Decolonizing Esu and the African Limited God Thesis
摘要
Many studies have been carried out on the identity of Esu from different ethnic and interdisciplinary perspectives. Most of the studies center on the personality of the autochthonous, colonized and missionized, and decolonized, Esu. The last one, that is, decolonized Esu has garnered an avalanche of scholarly attention bordering on how to rescue the deity from its colonial and missionary ‘abductors.’ In this chapter I argue that conceptually, a decolonial Esu is possible, because it is ‘rescued’ from colonial and missionary vestiges, which for a long time have obscured the deity’s true identity. However, there is a corresponding conception of Esu that seems to defy the decolonial categories. This identity of Esu, which this chapter intends to unravel, is pragmatic; it permeates the religious and philosophical currents across sub-Saharan Africa. In this case, I argue that there are the autochthonous African, Christian, Islamic, and philosophical, Esu. This transitional progression of this multi-identity of Esu is what I refer to as eclectic Esu. The implication of this is that the perennial problem of evilEvil, problem of as it is construed in Western philosophy might not arise in Africa, because Esu does not act in opposition to God. In holding this position, I maintain that the Ezumezu logic and limited God hypothesis do not resolve the problem of evilEvil, problem of or decolonize the argument. I conclude therefrom that Esu has not been completely rescued from the Christian mistranslation he suffers.