Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A2
Iskander Abbasi
New York's twin tower bombings, popularly referred to as 9/11, are regarded as a watershed period in world affairs. It happened at the cusp of the new century and its impact, since then, has been enormous, for it radically changed many aspects of human life. Both the print and the electronic media were pivotal in these changes. Besides shaping the way that communities perceive others, it also influenced the manner in which communities are dealing with one another. Since a radical Muslim group was blamed for this dastardly deed and since Muslims were implicated for this reprehensible act, the secular media expectedly placed the Muslims - in majority and minority settings - around the world under the spotlight. The media's negative portrayal and reporting about Muslims did not only contribute towards a tendentious relationship between the media and the Muslims but it also contributed towards the spread of Islamophobia. This thus caused Muslims in both majority and minority settings to adopt a skeptical view of the role of the secular media. Considering these developments, this essay's focus turns to the South African print media that reported and analyzed their reporting of this event during that period. Since it is beyond this essay's scope to look at all the country' s daily and weekly tabloids, it restricted itself to two widely circulated South African weekly newspapers, namely the Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian. It first describes and discusses their front-page reports as they captured the tragic 9/11 event, before it reflects on their editorials -columns providing one with insights into the respective editors' understanding of this event and their perceptions of Muslims nationally and globally. Being a purely textual study, it conceptualizes Islamophobia as the essay's conceptual frame.
{"title":"South Africa's Weekly Media: Front-Page Reporting 9/11, Preventing Islamophobia","authors":"Iskander Abbasi","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A2","url":null,"abstract":"New York's twin tower bombings, popularly referred to as 9/11, are regarded as a watershed period in world affairs. It happened at the cusp of the new century and its impact, since then, has been enormous, for it radically changed many aspects of human life. Both the print and the electronic media were pivotal in these changes. Besides shaping the way that communities perceive others, it also influenced the manner in which communities are dealing with one another. Since a radical Muslim group was blamed for this dastardly deed and since Muslims were implicated for this reprehensible act, the secular media expectedly placed the Muslims - in majority and minority settings - around the world under the spotlight. The media's negative portrayal and reporting about Muslims did not only contribute towards a tendentious relationship between the media and the Muslims but it also contributed towards the spread of Islamophobia. This thus caused Muslims in both majority and minority settings to adopt a skeptical view of the role of the secular media. Considering these developments, this essay's focus turns to the South African print media that reported and analyzed their reporting of this event during that period. Since it is beyond this essay's scope to look at all the country' s daily and weekly tabloids, it restricted itself to two widely circulated South African weekly newspapers, namely the Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian. It first describes and discusses their front-page reports as they captured the tragic 9/11 event, before it reflects on their editorials -columns providing one with insights into the respective editors' understanding of this event and their perceptions of Muslims nationally and globally. Being a purely textual study, it conceptualizes Islamophobia as the essay's conceptual frame.","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A3
A. Ishabiyi, Sultan Khan
Historically, religion has played a key role in the destiny of human beings. It has provided reasons for its existence and shaped the social, cultural, economic, and political behavior of individuals and society. Specifically in the 21st century, the globe has become a multi-faith space with diverse religious philosophies, ways of religious expressions, norms, and values. For the young university students, it provides a space for critical reflection, awareness of one’s self and an environment in which one’s values and norms are tested and perhaps reshaped. Given the abstractness of the university environment and exposure to a vast range of beliefs and practices, it may challenge the religious belief structure of students to an extent that one may go on to question long held religious beliefs and practices. It is against the background of this context that this article tests the nature of religious associational life of on-campus black African Christian students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus. The methodological approach to the study embraced both qualitative and quantitative data gathering tools. Semi-structured self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data. A total of 123 respondents, selected purposively, participated in the study. The results of this study suggest that on-campus, religious associations play an integral role in reinforcing the religious and spiritual identity of students. It impacts both their personal and academic life. Additionally, the study highlights that although religious tolerance featured in the study, there was a need for inter-religious dialogue, given the diversity of faith groups in the country.
{"title":"Religious Associational Life amongst Black African Christian Students at Howard College Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal","authors":"A. Ishabiyi, Sultan Khan","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A3","url":null,"abstract":"Historically, religion has played a key role in the destiny of human beings. It has provided reasons for its existence and shaped the social, cultural, economic, and political behavior of individuals and society. Specifically in the 21st century, the globe has become a multi-faith space with diverse religious philosophies, ways of religious expressions, norms, and values. For the young university students, it provides a space for critical reflection, awareness of one’s self and an environment in which one’s values and norms are tested and perhaps reshaped. Given the abstractness of the university environment and exposure to a vast range of beliefs and practices, it may challenge the religious belief structure of students to an extent that one may go on to question long held religious beliefs and practices. It is against the background of this context that this article tests the nature of religious associational life of on-campus black African Christian students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus. The methodological approach to the study embraced both qualitative and quantitative data gathering tools. Semi-structured self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data. A total of 123 respondents, selected purposively, participated in the study. The results of this study suggest that on-campus, religious associations play an integral role in reinforcing the religious and spiritual identity of students. It impacts both their personal and academic life. Additionally, the study highlights that although religious tolerance featured in the study, there was a need for inter-religious dialogue, given the diversity of faith groups in the country.","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A4
Iskander Abbasi
This article aims to more thoroughly intersect the figure of the Muslim into the framework of the coloniality of being, and into the narrative of race and religion in modernity. Two areas of concern are investigated: First, how Islamophobia aided in forming the coloniality of being in ways that decolo-nial scholarship – namely that of leading Latin American decolonial thinker, Nelson Maldonado-Torres – is seemingly unaware of or downplays, and second, how a rereading of a number of the key events and figures that define a decolonial discourse on race and religion, such as the Valladolid debates (1550-1551) and the figure of Christopher Columbus, help to more rigorously conceptualize the figure of the Muslim in relation to the coloniality of being.
{"title":"Islam, Muslims, and the Coloniality of Being: Reframing the Debate on Race and Religion in Modernity","authors":"Iskander Abbasi","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2020/V33N2A4","url":null,"abstract":"This article aims to more thoroughly intersect the figure of the Muslim into the framework of the coloniality of being, and into the narrative of race and religion in modernity. Two areas of concern are investigated: First, how Islamophobia aided in forming the coloniality of being in ways that decolo-nial scholarship – namely that of leading Latin American decolonial thinker, Nelson Maldonado-Torres – is seemingly unaware of or downplays, and second, how a rereading of a number of the key events and figures that define a decolonial discourse on race and religion, such as the Valladolid debates (1550-1551) and the figure of Christopher Columbus, help to more rigorously conceptualize the figure of the Muslim in relation to the coloniality of being.","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a5
Nhlanhla Landa, Sindiso Zhou, B. Tshotsho
The abuse of women and girls by individuals in authority has been a subject of complex debates in both social and academic discourses. This article analyses the language of deception used by the clergy in winning the trust of women and girls in Christian congregations prior to abusing them. We used Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis to explore the language of religious leaders in the narrative of women and abuse as reflected in the media. Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed 17 news articles drawn from the Zimbabwean media landscape. With these analyses, we were interested in the language used by the religious leaders as reported by the victims. Findings indicate that, to entice their victims, religious leaders rely on grooming – a persuasion process that, in the context of the clergy, invariably fuses the language of courtship, spiritual language, and religious language in order to persuade. The clergy also often used their ‘elevated’ religious position to threaten women with evil spirits and the perpetuation of their problems if they would not do as the religious leader instructed, which often led directly to sexual assault. Coupling the threats were assurances that only the pastor could rid them of their problems. This approach left the women and girls, already vulnerable due to all kinds of reasons that have brought them to seek help from the clergy in the first place, devastated and dependent on the religious leaders. The victims would thus often seek the perpetrator-to-be for his services. We conclude that the vulnerability of women and girls and their trust in the clergy expose them to exploitation, manipulation, and sexual abuse by the same religious leaders supposed to be representing purity. Further, due to the burden of poverty, unemployment, and the worsening economic environment in Zimbabwe, women remain at the risk of falling prey to the deceptive language of the sexually abusive clergy. Keywords: Clergy, sexual abuse, language of deception, courtship language, Christian abuse, women abuse
{"title":"Interrogating the Role of Language in Clergy Sexual Abuse of Women and Girls in Zimbabwe","authors":"Nhlanhla Landa, Sindiso Zhou, B. Tshotsho","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a5","url":null,"abstract":"The abuse of women and girls by individuals in authority has been a subject of complex debates in both social and academic discourses. This article analyses the language of deception used by the clergy in winning the trust of women and girls in Christian congregations prior to abusing them. We used Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis to explore the language of religious leaders in the narrative of women and abuse as reflected in the media. Using a qualitative approach, the study analyzed 17 news articles drawn from the Zimbabwean media landscape. With these analyses, we were interested in the language used by the religious leaders as reported by the victims. Findings indicate that, to entice their victims, religious leaders rely on grooming – a persuasion process that, in the context of the clergy, invariably fuses the language of courtship, spiritual language, and religious language in order to persuade. The clergy also often used their ‘elevated’ religious position to threaten women with evil spirits and the perpetuation of their problems if they would not do as the religious leader instructed, which often led directly to sexual assault. Coupling the threats were assurances that only the pastor could rid them of their problems. This approach left the women and girls, already vulnerable due to all kinds of reasons that have brought them to seek help from the clergy in the first place, devastated and dependent on the religious leaders. The victims would thus often seek the perpetrator-to-be for his services. We conclude that the vulnerability of women and girls and their trust in the clergy expose them to exploitation, manipulation, and sexual abuse by the same religious leaders supposed to be representing purity. Further, due to the burden of poverty, unemployment, and the worsening economic environment in Zimbabwe, women remain at the risk of falling prey to the deceptive language of the sexually abusive clergy. Keywords: Clergy, sexual abuse, language of deception, courtship language, Christian abuse, women abuse","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/V32N1A1
P. Denis
In October 1998, a think tank of the Rwandan state proposed the establishment of gacaca jurisdictions – popular courts charged with judging the people involved in the genocide against the Tutsi. Lesser known is the Christian gacaca, a conflict resolution mechanism, also inspired by the traditional gacaca, which was established during the same period by the Catholic Church of Rwanda as part of the synodal process leading to the celebration of the 2000 Year Jubilee. This essay describes, on the basis of archival documents and oral testimonies, the genesis of the Christian gacaca and examines how it related to the official gacaca. This pastoral initiative contributed to a relaxation of the tension between church and state that had marked the immediate aftermath of the genocide. The aim of the Christian gacaca was to bring about reconciliation in communities divided by the genocide, by bringing together victims and perpetrators. The task of the official gacaca was to judge and, if the guilt was established, to punish the authors of the genocide crimes. It was also, like in the Christian gacaca, to restore social harmony, but only through a judicial process.Keywords: Rwanda, genocide, Catholic Church, synod, 2000 Year Jubilee, Christian gacaca, official gacaca, Nyakibanda Major Seminary, Urugwiro Village
{"title":"Christian gacaca and official gacaca in post-genocide Rwanda","authors":"P. Denis","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/V32N1A1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/V32N1A1","url":null,"abstract":"In October 1998, a think tank of the Rwandan state proposed the establishment of gacaca jurisdictions – popular courts charged with judging the people involved in the genocide against the Tutsi. Lesser known is the Christian gacaca, a conflict resolution mechanism, also inspired by the traditional gacaca, which was established during the same period by the Catholic Church of Rwanda as part of the synodal process leading to the celebration of the 2000 Year Jubilee. This essay describes, on the basis of archival documents and oral testimonies, the genesis of the Christian gacaca and examines how it related to the official gacaca. This pastoral initiative contributed to a relaxation of the tension between church and state that had marked the immediate aftermath of the genocide. The aim of the Christian gacaca was to bring about reconciliation in communities divided by the genocide, by bringing together victims and perpetrators. The task of the official gacaca was to judge and, if the guilt was established, to punish the authors of the genocide crimes. It was also, like in the Christian gacaca, to restore social harmony, but only through a judicial process.Keywords: Rwanda, genocide, Catholic Church, synod, 2000 Year Jubilee, Christian gacaca, official gacaca, Nyakibanda Major Seminary, Urugwiro Village","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n1a3
T. Farrar, Khanyisane A. Falake, Adriel Mebaley, M. Moya, Ivor I. Rudolph
This study analyzes worldviews and religious beliefs and practices in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, South Africa, using a mall intercept survey of n=513 visitors to five shopping centers. Variables considered included demographic characteristics, measures of religiosity and religious pluralism, participation in religious activities, and supernaturalism (both related and unrelated to a traditional Christian-Abrahamic worldview). The majority (69.4%) of respon-dents identifies as Christian, though denominational affiliation is very diverse. The other two prevalent religious affiliations are the African Traditional Religion (16.4%) and Islam (11.7%). Only 1.6% of the respondents self-identified as non-religious, a smaller percentage than has been found in research on Cape Town as a whole or South Africa nationally. The degree of self-reported religiosity, participation in religious activities, and belief in supernatural phenomena are all high. Associations between demographic characteristics and religion and worldview variables are analyzed in detail. Keywords : mall intercept, religion, worldview, survey, Cape Flats, South Africa
{"title":"A mall intercept survey on religion and worldview in the Cape Flats of Cape Town, South Africa","authors":"T. Farrar, Khanyisane A. Falake, Adriel Mebaley, M. Moya, Ivor I. Rudolph","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n1a3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n1a3","url":null,"abstract":"This study analyzes worldviews and religious beliefs and practices in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, South Africa, using a mall intercept survey of n=513 visitors to five shopping centers. Variables considered included demographic characteristics, measures of religiosity and religious pluralism, participation in religious activities, and supernaturalism (both related and unrelated to a traditional Christian-Abrahamic worldview). The majority (69.4%) of respon-dents identifies as Christian, though denominational affiliation is very diverse. The other two prevalent religious affiliations are the African Traditional Religion (16.4%) and Islam (11.7%). Only 1.6% of the respondents self-identified as non-religious, a smaller percentage than has been found in research on Cape Town as a whole or South Africa nationally. The degree of self-reported religiosity, participation in religious activities, and belief in supernatural phenomena are all high. Associations between demographic characteristics and religion and worldview variables are analyzed in detail. Keywords : mall intercept, religion, worldview, survey, Cape Flats, South Africa","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a3
G. Meyer
This article tracks a shared methodological tension within the work of a few classic phenomenologists, based on an epistemological juxtaposition at the heart of their enquiry. This epistemological tension emerges as secular and non-secular concepts are worked with concurrently. A modified form of this tension is present in the materialist phenomenology of religion that David Chidester presents, which links his phenomenology to the earlier classical forms. However, although a methodological tension is maintained in his work, the epistemological juxtaposition that initiated the tension is collapsed along humanist boundaries, with important consequences for the study of religion.
{"title":"Humanist Limits in the Material Phenomenology of Religion","authors":"G. Meyer","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a3","url":null,"abstract":"This article tracks a shared methodological tension within the work of a few classic phenomenologists, based on an epistemological juxtaposition at the heart of their enquiry. This epistemological tension emerges as secular and non-secular concepts are worked with concurrently. A modified form of this tension is present in the materialist phenomenology of religion that David Chidester presents, which links his phenomenology to the earlier classical forms. However, although a methodological tension is maintained in his work, the epistemological juxtaposition that initiated the tension is collapsed along humanist boundaries, with important consequences for the study of religion.","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n1a2
H. P. Motlalekgosi
Freedom of religion, like other human rights, must be respected, protected, and promoted by relevant and entrusted authorities to comply with legitimate laws, applicable to a particular environment. In South Africa, the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 as amended, the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa of 2005, and internal policies are intended to make provision for prisoners’ freedom of religion in the correctional services environment. These essentially give effect to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, emanating from pertinent international and African continental instru-ments. Through an analytic design of change over time, this essay seeks to conduct an analysis of prisoners’ freedom of religion in South Africa. This analysis is based on the Department of Correctional Services’ annual reports published between 1997 and 2016 and the general conditions of prisons in South Africa. The finding of this study reveals a violation of the right of prisoners to freedom of religion by the South African correctional authority. Keywords : prisoners’ freedom of religion, human dignity, religious beliefs, spiritual services, prisoners’ spiritual needs
{"title":"Religious freedom and the law: a reality or pipe dream for prisoners in South Africa?","authors":"H. P. Motlalekgosi","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n1a2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n1a2","url":null,"abstract":"Freedom of religion, like other human rights, must be respected, protected, and promoted by relevant and entrusted authorities to comply with legitimate laws, applicable to a particular environment. In South Africa, the Correctional Services Act 111 of 1998 as amended, the White Paper on Corrections in South Africa of 2005, and internal policies are intended to make provision for prisoners’ freedom of religion in the correctional services environment. These essentially give effect to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, emanating from pertinent international and African continental instru-ments. Through an analytic design of change over time, this essay seeks to conduct an analysis of prisoners’ freedom of religion in South Africa. This analysis is based on the Department of Correctional Services’ annual reports published between 1997 and 2016 and the general conditions of prisons in South Africa. The finding of this study reveals a violation of the right of prisoners to freedom of religion by the South African correctional authority. Keywords : prisoners’ freedom of religion, human dignity, religious beliefs, spiritual services, prisoners’ spiritual needs","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/V32N1A4
Sepetla Molapo
This essay reads the 19th-century Protestant Christian missionary archive in order to explore how it deals with translating the term ‘molimo’ as (the Christian) God. It shows that this work of translation rests upon a binary division that Protestant Christian missionaries make between the inside and the outside with priority given to the former over the latter. This binary division that informs the translation of molimo as God, has the consequence of dis-solving the material religion of the 19th-century Sotho speaking people and inaugurating in its place a notion of religion whose foundation is personal interiority. The result of this departure of molimo from the material to personal interiority is the reorganization of the relationship between space and time. The essay argues that molimo’s departure from the material to personal interiority privileges space over time because, reconstituted as the Christian God, molimo gets cast in the language of writing. Writing has the consequence of dissolving an order of life based on the priority of speech (orality).Keywords: molimo, writing, speech, Protestant missionaries, Southern Africa, translation
{"title":"Cast as Written: Protestant Missionaries and their Translation of Molimo as the Christian God in 19th-century Southern Africa","authors":"Sepetla Molapo","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/V32N1A4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/V32N1A4","url":null,"abstract":"This essay reads the 19th-century Protestant Christian missionary archive in order to explore how it deals with translating the term ‘molimo’ as (the Christian) God. It shows that this work of translation rests upon a binary division that Protestant Christian missionaries make between the inside and the outside with priority given to the former over the latter. This binary division that informs the translation of molimo as God, has the consequence of dis-solving the material religion of the 19th-century Sotho speaking people and inaugurating in its place a notion of religion whose foundation is personal interiority. The result of this departure of molimo from the material to personal interiority is the reorganization of the relationship between space and time. The essay argues that molimo’s departure from the material to personal interiority privileges space over time because, reconstituted as the Christian God, molimo gets cast in the language of writing. Writing has the consequence of dissolving an order of life based on the priority of speech (orality).Keywords: molimo, writing, speech, Protestant missionaries, Southern Africa, translation","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-01DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a1
K. E. Amaechi, R. Tshifhumulo
In the last decade, Boko Haram (BH) has become notorious across the world, because of its militancy and ultra-fundamentalist activities. Its violent activi-ties have in many ways surpassed other similar African Salafi-oriented organizations, such as the AQIM in Algeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia. This article traces the socio-political and organizational background upon which this organization evolved in Northern Nigeria. Drawing from the social movement theory, it harnesses data, collected mostly from semi-structured interviews on some Salafi leaders, security personnel, politicians, and ordinary civilians who worked in the area. The study explains how the evolu-tion of such an organization is rooted in context-specific political structures within Northern Nigeria. The argument is that these are enabling mobilization resources and political opportunities upon which initial BH activists established the organization in the region. Keywords: Armed violence, Boko Haram, Northern Nigeria, Salafi-oriented movement organizations, Salafism, Social movement theory
{"title":"· Unpacking the Socio-Political Background of the Evolution of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria: A Social Movement Theory Approach","authors":"K. E. Amaechi, R. Tshifhumulo","doi":"10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2a1","url":null,"abstract":"In the last decade, Boko Haram (BH) has become notorious across the world, because of its militancy and ultra-fundamentalist activities. Its violent activi-ties have in many ways surpassed other similar African Salafi-oriented organizations, such as the AQIM in Algeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia. This article traces the socio-political and organizational background upon which this organization evolved in Northern Nigeria. Drawing from the social movement theory, it harnesses data, collected mostly from semi-structured interviews on some Salafi leaders, security personnel, politicians, and ordinary civilians who worked in the area. The study explains how the evolu-tion of such an organization is rooted in context-specific political structures within Northern Nigeria. The argument is that these are enabling mobilization resources and political opportunities upon which initial BH activists established the organization in the region. Keywords: Armed violence, Boko Haram, Northern Nigeria, Salafi-oriented movement organizations, Salafism, Social movement theory","PeriodicalId":42808,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of Religion","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67489770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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