When graduate students outside of Religious Studies asked me to read their thesis projects on religious topics I always made a request to read chapters as they are completed, rather than waiting until the very end. This is because students who skip the formal study of religion rarely get it right. That is why it was enjoyable to read Chigozie Obioma’s debut novel The Fishermen, because the Nigerian author does get it right. The Fishermen is not a novel about religion, nor is it a religious book, although the book jacket and a number of reviews compare it to the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Fratricide occurs, and murderous revenge as well, but any similarity with Genesis ends there. Nevertheless, religious sensibilities and sensitivities imbue the lives of the characters. . . The story is told through the eyes of nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of the four Agwu brothers—Ikenna, Boja, Obembe, and Ben—who call themselves “the fishermen” because of their illicit practice of fishing in the polluted Omi-Ala River. Two younger siblings, David and Nkem, play peripheral roles in the book. The children’s’ parents are the “two ventricles” of the household, trying to hold things together in the face of one tragedy after another.
What makes this book interesting from a religious studies standpoint is the way in which religion is handled. From the deadly prophecy made by Abulu, to the prayers made by the family’s pastor in their Assemblies of God church, religion is a natural and ubiquitous presence in the lives of the residents of Akure, a provincial capital in southwest Nigeria. The boys mock the worshipers in the Celestial Church, all dressed in white, before Ikenna orders them to kneel in punishment for disrespecting other people’s faith. Benjamin wakes in the early mornings to the call of the muezzin. A graveside service is full of amens and a lengthy Bible reading. And of course, Abulu, who is seen at various times as a demon, a prophet, a madman, and an immortal, plays a pivotal role. Religious beliefs and practices seem to be part of the air breathed by the Agwu family and their neighbors. Still, religion is not the central theme or purpose in the characters’ lives. It’s just there, a reality, as it is in many people’s lives; as pervasive as the political backdrop of Nigeria’s decade of coups in the 1990s. The story is set in 1996. The boys’ political hero, M. K. O. Abiola—who had the distinction of winning a fair and ostensibly free election in 1993 by appealing to Nigeria’s Northerners and Southerners—is in prison. Soldiers from General Sani Abacha’s regime periodically roam the streets of Akure. More important for nine-year-old Benjamin than the menace of the military presence around him is the gold medal for football that the Nigerian soccer team wins at the Atlanta Olympics. In many ways, then, The Fishermen is a story about a family whose life together is altered by economics, politics, religion, illness, and culture. Just like our own families. Chigozie Obioma. The Fishermen. New York, 2015. Comments are closed.
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Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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