What is it about?
This article explores the Swahili word ushirikina, which is often translated into English as “superstition.” By examining dictionaries, religious writings, and everyday language, it shows that the term does not have a single meaning. For many Muslims, ushirikina refers to placing trust in powers other than God, while Christians and secular speakers often use it to describe beliefs in witchcraft, magic, or ideas they consider false or irrational. The study traces how missionaries, colonial officials, and religious communities helped shape the meaning of ushirikina over time. It argues that the word is often used not as a neutral description but as a way of judging the beliefs and practices of others. Rather than treating ushirikina or “superstition” as objective categories, the article suggests understanding them as labels applied to beliefs or actions that people regard as misguided, foolish, or religiously unacceptable. This perspective helps reveal how language can reflect broader struggles over religion, authority, and cultural identity in East Africa.
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Why is it important?
The article shows that a common translation can hide important cultural and religious differences. Although ushirikina is often translated as “superstition,” the word has meant different things to different communities over time. By tracing its history in dictionaries, religious writings, and everyday language, the article reveals how Muslims, Christians, missionaries, colonial officials, and secular speakers have used the term in distinct ways. The study also highlights how language can be used to judge others’ beliefs and practices. Rather than functioning as a neutral description, ushirikina has often been a label applied to ideas considered false, misguided, irrational, or religiously unacceptable. By examining the history of this influential Swahili term, the article contributes to broader discussions about religion, colonialism, cultural identity, and the power of language to shape social and religious boundaries. It offers scholars and general readers a new way to think about both “superstition” and ushirikina: not as objective categories, but as perspectives on belief and practice.
Perspectives
As a scholar of Swahili language and religion, I have long been interested in how words shape the way people understand and judge the beliefs of others. I was struck by the fact that ushirikina is routinely translated as “superstition,” even though Muslims, Christians, and secular Swahili speakers often use the term in very different ways. This article grew out of a desire to understand where those meanings came from and what is lost when we assume they are all the same. By tracing the history of ushirikina across dictionaries, religious writings, and contemporary usage, I found that the term has frequently been used to draw boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable beliefs. My hope is that this study encourages readers to think more carefully about the categories we use, whether in scholarship or everyday life, and to recognize that terms such as “superstition” often reveal as much about the people applying the label as they do about the beliefs being described.
Professor KD Thompson
University of Wisconsin Madison
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Ushirikina and Misguided Beliefs: Unpacking Superstition and Socio-Religious Bias in Swahili, Magic Ritual and Witchcraft, March 2026, Project Muse,
DOI: 10.1353/mrw.2026.a998009.
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