Open Collections

Droe, Anj

Database of Religious History (DRH)

The Teda are a society of nomadic pastoralists part of a larger ethnic group known as “Tebu.” They reside primarily in high plateaus of the Tibesti Mountains in what is now the Republic of Chad (Simpson 2011:1). This entry focuses on the Teda of Tibesti around the time of 1925. At this time, this region was part of French Equatorial Africa and therefore under the political control of France. Although the Teda live in a highly remote area, Tibesti is located along important caravan routes that have historically given the Teda both control over trade and a high level of contact with other societies and religious groups. The majority of Teda are Muslim, having likely been converted early in the spread of Islam across Africa (Simpson 2011:7). Prayer is very important, as are certain holidays, such as Ramadan, and pilgrimages. Among the Teda, Islamic practices appear to have been largely syncretic with the traditional Teda religion practiced before conversion to Islam. However, during the time focus of this entry, influences from an Islamic missionary group resulted in more fundamental practices of Islam among the Teda. For the Teda, religious beliefs are inseparable from almost all aspects of social and political life. Therefore, this entry considers the religious group to be coterminous with the society at large.

Other

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0423127

Non UBC

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/