| The Diola tribe is fiercely
independent and in their religious practices
they remain attached to animist
beliefs. So whilst they have been influenced
by the outside world and some have become,
in name at least, adherents to Islam,
at the same time they have kept an attachment
to black magic cults and to initiation ceremonies
carried out in sacred groves.
The Diola society is not organised in a
top-down way; consequently no single individual
is given the sort of power that would allow
him as a chief to co-ordinate the community
against a serious external threat. At the
village level a council of elders makes
all the day-to-day decisions, though lacking
ultimate political clout these councils
still exercise a great deal of influence.
|
|