Reflections on West Africa’s Women of God: Alinesitoué and the Diola Prophetic Tradition

This brief discussion of Robert Baum’s recent book, West Africa’s Women of God: Alinesitoué and the Diola Prophetic Tradition, is based on comments made at a roundtable devoted to the work at the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion. This commentary looks at Baum’s work from the perspective of African history, including reflections on Baum’s training as a historian. Focus is given to the persistent influence of Robin Horton’s work on African conversion and the importance of Baum’s book in challenging Horton’s analysis.