Reflections on Afrika Bambaataa’s Universal Zulu Nation: horizons, hip hop, and hybridity

ABSTRACT

Using Hans-Georg Gadamer’s famous discourse on horizons and modern postcolonial theories on black religious pluralism, this article examines Afrika Bambaataa, along with the organization he founded, the Universal Zulu Nation. The emphasis of the analysis is on his overcoming of material borderlands, interventions in cultural knowing, and forming of hybrid identities with reference to the vitality of religion. This methodology not only intimates pragmatic epistemologies that elucidate transmissions of knowledge and ethics across geographic landscapes but also fosters a more general framework of social analysis regarding shared human heritages. An evaluation of how Zulu horizons operate between local communities and global cultures demonstrates how interreligious dialogue and polyethnic belongings that extend across transnational spiritualties and societies signify ways of transgressing difference and sameness within ideological systems. After a discussion of cultural hermeneutics as a mode of interpreting the histories of ontology and Otherness to obtain a basis for understanding peripheral societies and faiths, the article then investigates how the Zulu Nation belongs to an Afrocentric pluralist tradition within those constellations of ideas and ideals, before the conclusion focuses on the way recent allegations of Bambaataa’s sexual assault affect his legacy of social consciousness for scholars of contemporary religion.

KEYWORDS:

• Black religious pluralism
• hip hop religion
• horizons
• new religious movement
• hybridity
• African diaspora

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Roy Whitaker

Roy Whitaker is Associate Professor of Black Religions and American Religious Diversity at San Diego State University in San Diego, California, USA. He completed his doctoral studies in Continental and Africana philosophy of religion with specialization in black religious pluralism. His areas of expertise include new religious movements, hip hop culture, Martin Luther King Jr, and comparative theology and philosophy.