.

Fromont, Cécile. “Under the sign of the cross in the kingdom of Kongo: religious conversion and visual correlation in early modern Central Africa.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics59.1 (2011): 109-123.

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