Ediyiana Ukpong: The Salvation of Souls in the Forest of Souls (Akai Ukpong) and the Church (Ufok Abasi) Da Effiong Daniel African Holy Land Research Centre Abstract Many Annang traditional churches understand ediyiana ukpong, the salvation of souls, as the relocation of a vulnerable soul to a safe dwelling, not as forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. This paper calls that shift soteriological displacement. It compares two Annang frameworks: the traditional dwelling of souls in the sacred forest (akai ukpong) and the Christian gathering of souls in the church (ufok abasi). Drawing on Diana-Abasi Ibanga's philosophical analysis of ukpugho ukpong (soul transplantation), Kenneth Enang's study of salvation in Annang Independent Churches, and the ethnography of the "forest of souls" in my earlier work, I argue that the church now performs the function once held by the forest: it is an enclosure where souls are gathered, protected, and healed through ritual. Two...
THE TANGIBILITY OF SOUL An Ethnographic and Philosophical Exploration of Ukpong (Soul) in Annang Cosmology Da Effiong Daniel African Holy Land Research Centre Submitted to Professor Stephen Ekpenyong Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria 2025 Abstract This thesis argues that the Annang concept of ukpong (soul) is a tangible, physical entity, not an immaterial spirit: it can be seen, housed, fed, protected, lost, and ritually replaced. That tangibility, I argue, is the axis around which Annang theology, social structure, and personhood are organized, and it offers a model of what I call tangible spirituality that challenges abstract Western accounts of the soul. The study draws on ethnographic fieldwork and philosophical analysis spanning four decades (1984-2025). It examines the soul's dwelling in sacred forests such as Abanannang; its manifestation as p...