The Land as Being and Cosmos

This is an anthropological study of the institution of the Earth Cult among the Sisala of northwestern Ghana from a cosmological perspective. It contends that the Sisala subsistence farmers, in their bid to order their world for a meaningful existence, take recourse to their relation with the Land as the fundamental grounding of their religious beliefs and praxes. Hence, the Land, experienced both as a lived-world and a suprahuman being is the fulcrum for the Sisala in their structuring of their institutions and activities for a harmonious life on the personal, societal and cosmic levels. This book tries to show how the economic, socio-political and religious activities of the Sisala find their meaning in their institution of the Earth Cult and thereby help them fulfil their ideals as persons.