Books on non-Western, non-Eastern religions

March 6, 2024 2:43 PM

I'm writing a book for conworlders about religions, and I need more resources, especially about religions from Africa, the Americas, or Australia. Preferably more on the anthropological side; I'm not after inspirational literature, and not too interested in mere lists of gods or retellings of myths.

I have plenty of material on Middle Eastern, Indian, and Chinese religions. Though I just have one book on Roman religion (by John Scheid), so I'd be interested in explanations of how Greek and Roman religion operated for their followers.

Some particular gaps: Yoruba religion. The Incas. Native North American (I have Deloria's God is Red, but it's skimpy on detail). Anything about hunter-gatherer or nomadic religions.

My aim is not to describe religions in depth, but to provide examples of how religions vary, especially compared to the mishmash of Catholicism + D&D conworlders are apt to come up with.

posted by zompist to Religion & Philosophy (6 answers total)

Here is an overview of what kinds of academic sources are available on religion in Burkina Faso, with citations. It might be helpful, especially if you can read French (and maybe some German).

It's a really ethnically and religiously diverse area, with varying levels of syncretism between Islam, Christianity, and "traditional" religions. That makes it hard to get a picture of what is going on; there aren't a lot of tidy introductions to "traditional" religions because to even get there you have to start talking about the interplay of different belief systems. Often, also, "traditional" religion is not something regularly shared with outsiders, at least not in all respects.

As a fellow conlanger and conworlder, that is also something I notice is quite lacking when it comes to worldbuilding. Fictional religious conflict seems to often default to "monotheistic church vs. the pagans," which is, like, not based on nothing but also a much simpler story than reality often is.

(I kind of hate the term "traditional" religion but have no better replacement.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:22 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]

The Yoruba: A New History
Myths and Metaphors of the Yorùbá Landscape
Yorubas' Ifa System and Human Destiny: An Oral Narrative Account
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:46 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]

In college I took a Native American Religion course and the textbook was Native Religions of North America: The Power of Visions and Fertility by Ake Hultkrantz. It's fairly short, but has good detail from a more academic/anthropological standpoint. I have since bought it and reread it.
posted by Meldanthral at 3:56 PM on March 6 [1 favorite]

For something completely (or not so completely) different, there's a very recent academically-produced podcast (the first season of a planned three came out this past fall) titled Magic in the United States, which is about what it says on the tin. The focus is on elements of the diverse tapestry of folk spirituality, marginalized religion, and magical practices in the United States, today and in the past.
posted by heatherlogan at 4:42 PM on March 6 [2 favorites]

Theres a wiki on Candomble, an African Diaspora religion in Brazil.
posted by SyraCarol at 12:22 PM on March 7

On the Romans, Bret Devereaux attributes one of the main points in his treatment of Roman polytheism, to wit that it was a collection of practical knowledge rather than moral precepts, as based on Clifford Ando's The Matter of the Gods (2008). Here's its review in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
posted by finka at 10:06 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]