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As such, it provides for the first time a historical, chronological, and comparative study of interreligious encounters and dialogue among Traditionalists, Muslims, and Christians in Sierra Leone. It proceeds to investigate the reasons for the exclusion of ATR from interreligious dialogue/cooperation and its relevance and place in the socioreligious landscape of Sierra Leone and the rest of the world, and to discuss possible ways for ATR’s inclusion in the ongoing interfaith dialogue and cooperation in Sierra Leone.
Fieldwork
Fieldwork was first undertaken from April to June 2002 for my doctoral dissertation in theology.3 It brought together Limba Christians, Limba Traditionalists, and Christian Limbas for the first time to provide a broader understanding of Limba religion, as well as to discover the effects of Limba religiosity and of the tenacity with which the Limba hold to their culture and religion on the National Pentecostal Limba Church (NPLC) for over three decades.4 The dissertation discussed at length the encounter between Christianity and Limba Traditional Religion and made recommendations for a fruitful dialogue between them.5
Further fieldwork, undertaken in May and June 2005, broadened the discussion on interfaith dialogue to include Traditionalists from four additional ethnic groups, and Muslim and Christian practitioners from all ethnic groups in the country. African Traditionalists from the Mende, Temne, Limba, Krio, and Kono were interviewed6 to provide, where necessary, updates to existing documented information, and to fill gaps in the extant literature on the topics discussed in chapter 2. Both fieldwork experiences also provided the information in the first segment of chapter 7.
A final piece of fieldwork was undertaken in May and June of 2006 in order to complete the 2005 field research by gaining further contemporary understanding of the ongoing interreligious encounters.