UNkulunkulu: God, a God or the First Ancestor? The Quest for a Supreme Deity in Zulu Religious Beliefs
UNkulunkulu: God, a God or the First Ancestor? The Quest for a Supreme Deity in Zulu Religious Beliefs

Summary/Abstract: UNkulunkulu is a very important figure within Zulu pantheon but his nature is not really defined. Should he be considered God, a god or the first ancestor? The problem comes from Western (Christian) need to find and define a supreme deity within Zulu religious beliefs. In 2013, 2018 and 2019 I conducted thorough field-studies among South African sangomas and asked them about uNkulunkulu. This article aims to organise knowledge about uNkulunkulu and tries to place him within the deity stratum. Also, my research allows to show if searching for answers about uNkulunkulu is a Zulu problem or maybe just Western scholars’.

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