12-02-15_Reader FINAL PRINT

Transcription

READER
Conference proceedings including all
framework presentations and summaries of workshops
mission 21 / Centre for African Studies Basel (CASB)
IMPRESSUM
Issued by mission 21 and the Centre for African Studies (CASB)
mission 21
Missionsstrasse 21
4003 Basel
www.mission-21.org, [email protected]
+41 61 260 22 21
Editors: Susanne Imhof & Guy Thomas
© February 2012
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Africa and Switzerland – Women in Processes of Religious and Secular Transformation
PREFACE
Close to four months after the conference “Africa and Switzerland: Women in Processes of Religious and
Secular Transformation”, we are pleased to be able to present the contributions of a host of speakers from
around the continent of Africa, from Switzerland and from Germany in writing. It has proven a fascinating
challenge to re-think and arrange the diverse contributions initially prepared for the gathering from 14-16
October 2011.
All the contributions with the exception of the summary of the workshop on “Women in Migration: Africa in
Switzerland” (German) are written in English. The papers derived from the framework presentations and the
workshop summaries and results have been grouped together respectively. A list of recommendations derived from the final round-table discussion at the end of the conference and an overview of the conference
participants round off the content of the reader. The editors have consciously attempted to remain close to
the original phraseology – and terminology/voices – of the individual presenters.
The conference proper revealed all too clearly that our joint commitment in pursuit of a broad range of issues
pertaining to “women and gender” requires to be forcefully sustained as we continue to develop and learn
about global networking cultures coupled with distinct societal needs and organisational strategies. The
outcome of the conference goes to show that we can simply not afford to shy away from any effort to facilitate more such opportunities for dialogue, exchange and common concerns to be channelled into our orientation towards a meaningful shared future.
The task of elaborating a suitable formula to assemble a group of representatives from different countries,
organisations and social backgrounds provided the basis upon which to mould the conference which was
characterised by an extraordinary diversity of experiences with, and approaches to, the selected themes. The
conference proceedings hopefully reflect this feature adequately.
One of the main targets we wish to stress here is that of encouraging a constructive continuation of some of
the contacts between the participants and members of the audience which were established and/or reinforced last October. Naturally, we also wish to invite others who could not attend the conference to engage
with some of the burning issues at hand by delving into the conference proceedings and seizing the initiative
to join our growing network.
A second overarching objective is to open up a visible and audible platform for comparisons between livelihoods and experiences of African and European women in their home and diaspora settings. This already
fuelled a series of exciting casual encounters alongside the formal framework presentations and workshops
in the course of the conference. It is our fervent wish that such encounters may continue, intensify and nurture a true spirit of intra- and transcontinental solidarity and joint action between Africa and Switzerland!
For the Organising Committee
Guy Thomas & Jochen Kirsch, mission 21
ADDENDUM
Should you wish to contact the organisers in the future, kindly send your initial messages to
[email protected] & [email protected]
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CONTENT
1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Vote of thanks
1.2
Conference theme
1.2.1 The following lead questions will be pursued ................................................................................. 8
1.2.2 The conference targets three key objectives ................................................................................. 8
1.3
General information
1.3.1 About the joint venture ..................................................................................................................... 8
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THE CONFERENCE CONTENT
2.1
Framework presentations
2.1.1 The Changing Roles of Women in Africa’s History:
Indigenizing and Transforming Colonial and Missionary Legacies.............................................. 9
Puleng Lenka-Bula
2.1.2 No Women – No Peace! A Review of Selected African Settings ............................................. 17
Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold
2.1.3 Detribalization: Christianizing Tribalism through Cameroonian Women Cameroon.......... 23
Perpetua B.N. Fonki
2.1.4 Cross-cultural Encounters and Social Change – Mission, Women and Society in Africa ...... 28
Elísio Macamo
2.1.5 Entangled histories and the Right to Education:
African, Indian and Swiss Women’s Experiences and Struggles ............................................... 36
Jyoti Atwal
2.1.6 Women´s experiences as context for doing theology in Africa................................................. 44
Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué
2.1.7 Men of God in the Pentecostal Movement and their Visions of Women's Roles.................... 52
Akosua Adomako Ampofo
2.2
Workshops
2.2.1 Aspects of the History of the Christian Women’s Fellowship
of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon..................................................................................... 59
Anna Sommer
Ida Mallet
2.2.2 The Changing Roles of Women in Cameroon.
The CWF in the Field: Activities and Experiences in Rural and Urban Settings .................... 63
Tabea Müller
Esther Takang
2.2.3 Development and Challenges of Partnership in
Women’s Work between Cameroon, Nigeria and Switzerland ............................................... 66
Susan Mark
Meehyun Chung
Beatrice Ngeh
2.2.4 Women in Migration: Africa in Switzerland................................................................................ 68
Carole Erlemann-Mengue
Fatima Rubi-Ibrahim, MA Fine Arts
Julie Leuenberger-Eya
2.2.5 Women & HIV/AIDS: Experiences from Tanzania ..................................................................... 70
Melania Mrema Kyando
Claudia Zeising
2.2.6 Women between Traditional and Modern Society in the Context of Sudan .......................... 76
Joy Alison
Gunda Stegen
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WHAT NEXT/ RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1
Evaluation by the participants
3.1.1 Women in Society ............................................................................................................................ 79
3.1.2 Women’s Concerns in the Church................................................................................................. 79
3.1.3 Theology from Women’s Perspectives ......................................................................................... 80
3.1.4 Connecting Women’s Movements and Representatives ............................................................ 80
3.1.5 Migration and Integration................................................................................................................ 81
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LIST OF AUTHORS
Adomako Ampofo, Akosua ......................................................................................................................... 82
Atwal, Jyoti.................................................................................................................................................. 82
Chung, Meehyun.......................................................................................................................................... 82
Ekué, Amélé................................................................................................................................................. 82
Erlemann-Mengue, Carole ........................................................................................................................... 82
Fonki, Perpetua ............................................................................................................................................ 82
Kyando, Melania.......................................................................................................................................... 82
Lenka-Bula, Puleng ..................................................................................................................................... 82
Leuenberger-Eya, Julie ................................................................................................................................ 82
Mark, Susan ................................................................................................................................................. 83
Macamo, Elisio ............................................................................................................................................ 83
Mallett, Ida................................................................................................................................................... 83
Müller, Tabea............................................................................................................................................... 83
Ngeh, Beatrice ............................................................................................................................................. 83
Rubi-Ibrahim, Fatima................................................................................................................................... 83
Sommer, Anna ............................................................................................................................................. 84
Takang, Esther ............................................................................................................................................. 84
Vermot-Mangold, Ruth-Gaby...................................................................................................................... 84
Zeising, Claudia ........................................................................................................................................... 84
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DONORS
5.1
Donations
Department of International Affairs, University of Basel............................................................................ 85
Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche des Kantons Basel-Landschaft ............................................................... 85
Evang.-Reformierte Kirche des Kantons Solothurn.................................................................................... 85
Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft......................................................................................................... 85
net-solution .................................................................................................................................................. 85
Reformierte Kirchen Bern-Jura-Solothurn................................................................................................... 85
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute .................................................................................................. 85
Unité des Frères en Suisse ........................................................................................................................... 85
World Council of Churches ......................................................................................................................... 85
5.2
Deficit coverage
Basler Mission ............................................................................................................................................. 85
Stiftung Dialog zwischen Kirchen, Religionen und Kulturen...................................................................... 85
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ORGANISATION AND INFORMATION
mission 21, protestant mission basel............................................................................................................ 88
Centre for African Studies Basel (CASB), University of Basel................................................................... 88
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INTRODUCTION
1.1
Vote of thanks
By way of an opening act we must remind ourselves
of the untiring efforts undertaken by everybody who
participated both in the organisation of, and during,
the conference “Africa and Switzerland: Women in
Process of Religious and Secular Transformation”
as well as in the task of producing the present
reader. Some of the participants’ voices come to the
fore on the following pages. They and others who
also wholeheartedly offered their support along the
way merit a profound vote of thanks both from mission 21 and the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel. Our gratitude also extends to the enthusiastic audience on the occasion of the conference and not least to a host of donors who altogether enabled the vision of the event to be turned
into a dream come true. Finally, we wish to thank
the Ambassador of the Republic of Cameroon and
his wife, Dr. and Mrs. Léonard Henri Bindzi, for
attending several sessions during the conference in
spite of their very busy schedule at the time.
1.2
Conference theme
As we presently look back and commemorate the
outcome of often protracted struggles for decolonisation which have resulted in half a century of formal independence of many African nations, we are
called upon to review key factors that have helped to
mould new societies and enduring international
relationships. In spite of its apparent absence in the
ranks of European colonial powers in the 19th and
20th centuries, Switzerland assumed a multi-faceted
role in forging transnational linkages throughout
the world – including Africa – during this entire
period, for instance for economic, religious and
scientific purposes.
Among the Switzerland-based enterprises that established contacts in African societies with varied
long-term impacts, the Basel Mission (BM) features
prominently in relation to all three of the aforementioned motifs. The history of the BM (founded in
1815) reflects close to two centuries of global dissemination of Christian faith, partially in conjunction with distinct colonial experiences in African
settings under joint German and Swiss influence.
These rapports merit particular attention in 2011:
December 2011 will witness the 125th anniversary of
the arrival of the first four Basel Missionaries in
Cameroon. Moreover, the Christian Women’s Fellowship (CWF) of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC), the partner church of the Basel Mission (now incorporated into mission 21) in Cameroon, will celebrate its Golden Jubilee in November
2011. And finally, Cameroon faces 50 years of unification as a federal republic on 1 October 2011.
In the light of these historic dates, set against the
backdrop of profound processes of political, social
and economic transition since independence both
in Cameroon and throughout the African continent,
a three-day conference has been scheduled from 1416 October 2011.
The conference explores changes brought about or
accelerated in colonial and missionary encounters
as mirrored in contemporary women’s positions
and roles in the Cameroonian context as well as in
other African societies. The latter include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, South
Africa, Sudan and Tanzania. Moreover, India also
features alongside the African countries with a view
to opening up important avenues for further reflection and comparison. The broader theme takes its
cue from the notion of the “Willensnation”. The
latter articulates the determination to organise and
sustain a common national or otherwise collective
affiliation for people of diverse social and cultural
origins. The aim is to inquire into various patterns
of interplay and the extent to which this key feature
of Swiss political and cultural identity comes into
fruition
• in the Christian missionary and churches’ quests
for, and contributions toward, the shaping of social and religious values, livelihoods and community structures in selected African settings;
• in subsequent African attempts at indigenising
colonial and missionary legacies as well as at recovering the dignity of their peoples and cultures;
• in endeavours of both African and Swiss/German
women to form a basis for the broad recognition
of social coherence and diversity;
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• in a growing sense of determination to create
formal and/or semi-formal institutional structures as constitutive pillars of social, spiritual and
economic welfare systems in African societies.
1.2.1
The following lead questions will
be pursued
• In which ways did the particular historical contexts of late 19th/20th century Germany and Switzerland characterise and shape specific objectives
and practices of Christian missionary activity ensuing from Basel?
• How did women, both from Europe and Africa,
become involved in the Basel Mission’s activities
and how have their roles, aims, aspirations and
participation evolved from the past to the present?
• How do the experiences of mission 21 and its
partner organisations in the other African countries relate to the work of the CWF in Cameroon,
the changing roles of women in churches and society, and the position of the Church in the State?
• To what extent have the historical trajectories
under review affected perceptions among women
/ women’s groups of problems and challenges
confronting society in contemporary Cameroon,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and India?
1.2.2
The conference targets three key
objectives
1) It intends to raise awareness about the role of
women in processes of state, social and religious
trends and itineraries of development and transformation from a comparative angle in Cameroon
as well as several other African partner countries
of mission 21.
2) It emphasises the comparative perspective with a
view to formulating a catalogue of gendersensitive recommendations for future cooperation between mission 21, other institutions
in Switzerland and African partner organisations.
It also expects to stimulate direct exchange
among the latter.
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3) It aims at strengthening mission 21’s public profile by opening up and/or revitalising networks
between mission 21, the CASB and other institutions in Basel and Switzerland working on and
with African nation states, organisations and additional partners.
1.3
General information
The conference was conceived as a joint venture
between mission 21 and the CASB. It is open to a
wide audience including specialists (from NGOs,
state institutions, academia, religious bodies) as
well as all other people with related interests.
Framework presentations shall be supplemented by
workshops, daily reviews and a conclusive plenary
round table discussion. The inputs, responses and
recommendations will be collated and taken down
for the purpose of producing a final document, the
proceedings of the conference.
1.3.1
About the joint venture
The CASB is operated under the auspices of the University of Basel. It is attached to the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the
Faculty of Theology. Among its associate members
are the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute,
the Museum of Cultures, mission 21 (the former
Basel Mission) and the Basler Afrika Bibliographien
(Namibia Resource Centre – Southern Africa Library).
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THE
CONFERENCE CONTENT
2.1
Framework presentations
2.1.1
The Changing Roles of Women
in Africa’s History: Indigenizing
and Transforming Colonial and
Missionary Legacies
Puleng Lenka-Bula
Department of Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics, University of South Africa, Pretoria,
South Africa
Abstract
There are many and sometimes complex connections between women, missionary history, church
and/or the remnants of colonial legacies in the postcolonial and post-apartheid period. These connections derive from – among other things – the mission history of the founding of churches in African
settings in the 1800s by the different mission societies. They also derive from the socio-economic, geospatial and religious context of the colonial and
post-colonial period, based upon the premise that
missionary activity was inextricably intertwined with
colonization processes. This applies notably to the
historical process referred to in political-economy
discourse as “the scramble for Africa’ which set in
full motion shortly before, during and after the Berlin Conference of European powers in 1884/85
geared to delimiting the colonial boundaries of African territories they sought power over.
The first part of the essay discusses the definitions
of relevant key concepts. The second part delineates
some of the background issues relating to colonial
and post-colonial experiences of the church. The
third part elucidates African women’s active agency
in the transformation of missionary legacies and
cultures and examines the ways in which this transformation is beneficial to the post-colonial/postApartheid Africa. I will particularly focus on the role
of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, which is a formation of trained women theo-
logians seeking to constructively contribute to mission and theology in Africa. The essay will not attempt to discuss the work of the circle, but to locate
the inputs of the circle for the transformation of
mission, church and society today. The final part
identifies sources of hope and points of solidarity
necessary for global missionary activity by African
women and their allies and friends in the quest for
life-affirming mission in the 21st century.
Introduction
I was asked to reflect on the changing roles of
women in Africa’s history, indigenizing, colonial1
and missionary legacies in the church and society. I,
however decided to alter the proposed title, and to
reflect on the The Changing Roles of Women in
Africa’s histories and the transformation of colonial
and missionary histories.2 My decision to opt for the
latter topic was influenced by a number of considerations, including among others, the following:
the first is that the task of theology in Africa, particularly by African women theologians/Ethicists,
cannot be limited to the appropriation and indigenization of colonial and missional legacies, its
task is to embrace those aspects of mission, missionary histories/ legacies which are life-affirming
for all God’s people and creation and to contest or
reject those aspects of mission/ missionary activities
consciously / unconsciously associated with colonialism and which promoted the disruption and/or
subjugation of Africa’s peoples and their ecologies/eco-systems.
1“The forms of colonial domination varied widely, from
rule (with varying degrees of harshness) through native
elites... [and] gun-boat diplomacy.... wars ... [and]
wholesale massacres of tribes by white settlers in Southern/Western Africa.”
2 I have chosen to reflect on histories because I believe
there were multiple expressions of colonial and missionary histories. There was no monolithic trajectory of mission work or colonial enterprise. This is attested to by the
distinct modes in which different missionaries interacted
within local contexts of their missionary work, e.g. the
Basel Mission, the London Missionary Society, the Paris
Evangelical Missionary Society and the Swiss Mission in
South Africa.
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The idea or conjecture that African women theologies might want to participate in the indigenisation
of colonial and missionary legacies would mask the
non-constructive aspects of colonialism in Africa. It
might also indirectly promote a view that colonial/
missionary histories and or activities were always
good, in spite of the fact that in the context of Africa, they were complex and fraught with many contradictions and sometimes promoted life denying
legacies, including among others:
• The collusion of theological evangelisation / missionary activities with the political and socialeconomic project of colonialism. Robert S.
Heaney’s clarifies this complexity by defining
coloniality as a “state or process to subjugate culture and agency by incursive cultural and in this
case, theological discourse.”1
• The second idea is that “colonialism is part of the
Christian story and arguably part of the reason for
the dominance of European theology,”2
• The third observation that ‘missionary churches
have had a fundamental relationship with colonialist aspirations and thus, to some extent, directly
or indirectly assisted colonial expansion. [I am
wary of this observation which chimes with the
positivist or inherent and often undifferentiated
post-colonial critique of cultural imperialism; it is
in fact a truism that missionary activity was – historically – an integral part of the colonial apparatus, but it evolved in distinct ways and brought
about innovative changes upon and within affected societies which partially developed particular emancipatory dynamics of their own.]
If then colonial and missional activity sometimes
intersected in ways that helped to expand colonial
mission/expansion, the task of African theologies/or theologies by African women theologies
ought to counteract the burdensome remnants of
colonialism and missionary activity and embrace or
indigenize the legacies and impacts they deem worthy of forging a viable social fabric in the past and
present.
And yet, it could also be unwise not to acknowledge
those aspects of mission and the missionary activities of the churches in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries which brought about formal relationships between indigenous/local communities in which mission was received abd interpreted as a positive and
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constructive force. As stated before, the contradictions became manifest in that many mission agencies also participated in the translation of languages
of many African peoples into written texts, they
initiated schools as well as centres of learning and
training in skills that were not readily or necessarily
available in the host communities, and, at times,
they became active partners and or participants in
the quest for freedom and decolonisation in Africa.
It is thus imperative, whilst noting the positive and
not so positive aspects of missionary activities now
and then, not to also trivialise the deep and sometimes life-denying effects of colonialism and colonisation on Africa’s peoples and their environments.
It is therefore the purpose of this essay to explore
the ways in which African women theologies/ethics
in Africa have sought to bear witness to the ‘missional’ call to evangelise/ promote ‘life in fullness’
for all God’s people and creation without acceding
to colonialism and or its legacies in Africa. Its primary interest is to discuss the roles that women play
in church and society today. As stated above, this
essay will begin by first clarifying the key concepts
and themes relevant to this discussion centred upon
colonialism, mission and evangelism, African
women theologies/ethics and (post-colonial) justice/women’s agency. The second part of the essay
will provide examples which demonstrate African
women’s agency3 and their numerous efforts to
‘announce’ and bear witness to the scriptures/the
good news as attested to in biblical witness. This
section will also identify the ways in which African
women theologies/ethics have sought to engage
theology and or mission studies in challenging and
rejecting domination and life-denying aspects of
mission and evangelisation in the past and present.
This will be demonstrated by highlighting some of
the contributions of theologies by women in Africa,
such as the re-reading of theologies and biblical
studies through ‘cultural hermeneutics’, the formation of counter-cultural movements which contest
the collaboration/collusion of African traditional
patriarchy and the widespread androgynous practices in church and society. We will also show how
women engage and or articulate alternative and lifeaffirming ways of doing theology and being active
3 Definition of women’s agency .please complete!
agents in church and society. The final part of the
essay will thus show how the contributions of African women theologians in theology/Ethics have
contributed toward expanding the horizons of theological and mission discourses today and for the
future.
African women’s moral and missionary agency
The third concept which requires some delineation
is the notion of African women’s moral agency and
transformation of mission/theologies/histories in
church and society. I have elsewhere4 defined African women’s moral agency – whether in the religious, social, political, ecological, and economic
spheres – as generally understood to entail some
aspect of moral consciousness and a degree of
awareness that ‘something is wrong somewhere
and it has to be transformed.’ Moral agency simply
refers to “capability to determine for oneself and
one’s own action in an individual, collective, or otherwise social sense.”5 It describes the condition of
being present or active in community life despite
any system which disregards or excludes this ability.
It also entails the performance of socio-political,
religious, ideological, philosophical selfhood or
being. As a conscious state of activity or being,
agency suggests a distinct yet culturally variable
impulse toward self-consciousness with the intention to subvert or undermine socio-economic, ecological, gender and or political oppression. Agency
is “power or potentiality for action.”6
In theology, mission studies and Christian ethics,
agency is described as capacity for the transformation of selves in, through, and for the transformation of individuals, communities, society and social
structures that govern their lives. Iris Marion Young
defines social structures as multi-dimensional
spaces of differentiated social positions, systems,
institutions, and processes among which a population is distributed. “The social associations of people provide both the criterion for distinguishing
social positions and the connections among them
that make them elements of a single social structure.”7 This is because social structures are not
merely the actions and interactions of differently
positioned persons, drawing on the rules and resources the structures offer, [could you make this
more intelligible and perhaps turn it into two sentences!] take place on the basis of past actions
whose collective effects mark the physical conditions of action; these actions and interactions also
often have future effects beyond the immediate purposes and intentions of the actors.8 This is particularly true to the African experiences of colonialism
and missionary activities in the 18th,19th and 20th
centuries whose positive and negative legacies still
shape socio-political, economic and religious life in
spite of their historical and existential periods being
in the past. [I wonder if at this point you could
briefly expound on the controversial notions of neocolonialism and the neo-/post-missionary era.]
Moral agency is influenced by the ontologies of
people as rational and feeling human beings. It is
also propelled by human being’s yearning or making decisions that affect their lives and or surroundings. In other words, African women’s agency is
sometimes spurred by their refusal or resistance
against structural injustices. Iris Marion Young suggests that structural injustices, for example colonialism or colonisation, exist
...when social processes put large categories of
people under a systematic threat of domination
or deprivation of the means to develop and exercise their capacities, at the same time these
processes enable others to dominate or have a
wide range of opportunities for development
and exercising their capacities. Structural injustices are a kind of moral wrong distinct from the
4 Refer to LenkaBula, Puleng and Makofane Karabo,
African Women’s Moral Agency and the Quest for Justice
published in please complete!
5 Ortiz, Lisa M. (2000). Encyclopaedia of Postmodernism, 6.
6 Ryan, A. Maura (1996). “Agency”, in: Dictionary of
Feminist Theologies. Russell, L. & M., and Clarkson,
Shannon, J. (eds.). Kentucky, Westminster: John Knox
Press, 4.
7 Young, Iris Marion (2006). Responsibility and Global
Justice: A Social Connection Model, 112.
8 Young, Iris Marion Responsibility and Global Justice: A
Social Connection Model 2006, 114.
11
wrongful action of an individual agent or the
wilfully repressive policies of a state.9
Women’s moral agency can thus be expressed in a
variety of ways, including through a) subverting
systems of injustice; b) resistance to oppression and
c) active engagement in the quest for justice and
alternatives to those systems and processes which
they are dissatisfied with in the socio-political, economic and ecclesial realms. African women’s theologians moral agency thus manifests in the main in
counter-cultures and the pursuance of alternatives
to the dominant conceptualisation of missionary
activities and their collusion with African traditional
governance of public spheres and citizenship, which
to a large extent results in their marginalisation and
exploitation in church and society. Our agency is
thus underscored by the principles of justice and
intellectual commitment to “interrogate political
practices for exclusions and omissions that may be
obscured by our social location.”10 African women’s
moral agency is therefore a component of active
citizenship which stretches beyond civic duties and
human relations. It is in itself an act of construction
and promotion of inclusive and right [what do you
mean here by “right”? You could make this point
sharper!] relations with men and the web-of-life
[explain!?] which is inextricably bound to humanity
and to what it means to be fully human in Africa and
in the world [this statement has a universalistic
touch whioch I find difficult to grasp; could you
make it a bit more matter of fact??].
Active agency by African women theologians therefore involves, among other things, the development
of a) constructive cultures of creative justice and
resistance to oppression in church and society, b)
the constructive development of theological and
epistemological approaches relevant to Christian
ethics, theological, biblical and mission studies,
including the development of exegetical and key
interpretative approaches, such as ‘cultural, eco-
9 Young, Iris Marion (2006). Responsibility and Global
Justice: A Social Connection Model, 114.
10 Applebaum, Barbara (Feb 2004). “Social Justice Education, Moral Agency and the subject of resistance”, Educational Theory 54, no 1,59-72.
12
logical, ‘Bosadi’11 and feminist hermeneutical approaches to biblical, theological and mission witness. It also manifests itself in practical acts of doing theologies, such as forming associations aimed
at equipping women to acquire formal theological
education and training, to write and reflect on theologies from their perspectives as active agents in
theologies and histories, as well as to work with
women’s formations in church and society to transform their communities for the better. These actions will be elaborated in the next section of this
essay.
African women’s moral agency in theological and
missionary studies and activities therefore does not
simply assign the pursuance of theology and the
knowledge and act of paying witness to God to
adaptive mechanisms or to old church and society
practices, but promotes the construction and embodiment of creative impulses and practices which
counter life-denying and oppressive production and
reproduction [what do you mean by prod/reprod –
explain!], and value systems. In essence, African
women’s agency is demonstrated in its critical and
corrective knowledge production and ontological
manifestations as well as its ongoing and ‘active
quests for justice’. Reflecting on African women’s
agency not only asserts their full humanity, it also
promotes scholarship that is not complicit with
unjust representations or relationships. Keeping
silent would result in the negation of African
women’s responsibility to proclaim justice and to
resist collusion with knowledge systems and ideologies which undermine our ontology and sacredness.
Why it is important for African
Africans
cans to engage
mission studies and experiences of colonialism
in theology almost 50 years plus and 17 years
11 One of the leading Hebrew Scriptures scholars ( Old
Testament) in South Africa and a member of the Circle of
Concerned Women theologians, Madipooane Masenya,
has developed a methodology of reading the bible and its
exegesis/interpretation, which she refers to as Bosadi.
Her book, please complete!... makes a compelling case
for African rootedness and contextual reading of the
bible and its implications, especially in societies and
communities which believe in the centrality of the bible
in their lives.
after the political dissolution of colonialism and
Apartheid in South Africa?
The affirmation of life as a central motif for theological and ethical reflection is important for African feminist theologians for a number of reasons.
According to Mafeje it is important because the historical antecedents which continue to shape the
ecclesial landscape in Africa, as well as the political
governance and economies of Africa are still entwined with the former colonial relations and structures. For instance, Mafeje asserts that postindependent African states and post-Apartheid
South Africa were and continue to be fully plunged
into economic systems which were meant to be related to those of the metropolitan and former colonial rulers. He states:
Africa more than any other Third World region
got fully integrated into metropolitan economies. This can be treated as a proof of its low
defence capacity or permeability of its social
formations. Compared with Asia, Africa was
balkanised too easily because it did not have any
prototypical state formation that might have afforded it a maximum political resistance on a
wide scale [I feel this rather general statement
needs to be seriously problematised…]. Consequently to the destruction of the West African
mercantile economies during the trans-Atlantic
slavery, by the advent of colonialism Africa was
in no position to withstand the capitalist onslaught to its economies. It became easy prey to
colonial capitalism...they were totally subordinated and could not reproduce themselves. The
colonial political and economic heritage in African social formation [thus] runs deeper than
most would realize.12 [This is generally a very fatalistic, if not say propagandistically fatalistic,
citation which I find seriously questionable…]
Apartheid Africa, especially from the perspective of
an African woman theologian. She states, “Africa,
barely out of the clutches of apartheid, continues to
suffer from global white racism and is riddled with
poverty and death. Rather than contemplating the
future of the church, therefore, people are focussed
on the continued slave labour Africans provide to
the Euro-American economy, which has resulted in
the so called national debts and the consequent
economic structural adjustment programs imposed
on many African nations.”13
African and African diaspora theologians and scholars have reflected on colonialism and its effects of
colonialism on society’s economies, ecologies, politics and religions of Africa. Frantz Fanon, for example, claimed that colonialism was one of the most
barbaric forms of human relations, and referred to it
as a savage system.14 He claimed that the wealth
which smothers Europe ‘[…] was stolen from the
under developed peoples [...] Europe’s opulence
had been founded on slavery and ‘nourished by the
sweat and the dead bodies of Negroes, Arabs, Indians and the yellow races’’.15
A similar observation was made by the Sri-Lankan
scientist and theologian, Ramachan-dran, who
makes the following comment: ‘it is a remarkable
fact that as recently as the 1930s 84 % of the earth’s
surface areas was under European colonial rule.
Formal decolonisation was a central event of the
second half of the twentieth century and one that
has profound repercussions for all societies all over
the world, the colonisers and the colonised.’16
Ramachandran further observes that
Mercy Amba Oduyoye, in ‘The Church of The Future, Its Mission and Theology: A View from Africa’
beautifully paints the ambiguities and challenges
faced by the churches in post-colonial and post-
European colonialism not only plundered
wealth form the colonies but violently reshaped
physical territories, social terrains, knowledge
systems and human identities. The economies
of coloured people’s were restructured and
locked into more of Europe so that there was a
flow of human and natural resources between
the colonised and the colonial countries. Just as
opium was transported to China from India by
12 Mafeje, Archie (2002). “Democratic Governance and
New Democracy in Africa: Agenda for the Future” in
Anyang’ Nyongo et al. (eds). New Partnership for Africa’s
Development NEPAD A New Path?, 74.
13 Oduyoye, Mercy A (1996). The Church of the Future,
Its Mission and Theology: A View from Africa, 1.
14 See Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched of the Earth.
15 Fanon quoted by Vinoth pg 226.
16 Ramachandran 2008, 225.
13
the British East India Company in exchange for
tea that was supplied to England, slaves were
moved from Africa to the Americas, and the Caribbean plantations produced sugar for consumption in Europe.17
According to Maria Pilar Aquino engaging colonialism in theology is particularly important because
“the concept of colonization has been used in theological discourse as a category by which to analyse
social construction of domination and subordination...in the areas of social relationships of
power...among various social groups.”18 She suggests that, because colonialism has manifested itself
as a social process which entailed massive European
invasion of the Americas, Africa and Asia, ‘which
was accompanied by means of genocide against
indigenous peoples, the pillaging of lands and
properties, the rape and violation of the native
women, and the destruction of native intellectual
creations, in order to impose European symbols,
language and social institutions,’19 it must be theologically interrogated in order to envision alternatives. Employing the concepts of colonization and
colonialism in mission studies, theology and ethics,
thus serves as a heuristic category aimed at envisioning theological alternatives in which church and
society ‘support the self-determination of women,
the anthropological equivalence of excluded groups,
and the socio-political recognition of women of
marginalised races and cultures.’20
Understanding colonialism as an ongoing discourse
in theology has been important in the quest for justice, transformation and reconstruction of the African present and futures. According to
Ramachandran, it is essential to engage colonialism
because of ‘the silence of western theological enterprise on this phenomenon.’21 He suggests that
colonisation has to be engaged not only because the
main benefactors and or beneficiaries of the system
17 Vinoth, 225.
18 Aquino, M. P. (1996). Article on ‘Colonization’, in:
Dictionary of Feminist Theologies, 50.
19 Aquino, M.P. (1996). Colonization in Dictionary of
Feminist Theologies, 50.
20 Aquino, M.P. (1996). Colonization in Dictionary of
Feminist Theologies, 50.
21 Ramachandran (2008),.
14
have generally been quiet in their theological engagement with it, but because efforts have to be
made to correct and seek justice and reconciliation
for God’s people, by appealing to George Hamming’s view that ‘the colonial experience is a live
experience in the consciousness of people...[it] is a
continuing psychic experience that has to be dealt
with and will have to be dealt with long after the
actual colonial period formerly ends.’22
Oduyoye suggests that some of these challenges
require transformation if the church and its mission
are to become relevant, life-affirming and constructive for many in the church and society in Africa. It is
in the light of this discussion that one is obliged to
identify some of the constructive contributions of
African women theologians and ethicists in the
post-colonial and post-Apartheid period to church
and society. My intention is not to engage in a comprehensive or exhaustive discussion of all the contributions that African women theologians have
made to the church and society as a whole, but to
identify some of the constructive and outstanding
contributions which have helped towards enriching
the life and work of the churches and the ecumenical movement, theological studies in Africa and in
the world, the pursuit of justice and well-being, and
mission studies and practices in particular.
African Women in pursuance of justice
justice and the
transformation of church and society through
theological and mission studies
It is imperative, in the light of historical, sociopolitical and economic analyses engaged in the
above to ask what the message of Christian mission
is today and how it might overcome and transform
those aspects of historical missionary activity which
have left a negative impact and identify and promote
those aspects of missionary activity in the past
which have the potential to enrich the life and work
of church and society today; in other words, missionary activity today and for the future. My view is
that it is only when we are able to confess the sins of
the past and today, and are willing to engage them
in order to transform our lives, that theologies and
mission studies will resonate with the call and invitation for fullness of life for all God’s people and
22 Lamming cited in Ramachandran (2008), 229.
creation, reconciliation, care, justice and well-being
for the church and society today and for the future.
My understanding of transformation and justice
thus entails the view that the alteration of injustices
to justice as attested to by biblical witness, in particular the Prophets (Ezekiel), includes ending and
overcoming the structural violence and marginalisation which were central to colonialism and colonisation, and to which some aspects of missionary activities were associated with. It also entails the end
of the evictions of people from the land [or: countryside] and stopping oppression. In Ezekiel 45:9,
the call for justice is tersely called for in the following words: ‘God proclaims, enough, o princess of
Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do
what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my
people, says the Lord.’ This suggests that mission
and missionary work must advance the course of
justice, wellness and well-being for humanity and
the earth at all times to guarantee the dignity of all
people and the integrity of creation as attested to by
biblical witness.
In spite of the contradictions of past missionary
work, there are also positive aspects which have to
be affirmed and promoted in order for the lessons
learnt to be used for the betterment of life in church
and society. The latter include among others:
• the promotion of education as a key component
for the advancement of individual, collective and
church development; [could you sharpen this
point by relating it to women in African societies;
the privilege of school education was certainly
not readily accessible to girls and women from
the onset. Rather, we need to distinguish between
informal and formal systems of education and the
bridges that were established partly by pioneer
female missionaries to span the gap. This is important to pioint out, for we all know that mission brought education but not how and when
women began to benefit and subsequently developed scope for new opportunities.]
• the pursuit of justice and the promotion of the
well-being of humanity and God’s creation by
some missionaries, including from the Basel
Mission, the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society
and others.
• Seeking justice through theological and ethical
reflections as well as ecclesiastical praxis and
placing the poor at the centre of our theological,
ecclesiastical and social practice (praxis) was also
central to some of the past mission work.
Solidarity with African peoples seeking liberation
from Apartheid and colonialism is another important example which some missionary formations
demonstrated, especially in the quest for freedom
from the oppression of colonialism and slavery.
More solidarity work is needed, however, to help
advance the course of women’s liberation and their
efforts to contest, challenge and transform patriarchal elements in church and society, which have
created impediments to their full participation in
everyday life in these arenas. This implies that the
churches and mission agencies ought to engage in
an ongoing attempt, in solidarity with African
women, in the quest for gender justice, particularly
gender justice in church and society as it relates to
the economy, ecology and gender relations between
men and women, as well as justice between countries of the Global North and South. The search for
justice also requires the church not only to reflect
on, but to be actively involved in, the attempts to
transform economic and ecological injustices which
disregard the well-being of many African women
and their societies, as well as of many of God’s people and created earth [here again, you could be a
touch sharper and more secular/pragmatic in your
wording.].
I therefore want to conclude this presentation with
reference to Heany when he says transformation
should be understood as theological discourse of
decolonization. Transformation seeks to respond to
’the subjugation by missionaries of African agency
and culture, seeks to recover the importance of African agency and African wisdom’.23
Transformation is therefore not the contextualisation of a foreign word into local soil. It is not just
the recognition that in inter-cultural encounters
translation may evoke lost theological emphases
and a degree of autonomy. Transformation includes
the recognition that revelation arises from practice
in pre- active and post-missionary movement eras.
In post-colonial terms, transformation is achieved
23 Heany, R.S. Avoiding the Colonization Method
(2008),74-5.
15
to the degree in which the politics of binary opposition and the discourses of binary representations are
erased. It is for this reason that the mission
churches, as well as the African initiated churches,
are important to post-colonial theologies.24
24 Heany, R.S. Avoiding the Colonization Method
(2008),74-5.
16
2.1.2
No Women – No Peace!
A Review of Selected
African Settings
Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold
President of „1000 PeaceWomen Across the
Globe“ and former member of the Swiss Parliament
and the Council of Europe
1. Introduction
Last Friday, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leyman Gbowee
and Tavakkul Karman received the Nobel Peace
Prize. All three have one thing in common: they are
peace-women, who have been doing peace-work
with different strategies, in different places, and
with different goals – but with the same creativity,
tirelessness, sustainability and often at the risk of
their lives. It is high time to recognise that without
women, peace is not possible, nowhere. I am convinced that the pressure of many women's organisations has influenced this decision, including our
initiative “1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize”
of 2005. Up to now, 15 women and 83 men have
received this award – an alarming imbalance considering the peace efforts of women worldwide!
Let me take up the closing statement of the president of the Nobel Peace Prize jury: No women – no
peace! It is no secret that the world of war, of armament, of proliferation, of war budgets – the
world of war is a men’s world, a world of generals,
of so called war heroes. Women are not better people; they often rally behind the war heroes, ignoring
the consequences. However, it is still mostly women
who assume the responsibility to rebuild the destroyed villages and care for the victims in the over
300 conflict regions worldwide. They do this without a budget of millions, although politicians
should know that peace building, healing and
mourning processes take long time in war torn societies and costs more than starting a war! It takes
years… decades, until scared ans hurt people find
their way into a new peaceful life.
Women struggle for peace, they condemn torture,
murder, rape and abductions, and they document clandestinely - the brutalities by taking photos and
video footage of brutally tortured corpses – proof of
the bestiality of many a war party. They help desperate repatriates and do everything for the landmines
to be cleared before their children get mutilated or
killed. Mines are the gruesome and deceitful weapons.
My contact with these women and the awareness
that their work leaves scarcely a public trace preoccupies me incessantly. Women are hardly ever invited to the peace negotiations of the men. That’s
why in 2005 we nominated 1000 women for the
Nobel Peace Prize 2005, submitting their biographies to the Committee in Oslo. But instead they
chose the UN International Atomic Energy Agency
and its director Mohammed El Baradei.
Despite our understandable disappointment, we
keep on working. The 1000 peace women, representing hundreds of thousands, must not return to
anonymity. This is our common responsibility, because peace work never ends and more than ever
women must play their part.
2. Good practices
It is not easy to find examples of sustainable good
practice involving women, but there are:
2.1 For example in Liberia
Liberia experienced devastating warfare between
1989 and 2003. In 2001, African women peace activists launched the Peacebuilding Network. In 2003,
the Liberian part of the network, with leadership
from Leymah Gbowee, Asatou Bah Kenneth and
other women, founded a movement called Women
of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. They draw on their
faith, common values and exhaustion with war to
mobilize women across the churches and mosques.
They successfully brought thousands of Liberian
women together on the streets of Monrovia, all
dressed in white. In order to bring the war parties to
their senses they also threatened with a sex strike.
They presented their demand to then-President
Charles Taylor and leaders of the armed groups.
The women’s movement became directly involved in
the disarmament of combatants when the UN’s
disarmament programme was about to fail. They
negotiated with the boys and men in the demobilization areas and broadcast radio announcements
asking for peace and forgiveness. In 2005, they
helped bring to power the first female and feminist
head of state in Liberia, and in Africa, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
17
As one of the first official acts in office, “Ma Ellen”
released a tough rape law. The President also included women in the new state institutions and
initiated legal reforms, enabling women to own
property persecuting crimes like and domestic violence.25 As part of the UN peacekeeping mission, a
female-only police force from India is responsible
for security in the capital Monrovia and for the recruitment of women to the local police service.
government be reserved for women. Furthermore,
Asha Haji Elmi is actively campaigning against the
sexual mutilation of girls, which is a common ritual
in Somalia. From 2004 to 2009 she was a member of
the transition parliament. She is one of the 1000
Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 project, and
received the Right Livelihood Award in 2008.
Liberia is not a perfect country; it is traumatized and
extremely poor. But it has been more successful
than other countries in similar situations due to the
courage of its women.
Dekha Ibrahim Abdi26 from Wajir, Kenja, grew up
during the ongoing war between the government
forces and the guerrilla movement. In 1992, Dekha
and other women along with concerned men got
involved in grassroots peace work, bringing together people from the different clans. She was part
of a group of women in the Wajir district in 1998
who mediated between two women groups, fighting
for control over the market place. She also supported a mediation process in the Mandera District
in 2005 between two communities in the Somalia,
Ethiopia, and Kenya cross border area.
2.2 For example Ghana
The same West African Peacebuilding Network also
mobilized hundreds of women in refugee camps in
Ghana to attend the peace talks in Accra in 2003.
They sat in front of the negotiations buildings, outside the formal discussions, but liaising with the
delegates from the Manu River Women’s Peace
Network inside. In the end, it was their sit-in, barricading delegates in their meeting rooms, which
achieved the signing of the peace agreement two
weeks later.
2.3 For example Somalia
After the beginning of the Somali civil war, Asha
Haji Elmi and other women founded Save the Somali Women and Children (SSWC) in 1992. In 2000,
when the peace negotiations took place in Arta,
Djibuti, Asha Haji Elmi founded the women's network Sixth Clan, to emphasize the importance of
women as a sixth clan in the peace process. Suddenly, the up to now excluded women were participating had their own group in the peace talks. Asha
Haji Elmi herself is married to a man from an enemy
clan, which created some distrust both in her own
as in her husband’s clan.
Nevertheless, Sixth Clan has played a decisive role in
getting 12% of the seats in the federal transitional
Cross-Learning Process on UN Security Cuncil Resoilution 1325, Departement of Foreign Affairs, sponsored by
Ireland. And PeaceWomen Across the Globe
Berne/Switzerland: Exhibition No Women – No Peace,
2010
25
18
2.4 For example Kenia
Upon request of the Kenyan government, she mediated in a conflict between pastoralist groups in the
Ugandan Kenyan cross-border area and finally,
Dekha was involved in the post election crisis in
2008 together with four other eminent Kenyans and
created a movement for peace the “Concerned Citizens for Peace” working on all levels of society. After many good and bad experiences, Dekha and
others set up a “network of networks” of mediators,
consisting of representatives from women’s groups,
the government, the business sector, and religious
and traditional leaders. This network met once a
month to discuss the situation. If there was a conflict, the group decided on who could best deal with
it.
At the outbreak of violence in the post election crisis
in 2008 everybody was shocked. All actors had been
tied up in the pre-election process on one side or the
other. Very few of them had the necessary distance
and disinvolvement to become a mediator. Dekha
Dekha Ibrahim, Abdi, PeaceWoman from Kenia died in
a car accident in her country in June 2011, she was involved in the programme “Redefining Peace - Women
lead the Way” of PeaceWomen Across the Globe, Switzerland
26
realized that these actors first needed a moment of
self-reflection on their own role in the pre-election
period, before becoming active.
The model of a network of networks of mediators is
a giant’s leap forward in dealing with tensions in a
society. If all key constituencies are represented in
the network of networks, they can inform each other
early on an arising conflict and respond fast.
2.5 For example Rwanda
In Rwanda Tutsi and Hutu widows met under a tree
in Kigali at the end of the genocide and formed a
women's network – something that seemed impossible, but remains the most important civil rights
organisation today.
In post-genocide Rwanda, women were supported
and promoted greatly. Today, the country has the
highest percentage of female members of parliaments (48.75%) in the world. What the results are
can unfortunately not be investigated further here.
This list of good practices is far from complete. In
almost all war and post-war countries, women's
organisations and women's networks are working
for peace. But their success depends widely on the
acceptance of women’s movements.
3. What the participation of women achieves
a chieves
„When women are present, the nature of the dialogue changes“, wrote the former Finnish minister
of defense, Elisabeth Rehn. And the Liberian president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ellen JohnsonSirleaf stated in the Unifem study Women, War, and
Peace27 . „Women usually insist on civil solutions to
conflicts, they appear more mediating and more
subtle in negotiations and they add new points of
view and new subject, such as for instance questions
regarding health, nutrition, education, sexual mutilation, forced marriages, etc. Women can make a
difference and prevent the outbreak of new wars –28
but only if they have the opportunity to be involved
from the beginning“.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Elisabeth Rehn, Women, War,
and Peace, New York 2002
So if women are absent, the peace process is almost
certainly doomed. As a report of the parliamentary
assembly of the European Union in 2000 concludes,
„the systematic exclusion of women from official
peace processes has a negative effect on the sustainability of peace treaties“. If there are no or little
women represented in the newly established bodies
of a country – in parliament, government, the justice
system, and elsewhere – the interests and needs of
half of the population are ignored. Private as well as
public violence goes on and the risk of a new war
rises. Unprocessed guilt and traumas can poison
societies for generations. Particularly devastating is
the experience of sexual violence. Male war participants often pass on the endured trauma to their
women and children.
„I am so stressed by the war. It is inevitable that I
will hit my wife“, a Macedonian former soldier told
the authors of „Women, War, and Peace“.
Public violence is equally devastating. Many peace
treaties, negotiated by powerful men, don’t deal
with the reasons and consequences of the conflicts.
Splitting the war profits is more interesting than
healing society! War criminals are often given amnesty and even new positions such as governors,
head of police or head of military. Money is not
spent for the victims, but for rearmament. To use
the words of Don Steinberg: in peace talks, „men
with guns forgive other men with guns for crimes
against women“.29 This impunity furthers new
crimes, and unsolved problems combined with
pent-up hate spiral into violence.
A number of studies confirm the feminist conviction
that men create aggressive hierarchies, while
women consider all members of society. The statistical country analysis of Caprioli, Menander und
Bussmann show significant correlations between
equality and peacefulness of a country. The more
women are represented in parliaments and the
workforce, the less these states suffer from of interior or cross-border violence. The opposite also
27
28
Don Steinberg, Make Forced Marriage a Crime against
Humanity, Christian Science Monitor, 9 June 2008
29
19
holds true: patriarchal structures increase national
and international acts of aggression.30
4. International instruments for peacekeeping
peacekeeping
Women involved as mediators in conflict management lament not only the lack of the support for
housing, child care, education and finances – they
also criticize the absence of binding international
instruments. Of course everybody knows the resolutions established by the UNSCR in the past 10 years.
They advocate the protection of women from war
violence and their involvement in peace negotiations. I’m speaking about Resolution 1325 concerning „Women, Peace and Security“, Resolution 1820
against sexual violence against civilians in conflict
zones, and Resolution 1888, 1889 and 1960 calling
for a policy of zero tolerance against rape as a
weapon of war. These resolutions are – for the first
time – binding under international law.
It seems that finally, the men's club of the Security
Council has noticed that the roles assigned to
women and men are decisive in how peaceful or
violent a country is! As a consequence, paragraph 1
of UNSCR 1325 states that “there must be increased
representation of women at all decision-making
levels in national, regional and international institutions a mechanism for the prevention, management
and resolution of conflict.” Further demands are the
election of more women as UN Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Goodwill Ambassadors, as military observers, and civil police officers, as well as humanitarian staff. Also UN peace
activities and treaties must be viewed with of a gender perspective. Local peace initiatives of women
shall be supported and the human rights of women
and girls protected.
Mary Caprioli, Mark A. Boyer, Gender, Violence, and
International Crisis, in: Journal of Conflict Resolution,
Vol. 45, 4/2000; Mary Caprioli, Gendered Conflict, in:
Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 37, 1/2000; Mary Caprioli,
Primed for Violence: The Role of Gender Inequality in
Predicting Internal Conflict, in: International Studies
Quarterly 49/2005; Erik Menander, Gender Equality and
Intrastate Armed Conflict, in: International Studies Quarterly 49/ 2005; Margit Bussmann, Political and SocioEconomic Aspects of Gender Equality and the Onset of
Civil War, in: Sicherheit und Frieden, 28/ 2010
30
20
4.1 Resolution 1325 – implementation without
dynamics
All the tools are there to enable local, regional and
international peace initiatives by women. But the
implementation of Resolution 1325 is slow. The
biggest obstacle in the last 10 years is the missing
political will of actors on all levels – mostly men -,
the tight budget as well as the lack of quotas and
deadlines. Even Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
expressed such critique in the annual report in
2009.
4.1.1 Numbers
Numbers to despair over...
Data on numbers of women in peace talks are
scarce. But what we know is disturbing:
In 2009 for example, UNIFEM reviewed a limited,
but reasonably representative sample of 24 major
peace processes form 1992 to 2008 and found that
only 2.5 % of the signatories, 3.2% of the mediators, 5.5% of the witnesses were women and 7.6%
of the negotiators were women. The peace negotiations in Indonesia, Nepal, Somalia, the Ivory Coast,
the Philippines and the Central African Republic
were exclusively conducted by men.
Since the passage of Resolution 1325, the number of
women in peace negotiation delegations has barely
increased. And they are largely absent from chief
mediation roles in UN-brokered talks. The presence
of female observers without a vote however ensured
that human rights, women's rights, and the political
participation of women was at least mentioned in
the peace treaties.
Sadly slim is also the percentage of female in the
police force, although it can only ensure security if it
represents the whole population.
The implementation of Resolution 1325 is equally
slow; despite admonitions from former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, only 29 of 192 UN member states have done it31 .
Danmark, Norway, UK, Sweden, Ivorycoast, Switzerland, Ausria, Spain, Netherland, Island, Finland, Uganda,
Liberia, Belgum Portugal, Chile, Philippines, Sierra
Leone, Raunda, DR Congo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nepal,
Canaca, Ghana, Croatia, Gunea Bissau, Italy, Estland
31
4.1.2 The presidential sigh
The absence of women does not bother women
alone. A frustrated President Clinton sighed after
the failed negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in 2000: „If we’d had women at Camp David,
we’d have an agreement“. And Sumaya FarhatNaser, Palestinian activist said: “There were no
women present who could have acted as guides“.
4.2. Resolution 1820
In the Resolution UNSCR 1820 the UN Security
Council stated, „that rape and other forms of sexual
violence can constitute a war crime, a crime against
humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide“. This is another clear demand, which has not
yet been implemented. A Unifem review of 300
peace treaties from 45 conflicts between 1989 and
2008 shows that sexual or gender-specific violence
is only mentioned in 18 cases and 10 conflicts.32
There was not a single case in which the rehabilitation of victims was stipulated.33 According to
Unifem director Ines Alberti, only 2% of donor
budgets for recovery development in post-conflict
countries are spent on the needs of women.34
The slow implementation of this resolution is also
vehemently criticized by an NGO called Working
Group On Women, Peace And Security. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Chad and the
Central African Republic sexual violence is actually
on the rise. But there are no coherent strategies to
fight it. Until today, only 3 dozen suspects have
been held responsible for their crimes against
women.35
Male UN soldiers have repeatedly been accused of
sexual misconduct. As stated in „Women, War and
Peace“, UN Peacekeepers „can become a part of the
UNIFEM, Sexual Violence in Peace Agreements: A
Quantitative Analysis, New York 2009.
32
Robert Jenkins, Anne-Marie Goetz, Addressing Sexual
Violene in Internationally Mediated Peace Negotiations,
International Peacekeeping, 17:2, 261-277
problem instead of a part of the solution“. In the
Democratic Republic of Congo, the Balkans, in
Cambodia and elsewhere the presence of UN soldiers created some kind of sex economy – and the
HIV infection rate increased dramatically. Even in
UN refugee camps, women cannot feel safe, as there
is very little female personnel. In Guinea, Liberia,
Sierra Leone and in other places, young girls of 13 to
18 years saw themselves forced to sell their bodies to
get food, medicine and training courses – goods
that were supposed to be given to them for free.
Between 2007 and 2009, of the 450 known cases of
sexual abuse only 29 have been punished.
5. Sinister forecasts by the UN
The forecasts are sinister! The former UN special
envoy Stephen Lewis stated that, if the advancement
of women within the UN continues at the current
rate, the goal of reaching a 50% quota will be
reached in the Geneva offices of the UN in 2072.
„The United Nations have continuously failed the
women of the world“, he said, suspecting that the
discrimination of women will continue despite
Resolution 1325: „Women were at no peace tables,
nowhere. It’s as if the Resolution didn’t even exist“.
He predicts a similar fate for Resolution 1820: „As
soon as something is brought to paper, nobody
feels the duty to actually implement it“. He asks,
„Would something like this happen if it were men?
The answer is no. Such treatment is only possible
because it’s about women“.36
6. What do women want?
Hundred thousands of peace-women worldwide
expect that the relevant resolutions are implemented
one hundred percent. We expect that it becomes
natural to have 50% women participating in peace
talks. We expect the same in parliaments, governments, the justice and police system as well as other
boards in post-war countries. We expect that
women make up 50% of national, regional, and
33
Ines Alberti, A Call to Action: Accountability to Women
in All Aspects of Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and
Recovery, Speech in Liberia, 7.Mar 2009
34
35
Jenkins, Goetz, a.a.O., S.270
Remarks by Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for Aids
in Africa, 6.7.2006,
http://dawn.thot.net/stephen_lewis.html;Stephen Lewis,
Statement on Women, HIV/Aids and the Role of the
United Nations, 1.12.2006, http://v1-dpi.org; Interview
with Stephen Lewis, ips 6.3.2009
36
21
international institutions for conflict prevention,
early warning committees, and other caucuses. We
expect that an end be put on the practice of impunity
from punishment – war criminals must be prosecuted and victims must be rehabilitated and compensated.
We expect that the next Secretary General be a
woman, that the UN be lead by 50% women and
that half their services benefit women and girls.
Women have proved that we can change the world at
peace-tables! „It is our responsibility to grab our
rights. They are not just given to us!37
Information from Ute Scheub, a journalist and publsher from Berlin, Coordinator PWAG for Europe. Ute
Scheub worked intensively on the content and design of
the exhibition „No Women – No Peace“ of PWAG.
Therefore many ideas for this presentation come from
her thoughts. Marie-Louise Zimmermann, Berne revised
the text before printing.
37
22
2.1.3
Detribalization: Christianizing
Tribalism through Cameroonian
Women Cameroon
Perpetua B.N. Fonki
Cameroon Christian University
The notion “willensnation” which has informed the
focus of this Jubilee Conference, is an apt notion
which triggers a revisit of Christian mission after
fifty years independence from colonial masters and
partnering with missionary churches and societies.
In the case of Cameroon, “willensnation” has been
nourished with multifarious wills emanating from a
rich diversity of culture and ethnic origins. The result has been a combination of sweet, sour and bitter, depending on the part one plays on the stage, or
how linked one is to the stage. Secularism has had a
strong influence on the way some religious matters
are managed. The secular isolated, would be a lesser
challenge, yet it is juxtaposed with a variety of
worldviews, each informed by tribal organizations.
I would start by explaining the terms in the title of
this paper. In explaining the term “tribalism” Power
(2005) posits that;
There was a time not that long ago when African
leaders insisted that it was politically incorrect
to discuss tribalism. Tribalism was the face of
old Africa that the modernizers, inheriting their
domains from departing colonialists refused to
accept…. In day-to-day village life tribalism operates like the old school tie: helping each other
with jobs, introductions and sweethearts, sharing the burden of harvest or building a new
house, resolving disputes (whether marital or
material) and not least fashioning art and music. It is only when conflict erupts that these virtues mutate into a virulent, spare-no quarter
contagion and the wrong tribal scar becomes a
death warrant.
While agreeing with Power, I would adhere to the
sociological definition which summarises tribalism
as faithfulness to a tribe or to tribal values. Reader,
(1961) also states that “tribalism and detribalization
shift in meaning according to context. Tribalism in
the broadest sense means the condition of living in
tribes, found widely in Africa when the white man
first came. The logical opposite of tribalism is non-
tribalism; but since the transition is usually seen as
a gradual and generally incomplete process, the
name detribalization has been applied”.
Aware of the contemporary view and explanations
surrounding the word, I would stick to the sociological definitions. Christianizing tribalism here
refers to applying Christian epitomes to negative
aspects of tribalism, externalizing those aspects that
dehumanize and reframe them. Detribalization
would be defined later on in this paper.
The Cameroonian woman cannot be defined. The
Cameroonian woman has been involved in multifarious roles in the community. Defining them
would entail boxing and limiting them to personal
confines thus rendering a disservice to them. The
Cameroonian woman is seen in the community in
which she lives, by what she does, or by the wisdom
she possesses in piloting the affairs of her family.
She is versatile and very vital. This is evident in the
results that they yield in various faith based organizations, and especially in the Presbyterian Church in
Cameroon.
Several successes are recorded as a result of the relentless sacrifices on the part of the missionaries
and the willingness of the Cameroon people to reframe previously held beliefs. These successes are
spiced by challenges that have been either overpowered or are overpowering. A few African countries
have been celebrating fifty years of independence a
couple or more years after the churches have done
so. Fifty is great! As the countries celebrate their
jubilees it is probably time to take a comparative
look at what the citizens in the churches have become, vis-à-vis the citizens in the state. This would
probably involve a kind of dualism since the same
people belong to both organizations. Does this
therefore mean that the churches and the state exist
in a kind of dichotomy that enlightens the citizens
to adopt different behavioural patterns in different
settings? Of course one cannot deny the fact that
each has an influence on the other. However the
degree to which one has to influence the other has
to be revisited. In the case of the Presbyterian
Church in Cameroon (P.C.C.), women have evolved
drastically.
The role of the Cameroonian woman has changed
tremendously. This change is sometimes intimidating to those who see this as a threat to the traditional cultural status reserved for women, and up23
lifting to perpetrators of liberation and emancipation. Positive change is good especially if it leads to
recognizable influences in the families, communities, and the church as a whole. Has this gender
focused change had some communal benefits, or
has it been limited to the individual? Is the change
one that will follow the same routine obligations
exercised by the male counterparts or a change towards reshaping and reframing our societies with
sacred instead of secular moulds? It is time to reexamine the direction of this change. This glaringly
is an uphill task that needs a lot of divine inspiration, focus and hard work, which can only be done
one step at a time. The first stride towards this
transformation that will be highlighted in this work
is detribalization and Christianizing tribalism.
In examining detribalization, I will first examine
current tribal tendencies within Christendom in
Cameroon and its frequencies. Why a call for detribalization and Christianizing tribalism? Nku (1993)
in a memo presented to President Paul Biya on the
27th of September, 1991 writes on ‘Unity in Diversity’:
This Country was founded on the premise of
unity in diversity. Our many linguistic and cultural differences were quite apparent and recognized as we toiled and laboured for unification.
The understanding then was that our cultural
differences will be used to add more beauty,
colour, and dynamism to our union. On the contrary, today our differences are being exploited
by some unscrupulous Cameroonians to deepen
our division and create confusion. Hence the
most lethal enemies with the greatest potential
of destroying our fabric of national unity are tribalism, sectionalism and nepotism. Unfortunately Sir, 30 years after independence, these
vices have been firmly institutionalized and actually become the order of the day.
When whole communities begin to fear because
they live out of their provinces of origin, this is
enough cause for concern; or even worse, when
leaders of a given area start calling openly for
non-indigenes of that area to go away, this is
disturbing.
This is an apt description of what tribalism, sectionalism and nepotism has done to Cameroon. Tribal
cohesion is so strong and cuts across to urban areas, and separation from one’s tribes is no chal24
lenge to this cohesion. Even though this was written
twenty-one years ago, these vices that have been
“firmly institutionalised” have affected the church.
Some of these “unscrupulous Cameroonians” mentioned in the Memo, are also Christians or employees of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon and
tribalism is heavily present. Could it therefore be
that the inability to separate the affiliation to these
vices has caused a blend between the sacred and the
secular?
Individual identity is very important. People with
identity crisis are insecure because they are not
grounded. Everyone needs tribal values that are peculiar to them, yet these values have to be upheld
with a lot of responsibility. When ones tribal and
cultural values infringe on the values of others, this
violates, inhibits, and enslaves them. In the church,
this is more grievous because it contradicts the liberation that Christ stood for, and which is being
echoed by the church. "It was for freedom that
Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and
do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1). This therefore calls for a Christian “detribalization”.
In defining ‘detribalization’ I like to use one of Aesop’s fables. In the fable he talks about an elderly
man who got married to a second wife (very young
woman), after several years of marriage to his first
wife. As the years went by, he got older and was
getting grey. However, the younger wife was uncomfortable with this, because it revealed the age
disparity between them. Each time she had to pamper the husband, she took time out and pulled out
all the grey hair. The older wife on the other hand,
was happy because they were both getting grey graciously so each time she had the opportunity to take
care of his hair, she pulled out the dark hair. This
went on over and over, until this man got bald. In
detribalizing, I am not advocating for a situation
where each individual will have a right to uproot
aspects of cultural tenets that they have issues with,,
rendering the culture bare. I am not upholding the
literal definition of “detribalization” which is “the
act of causing tribal people to abandon their
customs and adopt urban ways of living” or “the
decline or termination of tribal organization”. By
detribalization here, I am calling for redefining
one’s tribal commitments, so that other children of
God who are outside of those tribal values are not
violated in the process. Could this be a new
interpretation of what Christ says when he exalts us
in John 17:14-1; “I have given them your word and
the world has hated them, for they are not of the
world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is
not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one.” Without doubt,
there is great worth in Christianity that accentuates
withdrawal from societal and secular values. In the
Presbyterian Church in Cameroon where tribalism
is gradually gaining grounds and threatening the
very fabric of its existence, a call for an intense involvement and radical engagement with the secular
is long overdue. People need to be transformed in
the churches in order to overcome the vices in the
world.
Secondly, several questions on theological, social
perspectives and imperatives on tribalism and detribalization come to mind. How were issues of diversity handled in the Scriptures? What lessons can we
learn from Genesis 11, ‘The Tower of Babel’? What
happens when we speak a common language that
has no inhibitions? Does if lead us to focus on ourselves instead of God? What are our contemporary
interpretations of the following texts: “There is nei-
ther Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28
NIV) “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free,
but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Colossians 3:11 NIV)
Can they inform us today for present-day transformation and future guidance?
Thirdly, the experiences of the Cameroonian
woman definitely form a basis on which she can
influence her environment. Tribal taboos, hardship,
and oppression have interestingly, produced a
bunch of resilient women loaded with wisdom, not
gained necessarily from formal educational institutions, but from their communal experiences and
churches. Given the present roles they occupy both
in church and state how can women detribalize lethal tribalism and introduce Christian tribalism in
the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon? Kurt Lewin
(1947) posits that “all human systems attempt to
maintain equilibrium vis-à-vis their environment.
Coping, growth and survival, all maintaining the
integrity of the system in the face of a changing
environment that is constantly causing various
kinds of disequilibrium”.
How can PCC women maintain a semblance of equilibrium in the midst of frequent disequilibrium
caused by tribalism? Christianizing tribalism of
course is an uphill task. However, I think this is not
too much for the women who have been through the
floods and fire protected and strengthened by God
during these five decades.
Could these years have been preparation for a time
like this? How did the women in the scriptures do it
to influence their communities? Some ordinary
women who triggered some extraordinary influences include Siphrah and Puah (Exodus 1); Esther
(Esther 1-3), Dorcas-Tabitha, Priscilla in the Epistles. Tribalism cannot be seen, but its tangible effects if used irresponsibly could be shattering.
When two cultures are required to work together,
the effects can sometimes be disruptive especially
when the values contradict. In the case of tribalism,
most of the values are geared towards personal
benefit or the benefit of the tribal group, while
Christianity preaches the good of all people. The
need for the integration of Christian culture to various tribal lineages is becoming frequently necessary.
Rogers (1983) purports that sociologists have distinguished two main processes by which a culture
changes: innovation and diffusion. He defines innovation as emanating from within the society and
may involve new religious beliefs or discoveries in
technology; and diffusion as introducing new elements into a society either by borrowing or adopting
from another society. The need to successfully integrate cultures, whether precipitated by a merger or
acquisition, presents complex management challenges.
In the midst of these challenges, what is the way
forward for the Cameroonian woman toward Christianizing tribalism? Could one suggest ‘innovation’
and ‘diffusion’? Christianised tribalism is inevitable
and yet, paradoxically, it depends on the will and the
actions of ordinary individuals. We acknowledge
innovation as good, yet our egos fiercely resist it.
Theobald (1987) responding to the question
whether change is possible writes “...Instead, each
of us needs to ask where our commitment is and
where we shall act. Once we are committed, we will
find ways to be effective."
I agree with Theobald and I dare to say women can
start from their little corners. Innovations are
25
internal changes that depend (and are limited) upon
the recombination of already existing elements in
culture. They can occur independently in different
times and places, however not all lead to change in
culture. Women marry; intermarry to men of different tribes. This begins a process of diffusion. Direct
diffusion of culture occurs when two distinct
cultures are very close together. Over time, direct
contact between the two leads to an intermingling
of the cultures. What does Paul really mean when he
writes to the Corinthians saying “The unbelieving
husband is sanctified by the believing wife?”(1 Cor.
8:14). In my Cameroonian context women have been
apt in this process of change especially as they are
the ones who give up their tribal leanings and heritage to be married in other tribes thus successfully
adapting to other tribal tenets. For instance they
have a change of name and life style and are thus the
first teachers of their off spring in that new setting.
That secret of adaptation is what pushes me to see
the women of the P.C.C. and the women folk in
Cameroon as the best vehicle of detribalisation in
Cameroon.
Is it possible for the P.C.C. woman in this jubilee
year to explore the notion of Christian “willensnation” or “willenskirche” in the Presbyterian Church
in Cameroon where “the worlds in which different
societies ‘[parishes]’ live are strange worlds, not the
same world with different labels attached” (Sapir,
1958, 16) . Can we in the midst our tribal diversities
have a church that is unified based on our agreed
purpose? What strategies can be developed to combat this canker worm of negative tribalism? What
will it take to adopt a change of mind-set?
Many innovators and change agents assert that it is
possible. What is required is a modification of perception from seeing change as dis-equilibrium to
seeing it as a constant. Planning for change finally
comes down to whether P.C.C. women are enthused
to change, learn, and grow. John Gardner in one of
his quotes states "unless we foster versatile, innovative and self-renewing men and women, all the ingenious social arrangements in the world will not
help us." There need to be a deconstruction of our
mind-set in order to achieve a true detribalisation of
our societies where different cultures and their values will contribute meaningfully in humanity’s existence.
26
Persistence as a veritable tool of the woman needs to
be used to enhance this process of detribalisation.
This persistence is well expressed in the counter of
the Canaanite woman and Jesus in Matthew 15: 2128 also paralleled in Mark. God is the one who has
placed us at various points of his planet for a particular purpose and has endowed us with various
resistances and special gifts to cope with our environmental hazards. Thus God knows that we ought
to be different because of where we come from but
he has never opted that one race or tribal tenets
should be superior to another but that tribal tenets
should complement each other for the beauty of
humanity and his created order.
It is enough to reckon with the fact that similar
tribal lineages were separated during the scramble
for Africa, justifying negative diversity and unhealthy patriotism. The irony is that most of the
colonialist also brought the gospel which emphasizes “that all may be one.”
In order to detribalise humanity and Christianise
tribalism, maybe we need to reconstruct that community existence among us where there will be a
renewal of cultures and not a clash of differences.
We have to reach a stage where we would start seeing tribalism as a spice that clears humanity of monotony. In this way the P.C.C. will not be tight down
by influence by tribalsim tribalism and sectionalism
(article 112 of the constitution of the P.C.C.).
In conclusion, I want to borrow from Albert Einstein who says, “It is a magnificent feeling to recognize the unity of complex phenomena which appear
to be things quite apart from the direct visible
truth.” Christianisation of tribalism would mean
evaluating people and societies by their essence and
value; no matter how different they may be from
ours. When humanity starts valuing diversity from a
positive perspective it would help to harmonize
tribalism in a more dynamic way. I can dare to say to
start, we need self-renewing Christian women to
diffuse the tribal boundaries reinforced by male
predecessors, but the discussion continues.
References
Lewin, K. (1947). Group decision and social change.
In T. Newcomb & E. Hartley (Eds.), Readings in
Social Psychology Missouri: Rheinhart &
Winston.
Power, Jonathan (2006) Africa lives for better for
worse. New York Times
Nku, N. (1993). Memo presented to President Paul
Biya. In N. Nku (Ed.), Cry Justice (p. 21). Limbe:
Presprint.
Reader, (1961). Tribalism and Detribalization in
Southern and Central Africa. Cape Town
Rogers, E. M. (1983). Diffusion of Innovations. New
York: Free Press
Sapir, E. (1958). Culture, language & personality.
California: Berkeley.
Theobald, R. (1987). The rapids of change. NY:
Knowledge Systems.
27
2.1.4
Cross-cultural Encounters and
Social Change – Mission,
Women and Society in Africa
Elísio Macamo
Professor of African Studies, Centre for African
Studies (CASB), University of Basel, Switzerland
Social scientific thinking about the notion of social
change reveals a tension between, on the one hand,
the causal strength of endogenous forces which
assumes the essential nature of societies and the
ubiquity of external factors, on the other hand,
which may require teleological narratives to carry
conviction. Largely because of this tension it has
been difficult to consider the social forms that have
emerged on the African continent over the past century without raising the question of their authenticity and the violent nature of the forces acting upon
their emergence. The aim of the paper is to discuss
this methodological issue against the background
of the meaning which the cross-cultural encounter
represented by the mission, women and African
societies can have to an understanding of processes
of change in Africa. The idea, drawing on the work
of the Canadian philosopher Ian Hacking, is to discuss the extent to which such cross-cultural encounters yielded frameworks within which African and
European women and men identified, and acted
upon new ways of being a person. In this manner,
the paper hopes to contribute towards softening up
the tension between authenticity and external constraint in the study of social change.
In 1911, according to Africa’s most radical critic of
the Missionary enterprise, the late Ugandan scholar
Okot p’Bitek, Italian Catholic missionaries asked a
group of Acoli elders (in Uganda) the following
question: “Who created you?”. And since the Luo
language, still according to p’Bitek, does not have
an independent concept of “create” or “creation”
the question was paraphrased as “who moulded
you?”. One elder who remembered that a person
with a hunchback is said to have been moulded, said
“Rubanga” because this is the name of the evil spirit
which is believed to cause the hunch on the back.38
38
P’BITEK 1971,P.62.
28
One problematic outcome of this unfortunate misunderstanding was the translation of the first verse
of St. John’s Gospel into Luo, which p’Bitek rendered as follows: “From long long ago there was
News, News was with the Hunchback spirit, News
was the Hunchback spirit”. It is funny, but the underlying issue is very serious. P’Bitek used to accuse
African academics who were not critical enough
about their use of Western concepts and theories as
“intellectual smugglers” (he meant people like John
Mbiti and Bethuel Ogot). He seemed to be suggesting in this critique that there are limits to how far we
can speak across cultures. The Ghanaian philosopher, Kwasi Wiredu, summed the problem up by
bringing it down to a matter of translatability. Indeed, Wiredu suspected that p’Bitek might have
been suggesting that there are notions which are
untranslatable, an issue that was dear to him as an
African trained in philosophy in the West and facing
the problem of making sense of key philosophical
notions for which he did not have an immediate
term in his own Akan language.
But unlike p’Bitek, Wiredu argued that the inability
to translate into another language did not necessarily mean the end of communication across cultures.
Rather, and here he was echoing Wittgenstein, the
realization that one does not understand is the point
at which knowledge can begin to be produced. In
my talk today I want to pursue the implications of
Wiredu’s argument – and p’Bitek’s critique, of
course – to our efforts at this conference to make
sense of processes of religious and secular transformation as they bear on women. I want to do this
by rephrasing our question with reference to a basic
difficulty faced by the social sciences in general, and
by sociology in particular. This difficulty bears on
the notion of “social change” and the extent to
which it is theoretically and analytically useful. The
jury is still out on this matter, but most social scientists are uneasy about its wider implications. Social
change suggests the idea of direction in human
affairs – which for most of you who have a religious
commitment – is not necessarily problematic, but in
the context of the social sciences conjures up horror
visions of totalitarianism as some people who claim
to know where the world is heading force others to
fall into step and line with them. The memory of
unspeakable horrors committed in the name of such
teleologies as Marxism, Nationalism, etc. on the
African continent – but not only – is still fresh in the
minds of most of us. But if we cannot use the notion
of “social change” in any analytically useful manner,
how then can we account for the difference between
yesterday and today and, possibly, tomorrow? Why
would such processes not concern us as professionals interested in accounting for the nature of society
and social relations?
In the more specific context of missionary work the
problem can be posed with quite some force. Okot
p’Bitek was concerned about the extent to which
Africans were being asked to abandon their culture,
a legitimate concern no doubt, and yet, one that
only makes sense if we assume – as he apparently
did – that there is such a thing as an essential African culture. In his view, embracing Christianity, and
therefore engaging in social change, amounted to
abandoning one’s essence and becoming alienated.
So, as we celebrate 50 years of African independence, Cameroonian Presbyterian Church and the
Cameroonian Christian Women Fellowship we may,
in effect, be rendering ourselves vulnerable to
p’Bitek’s charge that we are intellectual smugglers.
But is that so?
I do not think so. The problem in p’Bitek’s critique
is his belief that there is something called culture – a
legitimate belief, by the way – which is prior to any
kind of historical experience – a consequence I find
hard to accept. What gives us the right to claim that
the notion of culture held by the Acoli in the 14th
Century is the standard against which we should
measure our conformity with our own identity?
Nothing! History in my view is not the process
through which cultures emerge, consolidate themselves and endure. Rather, history as far as I am
concerned – and here I am drawing from the work
of a Canadian scholar, Ian Hacking – is the context
within which ways of being a person emerge, are
claimed by individuals and provide the background
against which identities can be built.
I want to illustrate this with two examples drawn
from my own work in Southern Mozambique on the
Swiss Mission (Departement Missionaire, Canton
de Vaud). When I interviewed them back in 1998 I
was struck by the realization that the women were
not simply reporting on their lives. Rather, they
seemed to be accounting for the way in which their
communities faced up and responded to change.
These are women who in the course of their lives
became housewives, Christian housewives and African Christian housewives.
Two women
The first biography is that of a woman by the name
“Masinge”39. She was born on 19th August 1928.
Her father, who was a “zion”40 minister, handed her
over to a Swiss Missionary school on 12th February
1938 where she spent seven years. Her father was
not only a church minister; he also worked as a migrant labourer in South Africa. In fact, it was in
South Africa where he converted into Swiss mission
Christianity. On his return he told his daughter to
go to school which she attended until 1943 and
made it to third grade of primary school. In 1944 she
learnt “how to work”, for, as she put it, the Swiss
had told her that she might suffer in her married
life.
Two themes immediately emerge in the constitution
of this particular biography. First of all, there is an
insistence upon the domestic role of the woman
and, secondly, as a result thereof her preparation to
that kind of life. In 1943 the woman asked to be
christened, but this only happened in 1945 after
spending some years at her parents’ home “learning
how to work”. In 1946 she married and in 1948 she
became the leader of the Christian women’s group.
In the sixties she interrupted her mandate to take
care of her children and only returned in 1980.
Here is the excerpt41:
As for being different well we are, as for being
being different yes we are because when you are
in church... teaching another person how to
forgive when they do you wrong they teach you
how to control yourself when you meet with dif-
This is a pseudonym I use to protect the identity of my
informants.
39
The “Zion” church is a highly decentralized prophetic
sect which is very popular among the economically
weaker urban groups in Mozambique (see Cruz e Silva
2002, Pfeiffer et al 2007 and, for a more historical perspective Anderson 2000).
40
The complete interview, as well as other interviews of
the same piece of research, is stored in a personal archive
of the author.
41
29
ficult things and that’s different because someone who has not joined church there are things
he can do without fear even insulting he can insult yes insult shamelessly actually he doesn’t
see anyone else, well he has no regard for others
in church they teach you that when someone arrives you have to welcome them yes welcome
them because tomorrow it could be you walking
around yes if you walk around you may even arrive at that person’s place and if you did not treat
that person well he can also treat you badly and
do you evil but if you are nice to that person he
will also do a lot for you tomorrow, so that is the
difference… now it’s not like in the past anymore now we have different times even locals
can be better than people who are Christian because everyone has got his own heart yes everyone has his way of being in the church they just
go but it is not because they like it they don’t
even accept the church they don’t understand it
is different yes it is very different.
The excerpt is on the differences between members
of the church (The Presbyterian Church of Mozambique) and non-members. Not surprisingly, these
differences boil down to the good manners taught
by the church to its members and the lack thereof by
non-members. These differences are important to
the extent that the church teaches its members a way
of being in the world that is consistent with the
kinds of changes that are taking place all around
them. There is also a temporal distinction in the
excerpt which bears on the religious socialization
and takes as its cue the colonial period and the post
colonial period. The interviewee eliminates the differences that emerged in the process of socialization
in the colonial period and suggests, thereby, that
there are no differences between Christians and
non-Christians. What she means is, of course,
Christian decadence, an idea I will return to below.
This excerpt is a valuable commentary on the properties of the world described by the interviewee. In
this world the most important actor categories are
you (Christian), person, church member, local,
Christian. There is, therefore, an opposition between Christian and non-Christian. In fact, in the
area where I carried out the interviews church members make a clear distinction between the perimeter
of the church and what they call “land”. Within the
perimeter of the church there live those who are
30
chosen, i.e. those who lead lives that are compatible
with changing times. The opposition between
“Christians” and “locals” acquires a new meaning
as an attempt at redefining society itself.
This new meaning can be properly appreciated if we
look at the predicates used to describe what happens. In the excerpt the following predicates are
mentioned: to forgive, do evil, teach, individual
control, fear of, to insult, respect for, be welcoming,
be generous, join the church, converting, be different, learn how to work, learn. What comes to light
are the differences between Christians and nonChristians which manifest themselves through the
qualities that distinguish each. These qualities are
positive as far as the Christian is concerned and
negative as far as the non-Christian is concerned.
Alongside religious qualities we also see studying
and learning how to work as qualities to be appropriated by the new member. These are strongly
linked to the changing social environment which
requires individuals to develop skills and resources
that will enable them to face the challenges of life.
The second biography is of a woman born in 1930.
Her name is “Bila”42. Her father was a teacher in the
area. At one point in the interview the woman exclaims that her father did not need anybody to write
letters for him, a very interesting comment about
the underlying social world. Indeed, and drawing
from the work of Patrick Harries (1994) and Gesine
Krüger (2002), we can say that letters were a very
important artifact of the new ways of being in the
world. According to Gesine Krüger (2002) letters
were an important element in the process of individualization and focusing of attention of the migrant labourer on his own nuclear family to the detriment of his extended family. “Bila” was born into
a Christian family and attended Swiss mission
school. She also learnt how to look after her family.
Here is the relevant excerpt:
that means that we were born in the church we
grew up knowing things of the church and not
of outside and nothing from outside we knew
little we accepted the church and we were christened and we grew up in the church we attended
This is a pseudonym I use to protect the identity of my
informants.
42
children’s mass we joined the youth groups and
got to know people like Bila and we were taken
in marriage growing up in church means that
we did not convert we were born there, we were
born, attended children’s mass and were taken
in marriage...
This excerpt is on what it means “to be born in the
church”, a statement which members of the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique frequently use to
distinguish themselves from those who were converted. “To be born in the church” means to be the
child of someone who was already a member of the
church. It also means to be the carrier of certain
values and have been socialized in a particular way
which includes having been a member of youth
clubs43. These youth clubs were important as contexts for living out new forms of sociability within
constraints marked by the need to redefine identities.
It is in this sense that the main categories are: us,
church, outside, children’s mass, youth groups and
Bila. Again, we see the idea of a fundamental difference between the Christian and non-Christian
strengthened and brought to fruition in the idea that
one “is born within the church”. When the interviewee uses “us” it becomes clear that she is not
only using a pragmatic resource to talk about a
community. “Us” is, in fact, metonymic in the sense
that it stands for a whole Weltanschauung which
constitutes itself in a very specific social and historical context. This specificity is marked by the assertion of an identity that is different, but one which
seeks to establish lines of continuity with forms of
identity from which it seeks to distance itself. Thus,
the interviewee is Tsonga, but then again, she is a
different kind of Tsonga, i.e. one who was “born in
the church”. The predicates which distinguish her
are those which assert her identity as a Christian
Tsonga woman, namely having been christened,
accepting Christianity, attending children’s mass,
being a member of a youth group and enjoying a
Christian kind of education.
These are well described by Teresa Cruz e Silva (2001)
as important carriers of African nationalism in Mozambique.
The interviewee sums up the whole trajectory of a
Mozambican Christian woman who belongs to the
Presbyterian Church of Mozambique in a very
graphic, but concise manner with the following
statement: we were born, attended children’s mass,
and were taken in marriage. This is a marvelous
summary which brings into the fore a tension between the individual and the collective which the
construction of biography never quite manages to
overcome. Joining the church was a conscious decision of many in order to get access to resources
denied to them by colonial rule44 under the conditions of growing individualization. However, the
description offered by the interviewee in this wonderful sentence shows that women continue to be
the object of somebody else’s will. How to account
for this?
Redefining identities
The Swiss Mission arrived in Mozambique in the
second half of the nineteenth century brought by
Mozambicans living in South Africa at the time (van
Butselaar 1984). It became immediately popular and
an important institution in the South of the country.
One curious fact, however, and drawing from an
excellent analysis of the diaries of a missionary,
Arthur Grandjean, undertaken by Nicholas Monnier
(1995), is that it was not easy to reach the Africans
with the religious message. These seemed simply to
go through the motions of converting, while for the
most part being content to avail themselves of everything that the mission appeared willing to give
them. In this sense, and to repeat an already formulated hypothesis, it appears reasonable to assume
that Africans “accepted” the mission as a way of
redefining their identity in a Portuguese colonial
context of African labour regulation (see Macamo
2003c) which forced them to define themselves in
terms of notions of tradition and primordial identities that were more in line with Portuguese colonial
policy. In other words, by “accepting” the church,
Africans may have been attempting to circumvent
the denial of modernity which was so much part of
the colonial experience.
43
44
See Macamo 2004.
31
The colonial economic and political structure had
placed serious constraints on the social reproduction of African societies and communities. These
constraints took various forms, but four deserve
attention. The first one was related to the way in
which the Swiss Mission itself had come to Mozambique. It was a Mozambican, Yossefa, who together
with his wife and daughter, plus 12 other men and
women set up the first Swiss Mission in Mozambique (Linder, 1998; van Butselaar, 1984). This
group caught the attention of people in the region
because of the way and how often its members
prayed45. The women, in particular, were put a lot of
fervor in their prayers, a fact that may be interpreted
as a manifestation of the crisis of African societies at
the time. In fact, women had a more direct experience of the crisis. Men migrated and it fell upon
women to fend for their families46 and, even worse,
they had to pay colonial taxes in the absence of their
men47. Failure to pay meant that they could also be
conscripted to do public works. Some women left
their families, moved to urban areas and went down
a life of prostitution. In a way, therefore, the fervor
with which they prayed, was also a manifestation of
the greater psychological tension resting on them.
The third constraint regarded the position of
women themselves. Generally speaking, colonial
authorities assumed that traditional African society
oppressed women48. In this sense, the introduction
of wage labour was seen by the colonial authorities
as a way of improving the position of women49 and
forcing men to redefine their role in the context of
their own society. The Swiss missionaries, in contrast, held that colonial rule had contributed significantly to the worsening of the position of women
(Biber 1987) by strengthening the position of men
and effectively turning women into slaves of their
They even became known as “ceux de la prière” (those
who pray), (van Butselaar 1984).
45
A Swiss missionary, Henri-Alexandre Junod had already
drawn attention to the fact that women worked more
than men in Tsonga societies (Junod 1913).
46
47
See Biber 1987; Harris 1959).
48
See Silva Rego 1960 and Schädel 1984.
On colonial labour legislation, see Lopes Galvão 1925
and Aurillac 1964.
own men and communities.
Finally, the fourth
constraint resulted from the dependence of the colonial system, but also of the missionaries, on
women as the touch stone of their respective societal projects. The colonial system sought to reconstitute “African traditional society” on the back of
women and drawing from ideas about the role of
kinship solidarity which, ultimately, only served, as
pointed out by Ruth First (1983) to free the colonial
state from its social security responsibility towards
the growing number of Africans joining wage labour. The missionaries, for their part, depended on
women for the construction of their own idea of a
“traditional African society”, which was in actual
fact the revival of a Swiss Calvinist family ideal.50
Two interesting phenomena need to be mentioned
in order to emphasize the importance of these constraints for the construction of biographies. The
regime of truth consisted in a simple way of justifying missionary work. The Swiss Mission convinced
itself that it had a mission to fulfill in Mozambique
and explained its presence in the South of the country as an act of providence (Grandjean 1888). To this
end, the Mission used the problems in Portuguese
colonial rule as a background against which to project its own identity as the carrier of appropriate
forms of change. The Mission reduced Portuguese
colonial problems to moral ones essentially boiling
down to the moral degeneration of Europeans in
Africa (Berthoud 1888).
In order to reverse this, the missionaries made use
of three tools. The first one was the integration of
African culture and religiosity in the Christian religious framework. The missionaries interpreted
African culture and religiosity as part of a divine
plan and assumed that interpreting that plan was
part of their mission. Thus, they insisted that Africans were aware of God, even if their own evolutionary stage prevented them from knowing with
certainty that it was the same God worshipped by
the Swiss. Patrick Harries (1994) does a good job of
showing the extent to which Henri-Alexandre Junod’s great monograph (1913) on the Tsonga was an
attempt at proving this point. Junod saw the rules
and norms which structured the life of the Tsonga
49
32
50
For more on this, see Macamo 2003d.
as deriving from God and he saw the Swiss Mission
as the legitimate interpreter of God’s teachings who
could by virtue of that establish the criteria of intelligibility of the local life worlds.
which placed women and their communities and in
their quality as Christian on a different level. This
level was different because it was correct and more
in line with the times.
The second tool was intimately linked to Protestantism itself, specially its very strong ties with the
Enlightenment scientific programme51. The missionaries were in their majority solidly trained in the
natural sciences. They firmly believed in the idea
that the natural sciences were important resources
to uncover God’s revelation. This provided them
with a rationale for fighting magic and witchcraft52
which they equated with undesirable African forms
of life. They insisted, therefore, on medicine and
education which they held to be practical demonstrations of the superiority of Christianity. Everywhere they set up a Mission they built schools and
hospitals. Finally, the third tool which they availed
themselves of was the idea that acknowledging the
value of community amounted to the best proof of
divine election. In this sense, the missionaries saw
local African communities as spaces of intervention
lying in wait for them to transform and organize
into communities of faith. The missionary André
Grandjean, for instance, saw the social havoc
wreaked by Portuguese colonial rule on local communities as divine work that had simply paved the
way of the missionaries.
This regime of truth drew heavily from a regime of
rationality which was also established by the missionaries. Given the kind of world described by their
regime of truth the question became one of knowing which rules and procedures would be the most
adequate forms of action. The answer was obvious,
at least as far as women were concerned. They
should build community, they should change their
life conduct, they should adopt modern medicine
and education. Building community was the keystone of the whole undertaking. The missionaries
assumed, as already pointed out, that Portuguese
rule had led to moral degeneration of all. Thus, the
challenge for the missionaries consisted in achieving moral regeneration and, to this end, they saw it
as important to rehabilitate women. This meant
saving women from urban perdition (prostitution)
as well as freeing them from such forms of traditional oppression as the payment of bride price and
polygamy. Women should be placed at the centre of
their families as housewives and mothers so that
they could be reborn as the mainstay of new family
units that would be the bearers of a new African
society.
These three tools sought, together, to lend legitimacy to the presence of the Swiss mission while at
the same time creating a regime of truth within
which African religiosity, European rationality and
missionary work diluted into a common frame of
reference that made social phenomena intelligible.
It is in this way that it is actually possible to see the
accounts by the two women as coherent and as distinct from that which they do not want to be identified with. The accounts drew from a regime of truth
Swiss missionaries placed a lot of importance on
personal hygiene and cleanliness. An example of
this is a small book with the title “Mahlayisele ya
miri” (how to take care of the body).53 The main
message of the book is borne by the African Christian woman who takes care of her home and community. Another important aspect to be mentioned
is the role of education for the emancipation of
women and their communities.
Keith Thomas’ work is in this respect highly enlightening (Thomas 1980).
51
Reference should be made of Zingerle’s (1996) discussion of Durkheim’s analysis of magic which is consistent
with the kind of reading that the missionaries made of
their own mission. See also his earlier edited volume on
the relationship between magic and modernity (Zingerle
1987).
This regime of rationality did not only give substance to the regime of truth. It also had the important role of normalizing life through the transformation of individuals, especially women, into human beings who could act correctly, i.e. in line with
52
Mpapele 1967. There is a slightly different version of
the same, but in another language, namely Xitswa, with
the title “Wutomi gi nene” (the right conduct of life)
written by Navess and Bartling (1979).
53
33
the norms established by the missionaries. The excerpts presented above do carry elements of this
regime of rationality in the way they emphasize such
category predicates as education, good manners and
the importance of “learning how to work”. In this
respect, by including these aspects in their description of the differences between Christians and nonChristians the two women were also stressing the
properties of a world built on predicates of recent
origin.
Berthoud, P. (1888): La Mission Romande a la Baie
de Delagoa. Lausanne: Georges Bridel.
In fact, what we see, on the one hand, in this account is the way that the Mission saw women.
Women were a threat to the normative stability of
the African lifeworld, but they also represented the
potential for the reconstitution of that same world.
The vulnerability of women under the structural
conditions of colonial rule had given the Swiss Mission an entry point in its own moral discourse of
regeneration which implied the domestication of
women in the interest of a redefinition of the native
community. On the other hand, however, the Mission was largely used by Africans themselves in their
attempts at gaining control of their lives. The Africans who joined the Mission did it in response to
their own interpretation of their own history and of
what they had to do in order to continue to be themselves. Hence the emphasis in the women’s interviews on the differences between Christians and
non-Christians. In fact, differences are not simply
religious. They are also differences between Africans who recognized the signs of the times and
Africans who have not.
Cruz e Silva, Teresa (2001): Protestant Churches and
Biber, Charles (1987): Cent ans au Mozambique – le
parcours d’une minorité. Lausanne: Editions du
Soc.
Van Butselaar, Jan (1984): Africains, missionnaires
et colonialistes – Les origines de l’Eglise Presbytérienne du Mozambique (Mission Suisse) 18801896, Leiden.
the Formation of Political Consciousness in
Southern Mozambique (1930 – 1974.) Basel:
Schlettwein Pub.
Cruz e Silva, Teresa (2002): Entre a exclusão social e
o exercício da cidadania – Igrejas “zione” do
Bairro Luís Cabral na cidade de Maputo. Estudos
Moçambicanos 19, 61-88.
First, Ruth (1983): Black Gold - The Mozambican
Miner: Proletarian and Peasant. Sussex: The
Harvester Press.
Grandjean, Arthur 1898: Labours, semailles et
moissons dans le champ de la Mission romande. Lausanne.
Hacking, Ian (2002): Historical Ontology. London:
Harvard University Press.
Harries, Patrick (1994): Work, Culture and Identity:
Migrant Labourers in Mozambique and South
Africa, c.1860-1910. London: James Currey.
Harris, Marvin (1959): Labour Emigration among
the Moçambique Thonga: Cultural and Political
Factors. Africa 29, 1, 50-66.
They were differences between ways of being a person whose time had come, and ways of being of
being a person that had to learn to live alongside the
new ones. Mission Christianity stabilized these new
ways and made change possible, but a kind of
change that was not teleological, but rather a
change that simply filled the world with ever more
possibilities of being human.
Imbo, Samuel, O. 2004 : Okot p’Bitek’s Critique of
Western Scholarship on African Religion. In:
Kwasi Wiredu (ed.). A Companion to African
Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
References
Krüger, Gesine (2002): Die Verbreitung der Schrift
Spirituality and Experience of Pentecostal and
Zionist/Apostolic Churches in South Africa. Pre-
in Südafrika. Zur Praxis des Schreibens in alltags- und sozialgeschichtlicher Perspektive 1830
– 1930. Manuskript der Habilitationsschrift,
toria: University of South Africa Press.
Universität Hannover.
Anderson, Allan (2000): Zion and Pentecost – The
Aurillac, M. (1964): Les provinces portugaises
d’outre-mer ou la ‘force des choses’. Revue Juridique et Politique, Tome XVIII, 1, 239-262.
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Junod, Henri-Alexandre 1913: The Life of a South
African Tribe I/II, Neuchatel.
Macamo, Elísio (2003a): Work and Societal Order in
Africa – Negotiating Social Change. In:
Lepenies, W. (ed.): Entangled Histories and Ne-
gotiated Universals. Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 281-309.
Macamo, Elísio (2003b): Frauen als moralischer
Körper der Gesellschaft. Schweizer Mission in
Mosambik und die Erfindung der Tsonga. In:
Lienemann, C./Strahm, D./Walz, H. (eds.): Als
Volkskunde (Sonderdruck). Würzburg: GörresGesellschaft.
Zingerle, Arnold (ed.) (1987): Magie und Moderne.
Berlin: Guttandin & Hoppe.
hätten sie uns neu erfunden – Beobachtungen
zu Fremdheit und Geschlecht. Lucern: Edition
Exodus, 153-164.
Macamo, Elísio (2004): Schweizer Mission, Kolonialismus und die Bewältigung der Moderne in
Mosambik. In: Bogner, A./Holtwick, B./Tyrell,
H. (eds.): Weltmission und religiöse Organisa-
tionen – Protestantische Missionsgesellschaften
im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Würzburg: Ergon,
571-588.
Monnier, Nicolas (1995): Stratégie Missionnaire et
Tactiques d’appropriation indigénes: La Mission
Romande au Mozambique 1888-1896. Le Fait
Missionnaire, Cahier Nr.2.
Mpapele, M. R. (1967): Mahlayisele ya Miri. Braamfontein: Sasavona Publishers and Booksellers.
Navess, B. T./Bartling, Clara (1979): A Wutomi gi
Nene. Braamfontein: Sasavona Publishers and
Booksellers.
P’Bitek, Okot, 1971: African Religions in Western
Scholarship. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.
Schaedel, M. (1984): ‘Eingeborenen- Arbeit’ - For-
men der Ausbeutung unter der portugiesischen
Kolonialherrschaft in Mosambik. Köln: PahlRuggenstein.
Silva Rego, A. Da (1960): Alguns problemas sociomissionários da Africa Negra. Lisboa: Junta de
Investigações do Ultramar.
Thomas, Keith (1980): Religion and the Decline of
Magic - Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Century England. London?:
Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Wiredu, Kwasi 1997 : Cultural Universals and Particulars : An African Perspective. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press
Zingerle, Arnold (1996): „Der ‚moralische Körper‘
der Gesellschaft und sein magischer Schatten –
Zur Perspektivität von Magiebegriffen, am Beispiel von Emile Durkheim“. In: Jahrbuch für
35
2.1.5
Entangled histories and the Right
to Education: African, Indian and
Swiss Women’s Experiences and
Struggles
Jyoti Atwal
Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,
India
The women world over have had to struggle in different times and spaces for participation in the national life as citizens. Women’s struggle for voting
rights to legal rights or for gender equality in general has depended upon the level of education of the
female participants. 54 However, development of
education has been highly uneven across the world
and has had serious implications for the development of women as citizens. About 99 percent of the
world’s total illiterate population (774 million
adults) is concentrated in the less developed regions, and nearly three quarters of them live in
South–Central Asia and sub Saharan Africa.55 Nearly
two thirds of the world’s illiterate population is
composed of women (496 million adults). This proportion has held steady across several sub regions of
Africa, Asia and Europe over the period between
1990-2007.At the global level, the rate of enrolled
primary school aged girls increased from 79 to 86
percent in the period between 1999 to 2007. But
Middle and Western Africa had some of the world’s
Most feminist scholars hold the view that a woman’s
education beyond primary school is a reliable route to
economic empowerment. It can also determine the
change in the status of women and can regulate health
and nutrition of the family members. See Nussbaum,
Martha C, Women and Human Development: the capabilities approach, Kali for Women, Delhi, 2000;Tinker,
Irene(ed),Persistent Inequalities: Women and Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford,1990. For examples of theories of women in development and women as
development see Young, Kate (ed), Gender and Development Reader, Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Ottawa,1992; Kabeer, Naila, Reversed Realities:
Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, Verso,
London, 1994.
lowest rates with less than 60 percent of primary
school age girls enrolled in schools.56 In tertiary
enrolment, men’s dominance in the share has been
reversed globally and gender balance has shifted in
favour of women, except in sub Saharan Africa and
Southern and Western Asia. 57
This paper seeks to overview the nature of experiences and struggles for education by women across
Africa and India. 58 The case for a comparative overview is strengthened by the fact that both Africa and
India experienced colonialism accompanied by a
specific kind of modernity. It has been suggested by
scholars that the most basic tension of empire lies
in the point of recent scholarship that the otherness
of colonized persons was neither inherent nor stable; his or her difference had to be defined and
maintained.59 Therefore even though Africa is a
continent and India is a country, they shared the
tension. The three day Basel conference, of which
this paper is a part, set out to explore the multidimensionality of this modernity and tension. It reviewed the changes brought about in colonial and
missionary encounters as mirrored in contemporary
women’s position and roles in African societies.
Presently both African and Indian feminist scholars
seem to have been making a very important case for
documenting the indigenization of colonial
/missionary experiences of women. Puleng LenkaBula’s paper60 discussed the question of the African
women’s agency by reviewing the role of women in
church and society and indigenization or Africanisa-
54
55
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2009.
36
56
The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics,
United Nations Statistics Division, New York, 2010, 5253.
57
Ibid, 62.
The level of education I am referring to here ranges
from being simply a literate to having received a professional education.
58
Cooper, Frederick and Stoler, Ann Laura (ed), Tensions
of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997.
59
Puleng Lenka-Bula, ‘’The Changing Roles of Women in
Africa’s History: Indigenizing and Transforming Colonial Legacies’’.
60
tion of theology/mission. Elisio Macamo61 also
talked about how the cross cultural encounter
yielded frameworks within which African and European women and men relocated themselves. In a
similar vein feminist scholars62 in post colonial India have critiqued western women of discursively
colonizing the material and historical heterogeneities of the lives of women in the ‘Third World’. They
talk about how western women developed the category of suffocating non western women while insisting on the universal nature of women’s oppression.
Arguments have also been forwarded in favour of
unearthing missionary women’s own experiences.
Historians studying the changes in European or
Anglo American women’s roles have generally dealt
with the dynamics of those changes in their home
settings, focusing on such issues as suffrage, temperance, education, and women’s entrance into the
professions ignoring women’s pursuit of new roles
through mission activity. There is a considerable
scholarship now raising the question of invisibility
of women missionaries and their contributions.63
Besides discussion of this cultural encounter, I wish
to reflect upon how the 19th century idea of reforming women through education has transformed over
the last fifty years in Africa and India to a movement
Elisio Macamo, ‘’Cross – Cultural Encounters and Social Change: Mission, Women and Society in Africa. ‘’
61
Some of the most notable works are : Mohanty,
Chandra Talpady, ‘Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses’, in C. Mohanty, A Russo,
and LTorres, Third World Women and the Politics of
Feminism, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1991,
and Spivak, Gayatri, ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ in Nelson, Carl and Grossberg eds., Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Macmillian, London, 1988.
62
See Flemming, Leslie A, ‘‘New Roles for Old: Presbyterian Women Missionaries an Women’s Education in
North India, 1910-1930’’, Indian Church History Review,
20,2: 1986, 127-142; Forbes, Geraldine, ‘‘In Search of the
‘Pure Heathen’: Missionary Women in Nineteenth Century India’’ Economic and Political Weekly 21, 17, 1986,
ppWS1-8;Gaitskell, Deborah, ‘’Housewives, Maids or
Mothers: Some Contradictions for Women in Johannesburg, 1903-39’’, Journal of African History, 24, 1983, 241256.
63
for women’s rights and citizenship. How central
were the missionary efforts in bringing about this
transformation is a theme which calls for further
research. Even though the women in Africa and
India were initially recipients of the westernized
education, they struggled through the 20th century
to articulate their demand for ‘right to education’ in
the post colonial phase. Presently women in both
Africa and India continue to suffer from issues such
as the lack of infrastructure to promote women’s
well being, both within and outside the family.
Women’s own struggle with the traditional barriers
and challenges of the modern life has been quite
well documented. However, education has been
viewed mostly in terms of policies of the post colonial governments.
The fact that the women in South Asia and Africa
had to struggle to percolate down the idea of educating women and work at the grassroots level has not
received attention from academia. Presently women
in Africa and India are engaged in a multidimensional struggle to not only bring girls to school but
also empower them as citizens for future life. Despite the rise in women’s educational status, till date
women show dissatisfactory levels of literacy, several health risks and inadequate participation in
civic and political life as compared to men in their
countries.
However, since education has been the key factor in
mitigating many of the disadvantages that African
and Indian women suffer from, it is essential to map
the terrain of women’s struggle to educate themselves and as educated women.
The developmental experience of these continents
can be read along the following two coordinates in
order to generate a comparative framework:
1) Women’s experiences and struggles for education
as reform: Christian Missions and Beyond
2) Women’s experiences and struggle for right to
education: Citizenship and the post colonial State
Women’s experiences and struggles for education
as reform: Christian Missions and Beyond
In the 19th century institutionalization of education
(specifically for women) was introduced by the mis-
37
sionaries (Catholic and Protestant) in both Africa
and India.64 The girls’ school curriculum often upheld the domestic ideal with complete absence of
vocational training.
In the colonial period women’s struggle was quite
individualized in Africa. While several women’s
clubs were launched there was no integrated representation towards asking the colonial government
for including women’s education on the developmental agenda. For example in Nigeria, Oyinkan
Morenike Abayomi, (daughter of the first Nigerian
awarded a peerage by the crown) founded the British West African Educated Girls’ Club in 1927. Her
efforts resulted in Queens College, one of the first
girls secondary schools.
The idea of separate education for girls was deep
seated in the pre 1950s Africa. A good example of
such individualized reform is the case of Adelaide
Smith from Sierra Leone. She opened a school to
train girls in technical and industrial subjects in
1923, but the school failed by the 1940s. The African
women’s struggle for education I suggest, by the
1950s had not taken shape of a movement, as it had
in India. However in India as well the movement did
not shape up as a harbinger for women’s ‘right’ to
education.
Indian experience was somewhat different in terms
of women’s activism both at an individual and at a
Vidrovitch has drawn our attention to diversity of educational reforms for women across Africa. In the British
colonies, Protestant Reformation proved favourable towards girls’ education; Portuguese colonies too did well.
Belgian Congo remained conservative as mostly the
Flemish Catholic missionaries controlled schools. The
girls became subject to double discrimination –by local
tradition and by Western culture as well. It was as late as
1961 that in Belgian Congo a woman graduated. She was
Sophie Kanza, daughter of the mayor of Leopoldville.
Catholic missions generally promoted sex segregated
schooling and curricula. The Education Code of 1929
reaffirmed the need to train girls only in domestic subjects. In South Africa numerically more girls went to
school as compared to the boys. The numbers are an
illusion because men were required to work in the mines,
considered to be modern profession. Vidrovitch-Coquery,
Catherine, African Women: A Modern History, Westview
Press, USA,1997.
64
38
collective level. By the end of the 19th century, modeled on the missionary schools, several indigenous
schools65 had mushroomed in India. Victorian
model of girl’s schools became popular and imparted religious moral education and lessons in
home science.66 I do not wish to dismiss the colonial – reformist phase in Africa67 and India as simply
the one which created ‘suitable’ wives for the new
Western educated middle class indigenous men.
Even though since the early 1920s the educated
women articulated the need for secularization and
professionalization of structures of women’s education,68 the idea that education was a women’s right
had not evolved in the colonial period. For a long
time women’s education as an agenda remained
within the domain of social reform. Even though
this modern educational structure primarily benefited the women from the elite class, it was a crucial
preparatory phase which enabled women to create a
porous boundary between the ‘domestic’ and the
‘political’ zones. In this phase women’s struggle
was quite individual and restricted. They struggled
Most noted ones in North India being ‘Arya Samaj’
schools for girls. These schools were part of the 19th
century reformist Hindu movement.
65
In the 19th century Pritchard in Infant Education argues
for the importance of maternal firmness in ‘’educational
motherhood’’ for the good of society. Anna Davin has
studied institutions and schools that came up in Great
Britain in early 20th century such as St. Pancras School
for Mothers. Davin, Anna, ‘Imperialism and Motherhood’, in Cooper, Frederick and Stoler, Ann Laura (ed),
66
Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois
World, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997.
There are several works that have studied gender relations within the European missionary movements
abroad. See Thorne, Susan, ‘’Missionary Imperial Feminism’’ and Predelli, Nyhagen Line and Miller, John, ‘’Piety and Patriarchy: Contested Gender Regimes in Nineteenth Century Evangelical Missions’’ in Huber, Mary
Taylor and Lutkehaus, Nancy C (ed), Gendered Missions:
Women and Men in Missionary Discourse and Practice,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1999/2002.Also
Smith, Susan E, Women in Mission: From the New Testament to Today, Orbis Books, New York, 2007.
67
In the 1927 All India Women’s Conference was
founded. It monitored and organized reformist efforts
through out India.
68
Images above: 19th century representations of various kinds of schools in parts of Africa and India. Source: Archives of
the Basel Mission / mission 21, Basel, Switzerland.
with the domesticity and with the rigidity of the
class or caste they belonged to.
One fundamental difference between the African
and Indian women’s reformism lay in the fact that
in India there was only one colonial state69 and it
was willing to make reformist concessions.70 Since
the early 20th century Indian women (initially from
elitist backgrounds) were well versed with the representational methods which they learnt from the anti
colonial movement.
For a detailed discussion on colonial state in India and
related political processes see Joshi, Shashi and Josh,
Bhagwan, Struggle for Hegemony in India, 3 Vols, Sage,
New Delhi, 2011(1994 first edition).
Despite the fact that women’s education was aimed
at reforming the domestic domain, there is an exceptional case of a high caste Hindu woman who
converted to Christianity. Ramabai Saraswati was an
accomplished 19th century scholar of Sanskrit but
she developed a critical view of Hinduism and converted to Christianity. She opened schools and
widow homes for Hindu women thereafter. Despite
her disapproval of the Hindu religion she continued
to run her school and widow home according to
caste rules laid down in Hindu scriptures.71 This
shows how complex the Hindu interface with Christianity and reformism was.
69
The Hunter Commission in the 1880s made grants
towards female education in India. For a detailed sketch
of missionary activities and debates in India see Joshi,
Shashi, Mission, Religion and Caste: Themes in the History of Christianity in India, Indian Institute of Advanced
Studies, Simla, 2010.
70
Another outstanding missionary experience is that
of Tina Sikemeier, a Swiss lady of the Basel Mission
in South India. She kept a note of her daily affairs in
her diary (tagebuch) during her stay in India from
She wrote extensively about how Hindu scriptures were
biased towards women. Sarasawati, Ramabai, The High
Caste Hindu Woman, 1888.
71
39
1915 to 1918. Though not elaborately, she recounts
her vast and diverse experiences of her life in India.
This includes her association with YWCA and various mission schools.
What is very interesting to note about her diary is
the opening page72 where she compares life with
voyage at the sea:
One ship drives East, the other drives West,
While the self same breezes blow,
It’s the set of sail and not the gale,
That bids them where to go.
Like the minds of the sea, and the waves of the fates,
As we voyage along with life,
It’s the set of the soul, that is the goal,
And not the storms nor the strife.
This poem is testimony to the fact that women
shared the consciousness of her having arrived from
a distance to serve another nation.73 She captures
vast experiences of traveling through missionary
schools and of interacted with not only Hindu girls
but also Muslim ones.
It is clear that much research is waiting to be done
to make missionary women visible in India. After
this overview of the missionary efforts it is essential
to map the terrain of women’s struggle in the 20th
century and how that was guided by the 19th century
reformism. It will be argued that while 19th agenda
of education for women remained central to
Tina Sikemeier Diary, 15th November 1915, Mission 21
Archives, Basel. I am grateful to Dr. Guy Thomas, director of the archives, for giving me full support to locate
and explore this diary. The diary forms a core of my project on writing histories of women in the missions across
Europe.
72
The question of how landscape was potently discussed
in the missionary literature has been studied by scholars.
See Thomas, Guy, ‘’Chiefdoms, Cantons, and Contentious Land: Mapping out a Mission Field in Twentieth
Century Colonial Cameroon’’ in Falola, Toyin(ed), Chris-
73
tianity and Social Change in Africa: Essays in Honour of
J.D.Y.Peel Carolina Academic Press, Durham, 2005,
pp517-548. Guy Thomas has talked about how the missionaries perceived, negotiated, reconfigured and commonly subjected to the widespread predicament of access, use and ownership, and of notions of traditional
overlordship, in the western region of the modern day
Anglophone Cameroon.
40
women’s movement yet the essence and meanings
of educating a woman changed over time. The new
agenda in the post colonial times has retained missionary reformism yet the new glossary of rights and
citizenship has been added to it.74
Women’s experiences and struggle for right to education: Citizenship75 and the post colonial State
In India it was only as late as the 1980s that
women’s associations noticed the acceleration of
dowry practice, bride burning and domestic enslavement of women in the middle class families. It
was clear that education as a reform had not succeeded. Women’s groups and the State had much
more to do than open more schools and colleges.
The challenge has been to get girls to enroll and not
let them drop out.
By the early 1980s certain developments across Africa also had serious implications for women. Many
countries in Africa emphasized demand management and supply oriented measures narrowly focused on export led growth. This led to the cuts in
social sector spending by state. Secondly, there was
19th century reformist ideas on women swayed over the
20th century women’s agenda as most Western women
who guided the women’s movements in India were associated with missions and suffragist movement at the
same time. Ramusack looked at the activism of five Western women- Mary Carpenter, Annette Akroyd Beveridge,
Margaret Noble, Margaret Cousins and Eleanor
Rathbone. She argues that while all five were supporters
of self government for the Indians, they believed that
colonial government had brought positive reforms for
women. They have been called ‘maternal’ imperialist by
Ramusack. Barbara N.Ramusack, ‘Cultural Missionaries,
Maternal Imperialists, Feminist Allies: British Women
Activists in India, 1865-1945’, in Nupur Chaudhuri and
Margaret Strobel (eds), Western Women and Imperialism
Indiana University Press, 1993, 119-136.
74
It has been suggested that in many post colonial states,
extended family and kinship relationships have continued to be used as foci of loyalty and organization. Political, social and probably even civil rights might depend on
the familial positioning of the particular citizen. Most
important work on citizenship and gender difference is:
Davis, Nira Yuval, Gender and Nation, Sage, London,
1997. Also see Lemelle, S. and and Kelly, R, (eds), Imag75
ining Home: Class , Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora, Verso,London,1996.
a prolonged period of civil strife and conflict. Majority of the refugees consisted of women. Thirdly,
most African nations continue to deal with the AIDS
crises and increasing rates of HIV infection. Out of
the total of 20 million cases of HIV positive cases in
Africa, half this number consisted of women.
Women have been the backbone of Africa’s rural
economy, accounting for 70 percent of food production. It was noted that the existing laws limit
women’s access to land and other types of property
in most countries in Africa and about half countries
in Asia. Elements of gender inequality with regard
to inheritance rights were identified in 45 out of the
48 African countries reviewed and in 25 out of the
Asian ones.76
Women’s groups organized themselves differently
since the 1990s. After independence most women in
most African nations have focused on multidimensionality of reform for women. According to the
Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), an educated African girl is ‘three times less likely to get
HIV/AIDS, and is more likely to earn 25 percent
more income, reinvest 90 percent in her family, and
have a smaller, healthier family.We believe every
child has the right to an education’. 77 Camfed uses a
community-based, holistic approach to bring about
change in Africa. The girls that they support are
selected by the community as being the most in
need. They don’t just provide her with books or
school fees. They help her throughout her development, from her elementary school years until adulthood. Their package allows her to get into school,
do well academically, and maximize the value of her
education after graduation.‘78 Camfed aims to fight
poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls
and empowering women to become leaders of
change.
The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics, United
76
Nations Statistics Division, New York, 2010, p169.
Camfed is a grassroots campaign launched in 1993 to
financially assist girls to attend school in Zimbabwe. This
body now includes Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania.
77
78
Camfed (http://us.camfed.org/site/
pagename=home_index)
PageServer?
In India, the 1980s signified a watershed in the history of women’s movement. In 1975 the Committee
on Status of Women in India reported a very dissatisfactory data. The half hearted government efforts
to educate female child since independence proved
in vain in changing the status of women.79 The
1980s saw many women’s groups mushrooming –
some sponsored by the Ministries of Government
and some autonomous (NGOs). The agenda for
women’s education acquired a new life thereafter.
The agenda reached grassroots. The late 1990s
marked another phase as the India opened up to the
global market. Human resource went through a
redefinition. Some of the earlier women’s associations revived and reformed themselves to reframe
curricula for women to enable them to become professionals.80 All India Women’s Education Fund
Association (AIWEFA) by 1990s included a core
team of experts in law, education, administration,
finance, basic and applied science, social science,
media, architecture, health and nutrition, fashion
design, community mobilization, social work etc
with facility to co-opt experts and specialists from
any field to handle any given task.
An advanced stage of women’s struggle for education at present includes agenda to make women
equal through affirmative action and State protection. Women’s groups have sought to check the
gender imbalance in public service sector and the
newly emergent professions. To enter new profesMany Educational Commissions were set up but like
the colonial state that preceded it, independent Indian
state followed a reformist line. National Committee on
Women’s Education in 1958-59; Indian Education Commission or Kothari Commission of 1966 etc moved in the
direction of sex segregated education. For a comprehensive discussion see Mathur, Y.B, Women’s Education in
India 1813-1966, Asia Publishing House, London,1973.
For a rich survey of women’s education from a feminist
perspective see Basu, Aparna, Women’s Education in
India: Barriers, Benefits and Policies, First JP Naik Memorial Lecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,
2005.
79
In 1929, a group of visionary women including Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Sarojini Naidu, Aruna Asaf Ali and Lady
Dorothy Irwin founded the All India Women’s Education
Fund Association (AIWEFA) with the objective of helping
women to empower themselves.
80
41
sions, monetary investment has to be made in training oneself. Most families in India are unwilling to
invest in women’s education as compared with
men. Indians practice patrilocality so a female is
treated as a ‘someone else’s property’. Families prefer not to invest in a family member who will eventually not stay in the same household. Men are the
beneficiaries of the patrilocality system as family
makes heavy investments in educating them. There
is a wide gap between men and women in the tertiary sector. This societal attitude has rendered
women as unequal citizens. To correct this imbalance non governmental bodies have been insisting
on governmental schemes to provide easy loans to
women who wish to undertake professional
courses. AIWEFA also develops and sponsors educational activities to foster awareness of women’s
legal and human rights, vocational training for economic self reliance and development education.
Interestingly 20th century was crucial for Indian
women who made history and whose histories were
written. For dalit 81 women it was crucial that they
were able to write down their own life histories of
struggle and experiences.
Similarly in Africa, women’s groups and educationists have realized that women’s exclusion has to
end. The Forum for African Women Educationists
(FAWE) noted that women account for less than 20
percent of students in scientific subjects in tertiary
education, and female teachers are particularly under-represented at secondary and tertiary levels,
being more represented at lower levels of education.82
The African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), was also launched in
1998 to promote women's development in Africa.
FEMNET helps non-government organizations
share information and approaches on women's
development, equality and other human rights.83
At the Basel Conference Suzan Mark’s paper84 on
the history and development of Women Fellowship
in Nigeria presented a rich data on how the women
in Fellowship included orphans and widows. Besides education, the Church has had to also protect
their right to homes and remarriage.
It is clear from the above discussion that even
though women in Africa and India do not share the
same geo-economic space, they share those social
tensions which have resulted from a unique patriarchal modernity of the colonial times where their
traditional role has been upheld and reinforced.
The commonality of the Indian and African
women’s agenda in the post colonial times can be
explained in terms of how colonialism homogenized identity, space and gender relations in the
colonies. It has been proposed that ‘caste’ in India
and ‘tribe’ in Africa were ‘in part colonial constructs, efforts to render fluid and confusing social
and political relationships into categories sufficiently static and thereby useful to colonial understanding and control.’85 However, the elaboration of
these categories was dependent upon knowledge of
FAWE was founded in 1992 by five African women
ministers of education — the late Hon. Vida Yeboa of
Ghana, Hon. Simone de Comarmond of Seychelles, Hon.
Paulette Missambo of Gabon, Hon. Dr Fay Chung of
Zimbabwe, and Hon. Alice Tiendrebéogo of Burkina
Faso. http://www.fawe.org/about/history/index.php
82
Dalits are a social group in India considered low in the
traditional caste hierarchy. They continue to suffer from
various forms of backwardness as they have little access
to resources as compared to other castes. Often compared with the Black women this category of Indian
women have begun to receive attention in the past 5-6
years. Rege, Sharmila, Writing Caste/Writing Gender:
Reading Dalit Women’s Testimonies, Zubaan, Delhi,
2006. For my slide presentation on ‘Gender and Affirmative Action in Higher Education in India’, New York University
in
2010
please
see
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/uploads/005/759/J
yoti_NYU_SLIDES.pdf
81
42
83
http://www.femnet.or.ke/
Mark, Suzan, ‘’The History and Development of EYN
Women Fellowship Partnership’’.
84
Cooper, Frederick and Stoler, Ann Laura, ‘Between
Metropole and Colony: Rethinking a Research Agenda’,
in Cooper, Frederick and Stoler, Ann Laura (ed), Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World,
University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997, pp1-58.
85
elders/pundits who were free to manipulate it. This
tension did not create and naturalize the subunits of
control: the very ideas of ‘’India’’ and ‘’Africa’’ were
homogenizing and essentializing devices useful
both for imperial definitions of what they ruled and
for nationalists to claim a broad domain that their
cultural knowledge qualified them to govern.
In conclusion it can be said that much remains to be
researched to explore the entangled history of Africa
and India. As an orientation towards this field
theme of entangled histories of women’s perspective on education, missions and citizenship are particularly useful categories.
References:
Anderson, M and Guha, S (ed.) Changing concepts
of rights and justice in South Asia, OUP, Delhi,
1997.
Chandra, Bipan, Nationalism and Colonialism in
Modern India, New Delhi, 1979.
Chaudhuri, Nupur and Strobel, Margaret
(eds),Western Women and Imperialism: Complicity and Resistance, Indiana University Press,
1993.
Comaroff, Jean and John,(eds), Modernity and Its
Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Africa, University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Cooper, Frederick, Decolonization and African So-
ciety: The Labor Question in French and British
Africa, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
1996.
Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002.
Davis, Nira Yuval, Gender and Nation, Sage, London, 1997.
Forbes, Geraldine, Women in Modern India, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998.
Jenkins, Paul, A Short History of the Basel Mission,
Mission 21 Basel Archives, 1985.
Kirsch, Jochen, ‘Partnership in the Context of Mission (European Perspective)’, in Jonas Dah (ed),
Mission in a Post Missionary Era; Presbyterian
Church in Cameroon, 2008.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpady, ‘Under Western Eyes:
Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses’,
in C. Mohanty, A Russo, and LTorres, Third
World Women and the Politics of Feminism,
Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1991
Spivak, Gayatri, ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ in Nelson, Carl and Grossberg eds., Marxism and the
Interpretation of Culture, Macmillian, London,
1988.
Smith, Susan E, Women in Mission: From the New
Testament to Today, Orbis Books, New York,
2007
Thomas, Guy, ‘’Chiefdoms, Cantons, and Contentious Land: Mapping out a Mission Field in
Twentieth Century Colonial Cameroon’’ in Falola, Toyin(ed), Christianity and Social Change
in Africa: Essays in Honour of J.D.Y.Peel Carolina Academic Press, Durham, 2005, pp517-548
Vidrovitch-Coquery, Catherine, African Women: A
Modern History, Westview Press, 1997.
Reports:
The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics,
United Nations Statistics Division, New York,
2010.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2009
http://www.femnet.or.ke/
http://www.fawe.org/about/history/index.php
http://www.aiwefa.org/visionmission.asp
http://us.camfed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ho
me_index
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/uploads/005/
759/Jyoti_NYU_SLIDES.pdf
Joshi, Shashi, Mission, Religion and Caste: Themes
in the History of Christianity in India, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla, 2010.
Josh, Bhagwan, Struggle for Hegemony in India:
Culture, Community and Power, Vol 3, Sage,
New Delhi, 1994.
43
2.1.6
Women´s experiences as context
for doing theology in Africa
Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué
Professor of Ecumenical Ethics Ecumenical Institute
Bossey, Switzerland
Human thinking and action is conditioned by experience, and experience is intrinsically bound to
human reflection and deed. And so is religiosity
related to individual and collective life-experiences,
as Musimbi Kanyoro states:” Every religious experience is by nature inseparable from the life experience of people. The encounter between God and
people never happens in a vacuum but in a concrete
historic situation.”86
Life-experiences are not accessible without tools.
One of the important tools to decode experiences is
language, through which people express experiences of the past and present, and are able to project
into the future. It is also language that serves as an
important tool in cultural and religious transmission, as it embeds the empirical reality into a worldview and adds to it meaning and normative grounding. Social relations, cultural codes and religious
rituals become plausible in as far as they are attached to a communal understanding shared by a
sufficiently extended number of people.
In the classical research on women in Africa and
their religious articulation, the thesis of a relative
congruence between the cultural, political and religious patterns leading to the restriction of women´s
independent expression is widely acknowledged.87
This understanding is epitomised in the identification of patriarchal structures as root causes of
women´s oppression on the African continent. In
this perspective, definitions of human relationships,
behaviour and ritual performance are seen as rather
static, as this would allow for a high level of innerMusimbi Kanyoro: „The Meaning of the Story: Theology as Experience“, in: John S. Pobee (Ed.): Culture,
Women and Theology. New Delhi: ISPCK, 1994:19-33:23.
86
See: Musimbi Kanyoro, ibid., 25ff.; also: Mercy Amba
Oduyoye: Hearing and Knowing. Theological Reflections
on Christianity in Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books,
41993, 123ff.
87
44
societal consensus, as well as continuity with regard
to religious and cultural transmission.
In my presentation I am interested to test this assumption of a rather static and male-dominated
structural cause for women´s oppression in Africa. I
suggest this – not so much because I principally
deny the existence of contextually relevant patterns
of patriarchy, but more so, because it results in a
reductionist view, which makes blind for the complexity and subtleness of gendered agency – and
take inspiration from a methodological standpoint
introduced by Michael Williams, Collett Cox and
Martin Jaffee on innovation in religious traditions.88
In their argumentation they stress that religious
innovation has often been misunderstood as a radical breach from tradition and with the worldview
attached to it. The analysis of religious innovation
would be, however, more accurate if one would perceive it as “modality of religious tradition itself”,89
based on a multiplicity of causes like crisis and the
role of a genius.
I will in the following discuss in which way African
women´s experience – if not reduced to the doublebind of male domination and female oppression –
can provide a valid background for the discussion of
doing theology.90 I deliberately restrict myself to
Christianity, most particularly in its contextual version in West Africa, from which empirical data is
taken for illustration. The theme of women´s experiences as context for doing theology in Africa is
thus not only a subject of interest for the history of a
global Christianity, but also for the understanding
Michael A. Williams/ Collett Cox/ Martin S. Jaffee (Eds):
Innovation in Religious Traditions. Essays in the Interpretation of Religious Change. Berlin/ New York: Mouton
de Gruyter, 1992: esp. 1-18 („Religious Innovation: An
introductory essay“).
88
89
Ibid, 11.
I deem in this context the utilisation of the term doing
theology as appropriate in view of the practice orientation
of the reflections mainly drawing from fields in which
women´s actions (educational, ritual, health-related) are
mirrored in their experiences.
90
of most controversial discourses on politics and
social change on the continent.91
Some of the questions I will pose in this regard are
the following: How did Christianity, in the course of
its inculturation, contribute to cultural, social and
religious change in a given context? Where did the
encounter between foreign and indigenous people
give rise to mutual enquiries about the underlying
structures, motives and stories? And how do contemporary forms of religious articulation give evidence of women´s autonomous agency and the
potential of their experiences as starting-point for a
theological and wider public debate?
In answering these questions the present contribution seeks to offer first a theme-oriented exploration. A subsequent case study located in the subregion will develop on local role models for women
on both a diachronic and synchronic level, and the
changes that can be noted in this respect in confrontation with external role models. Specific attention
will be paid to religious functional roles, as the deaconesses of the European missionary societies in the
late 19th and early 20th century, and in modern
times, the prophetesses of Pentecostal-charismatic
churches, as well as African women migrants and
the specific modes they employ to make use of their
experiences for a relevant theology for all. The case
vignettes will be evaluated in a concluding section in
order to identify patterns African women’s theological practice.
In a critical analysis the focus will be laid on the
internal management of this confrontation between
different functional roles and role models. Three
lines of analysis will be particularly developed. First,
the ambiguity of the missionary presence with regard to its impact on (indigenous) women’s adoption of role models will be scrutinised. Secondly,
light will be shed on the intertwining of social, political and religious aspects in the ritual perform-
ance of African Pentecostal women, and thirdly – a
relatively new field in theological research – migrant
women´s experiences and theological articulation
will be discussed.
1. Women´s experiences as field for theory and
practice of theology in Africa
In reviewing the standard publications of African
female theologians, one cannot overlook the evaluation of African women´s experience as the basis for
theologising being characterised as primarily detrimental to women´s autonomy: “Women´s experience of being persons primarily in relation to others
– as mother or as a wife – predominates in Africa. A
woman´s social status depends on these relationships and not on any qualities or achievements of
her own.”92 The totalising scrutiny93 veils, however,
a problem of research on women´s theologies in
Africa: the gap between the theoretical reflection on
doing theology from a women´s perspective, often
influenced by the reception of foreign concepts of
women´s theologies (feminism, womanism), and
the factual lived experiences of women, which can
be multifaceted in the different contexts.
Such a generalising assessment fails to pay attention to subtle changes induced by internal or external factors, patriarchal structures, by way of illustration, can cover matrilineal systems of social organisation. The colonial era, and the advent of European
missionaries in the 19th century provoked such an
overlapping of systems, and it remains a desidera-
Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Hearing and Knowing. Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa. Maryknoll,
92
NY: Orbis Books, 1993: 122. See also: Id./ Musimbi Kanyoro (Eds): The Will to Arise. Women, Tradition, and the
Church in Africa. Maryknoll, NY:Orbis Books, 1992.
The „Final Document on Doing Theology from Third
World Women´s Perspective“(Mexico Conference), in:
Ursula King (Ed): Feminist Theology from the Third
World. A Reader. London/ Maryknoll, NY: SPCK/Orbis
Books, 1994: 35-44: 37, notes even a consistent oppressive reality for women in Africa, Asia and Latin America:
„In all three continents, the oppression of women is
affirmed as a hard and abiding reality of life.“
93
Cf. Elisio Macamo: „Cross-cultural Encounters and
Social Change: Mission, Women and Society in Africa“,
in this volume, who discusses the intertwining of internal
and external driving forces for social change in the construction of individual biographical narratives in the
cross-cultural encounter between Africans and Europeans.
91
45
tum of a women-centred research to develop theories against the background of empirical insights.94
In a diachronic perspective, the missionary encounter95 may serve as an example for a practice of theology, in which the interaction between missionaries
and indigenous population was marked by images
of the other and by mutual assignments of expectation. This is particularly relevant with regard to the
organisation of social and communal institutions,
and with regard to gender roles. In the West African
coastal region these gender roles have been embedded in diverse forms of societal organisation, ranging from centralised monarchies to acephalic, decentralised chiefdoms.
It is interesting to note that especially women in the
coastal region occupied central religious, economic
and political roles. In taking on ritual and representative roles as queen-mothers for instance, women
held significant functions for the entire ethnic
group, and remained visible both in the public and
religious sphere. Women´s autonomous activity in
the local informal sector of the economy stands out
as another empirical indication for their societal
impact.
Ifi Amadiume has offered a theoretical framework
based on the assumption of a dual-sex organisation
of the traditional society96, which offered women
the possibility of gaining recognition by taking on
roles in public life and beyond gendered stereotypes. According to traditional African worldview
Gabriele Zdunnek: „Research on Gender Relations with
Reference to Ghana and Nigeria“, in: Mechthild Reh/
Gudrun Ludwar-Ene (Eds): Gender and Identity in Africa.
Münster/ Hamburg: Lit Verlag, 1995: 145-151: 135f., refers to the invisibility of African women in the conventional historiography, and to the importance of considering gender specific differenciations induced by the colonial changes.
94
The following is expanded in Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué:
„Mothers for all: The Missionary Impact on Models of
Femininity and Maternity in West-Africa“, in: Christine
Lienemann Perrin et al. (eds): Women and Mission. Abingdon Press (forthcoming).
95
Cf. Ifi Amadiume: Male Daughters, Female Husbands.
Gender and Sex in an African Society. London: Zed
96
Books, 1987.
46
women have been considered as the privileged media of divinities and spirits, without whom no ritual
communication can be perceived. Especially in the
realm of religion a flexible arrangement of gender
roles can be observed, when women and men can
interchange functions for ritual purposes, and are
viewed as eligible for these roles outside the normal
societal gender attributions and expectations.
It is important to bear these differentiated facets of
gender constructions in traditional African societies
in mind, in order to gain a more nuanced theoretical
standpoint on women´s experience as the basis for
doing theology.
The following case vignettes seek to offer insights in
this respect, especially in regard to West African
women’s religious roles. Both historical and contemporary examples are taken as illustration to explore in which way women elaborate autonomous
models of doing theology in cross-cultural discourse, in the appropriation of religious and public
space and in the reinterpretation of theological motives.
2. Three case vignettes
Case vignette 1: CrossCross -cultural female missionary
encounters in West Africa
When reading the reports of European missionary
women of the early 20th century, the asymmetry of
relationship with the local population comes clearly
to the fore. It was not only the view that Africans
have to be converted to Christianity, but also that
they have to be civilised and liberated from religious
practices deemed demonic and irreconcilable with
Christian faith:
Thus the service to the souls of people, the proclamation of the gospel in Africa, goes hand in
hand with the practical service of merciful love.
This is a special task for the woman. The ignorance of the people, the superstition, the fear of
spirits and death (…) makes the work often burdensome, and yet – being witness of the miracles the Lord does with the sick bodies and souls
of Africans constitutes the most pleasant compensation for all efforts.97
At the centre of the missionary work among women
stood the interest to enhance evangelisation of the
“heathen” population from within. The institution
of deaconess, was introduced in West Africa at the
end of the 19th century and destined to address
women through educational and health care measures, perceived as foundational for enrooting Christianity in the local context.
It is, however, interesting to note that the encounter
between the European missionaries and the local
women was moulded by perceptions of the 19th
century European bourgeois society with distinct
gender roles98, restricting the possibility of women
to gain public recognition to the private sphere and
the role of maternity. The deaconesses, recruited by
the missionary societies among single women constituted thus both within their own society and in
West Africa marginal role models. They were able to
provide leadership in a professional field outside the
private domain, yet were depend of male missionaries, and – most remarkable in a context, in which
the reproductive capacities of women are highly
valued – were no mothers.
The missionaries themselves were not unanimous
about the recruitment of indigenous women as deaconesses at the missionary stations.99 At the same
time, African women were confronted with a female
Luise Funke: „Als Buschdoktor in Togo“, in: Arno
Lehmann: Missionarsfrauen erzählen. Dresden/ Leipzig:
Verlag C. Ludwig Ungelenk, 1938: 33-41: 41 (Translation
from the German original by the author).
97
Cf. Simone Prodolliet: Wider die Schamlosigkeit und
das Elend der heidnischen Weiber: Die Basler Frauenmission und der Export des europäischen Frauenideals in
die Kolonien. Zürich: Limmat Verlag, 1987.
98
Whereas Martin Schlunk, Inspector of the North German Missionary Society, was able to recognize the utility
of local assistants in the missionary work, especially with
regard to the intercultural communication, Luise Funke
remained hesitant to call indigenous women ‘deaconesses’ as this would be a term associated with “higher
perceptions”. Cf. Luise Funke: Erste Schritte zur weiblichen Diakonie. Bremen: Bremer Missionschriften, N.d.:
28 and 21.
99
missionary model, which gave rise to a serious conflict of loyalty between, on the one hand, the attractiveness of a new religious and societal function,
and on the other hand the incompatibility with the
local gendered expectation of motherhood.
What has been initially envisioned as a pragmatic
step to enhance the missionary work and to ameliorate the cultural translation of the Gospel in the
region, turned out to unveil a disparity in the conception of gender roles in the perspective of the
local population.
Mercy Baeta100, who became the first indigenous
female teacher and deaconess of the Ewe-Church,
can be taken as an illustration for this conflict of
loyalty over gender roles in the cross-cultural encounter. Born in 1880, Mercy Baeta was trained at
the missionary station of Keta. First, she attended
the boys’ school, later, after the foundation of the
girls’ school she joined classes for early childhoodlearning. After completion of her formation, she
was recruited as teacher at the girls’ school from
1894 to 1903. Her biography is certainly an outstanding example of how the local population aspired to the deaconesses’ educational proposals, but
also how the proposed gender role model generated
individual conflicts. Mercy Baeta quit working in
1903, when her family insisted on her marriage.
Although the sources are tacit about the precise
circumstances, one could presume that on the one
hand the expectation to fulfil the conventional female role of maternity, and on the other hand the
incompatibility of marriage and maternity with her
function as teacher and deaconess, contributed to
this decision.
Mercy Baeta returned to serve the deaconesses in
Keta in 1906 as she finally did not get married, but
her story initiated an indirect discourse on the flexibility of gender roles within the local setting: How
can the traditionally transmitted role of women as
religious function-bearers reconciled with maternity? And how can the role model of European deaconesses become re-interpreted within the indigenous Christian worldview?
For details cf. Charles M.K. Mamattah: The Beginnings
of the Y.M.C.A in Ghana. Achimota, mimeo., 1952: 19.
100
47
The possibility of women´s ordination and the existence of informal pastoral functions in the present
Protestant churches of Ghana and Togo, as well as
the potential for female religious articulation in the
realm of African Instituted and Pentecostal/ Charismatic Churches101, indicates that women have been
and continue to be transformative agents of a missionary encounter across cultures.
Case vignette 2: The appropriation of public
space by women in African Instituted Churches
The spiritual dimension of healing plays a prominent role in the African Instituted Churches. Health
and well-being is considered as a divine benediction
according to the local worldview, it is thus not surprising that the quest for maintenance and restoration of health still constitutes a primal motive for
adherence to these churches and impregnates the
spiritual practices of the communities to a great
extent. Particular attention is given to the domain of
maternity, childbirth, pregnancy, sterility and childcare.
The Celestial Church of Christ102, with congregations along the West African coast and strong
branches in Benin, Togo and Ghana may serve as an
empirical example. The Church, which lays emphasis on the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and the
practice of rituals depending on it as prophecy,
healing and glossolalia, is composed of a large female membership. Women feel attracted to the
church not only because their physical and spiritual
concerns as well as their needs for ritual accompaniment are taken seriously here, but also because
The influence of teachings conveyed by charismatic
(male) leaders of Pentecostal Churches on gender relations in West Africa, as described by Akosua Adomako
Ampofo in her contribution to this volume, „Men of God
in the Pentecostal Movement and their Visions of
Women´s Roles“, can be analysed both as problematic
and stimulating for women´s autonomous religious
articulation.
101
The Celestial Church of Christ is a prophetic African
Instituted Church of the Aladura-type, founded in 1956 by
Samuel Bileou Oshoffa in the Republic of Benin and
spread thereafter along the entire West African coast. See
the church’s own publication Lumière sur le Christianisme Céleste, n.d.,s.l.
102
48
their spiritual capacities are embedded into the hierarchical system of offices open to them.
Women in the Celestial Church of Christ can occupy
all charismatic-spiritual offices in the congregation,
for example as a prophetess, able to receive visions
and to interpret them as well as to heal and to
prophesy. Women occupying these positions receive
the title of “honourable mother”, which indicates
the specific dedication and functional role these
women take on particularly for female congregation
members. Female members of the congregations,
especially pregnant women may spend a limited
time in the church premises and receive both spiritual and physical accompaniment until the delivery.
However, it is important to mention that women
cannot be pastors and preach in the Celestial
Church of Christ. Their role is rather highlighted in
another field of importance for the ritual practice in
this church, which is purity and impurity in relation
with sexual intercourse, menstruation and childbirth. After the delivery a woman remains 40 days
impure and has no access to the church building
(“temple”), is prohibited to touch any sacred object
and may not take part in congregational meetings.
She is not even allowed to take part in the ritual of
“outdooring” (videto), celebrated by the relatives
without the child’s mother, during which the child
receives his or her first name. During the entire period the woman is considered impure she has to
follow extended purification and cleansing rituals
offered by the honourable mothers, before she will
return amidst the church congregation to present
herself with her newborn and give thanks to God.
Women in African Instituted Churches thus appropriate public space103 over against internal restrictions based on gendered views on purity and impurity.104 Women´s agency and doing theology has to
be understood in the context of this African Insti-
The term „public space“ designates here more a sphere
of discourse than a location.
103
In principal agreement with Akosua Adomako Ampofo´s view on gendered expectations generally confining women in Pentecostal/ Instituted Churches to a subordinate role, I would wish to complement the analysis by
holding that women can, despite male dominated gender
perceptions, demonstrate independent religious agency.
104
tuted Church as taking place primarily on the level
of symbolic action. Through ritual performance, the
interpretation of themes (maternity, infertility,
communion), the women succeed in translating the
aspirations for continuity and life in community for
a wider audience. Thus, paradoxically, they are gaining autonomy and recognition in a distinct domain
of public interest, without eradicating the tension
between the valorisation of their contribution in the
ritual practice of the churches and their exclusion
from certain leadership functions.
Case vignette 3: African migrant women´s
theologies
In the context of debates on the changes of the religious landscape through global migration the presence of religious migrant communities gains an
accentuated interest, both in wider public and in
academia.105
The establishment of migrant Christian communities, is not only interesting to observe in regard to a
societal (integration, multiculturalism), or a religious-sociological standpoint (search for identity,
ethnic minority churches), but more so from a theological-ethical perspective. Women play an important role in the articulation of these theologicalethical motives and embed them into a communal
spiritual experience. Their social vulnerability (precarious economic and political status, high levels of
violence and exploitation, human trafficking) seems
to be juxtaposed by strong creative and integrative
capacities. Often inter- or non-denominational
communities offer more opportunities for women
to transcend fixed gender role expectations.
Two tendencies may be mentioned, which are significant for African women’s theologies. The first
could be entitled a movement of particularisation,
by which migrant church communities are founded
as spaces to work on experiences of estrangement,
exclusion and discrimination. The individual ex-
Cf. Gerrie ter Haar (Ed): Religious Communities in the
Diaspora. Nairobi: Acton Publishers, 2001; Id.: Halfway
to Paradise. African Christians in Europe. Cardiff: Cardiff
Academic Press, 1998; Marc Spindler/ Annie Lenoble-Bart
(Eds): Chrétiens d´outre-mer en Europe. Un autre visage
de l´immigration. Paris: Karthala, 2000.
105
periences are shared collectively (stories, pastoral
care, liturgy, predication), and “translated” in such
manner that they gain meaning for the individual
lives. Three crucial theological-ethical lines play a
paramount role in this process, and I will illustrate
each of them by excerpts of sermons and interviews
with migrant women from my own field-research:
1. Women play a paramount role in offering a plausible translation of the individual life experiences
into the biblical narrative context, in which Jesus
Christ is the focal point, as the one who overcomes
the evil experienced as real (not as structural), or as
temptations of the devil:
“…Sister Elizabeth has lost her work, you have
problems in your marriage, with your status and
papers, you have problems everywhere. Rely on
Jesus, stand firm; you have to go through it and
the Devil will go away.” (AE, Ham 2/05)
2. The church communities represent for the
women an important place of concrete support and
comfort, but also a space in which their theological
articulation is perceived as having the potential for
change in living conditions and for spiritual renewal:
“…the congregation is an important place to be.
(…) I believe in God. I believe that my prayers in
the church can change things in my life, materially and spiritually.” (AE, Ham 7/04)
3. The experience of rejection, of hurt and loss of
dignity and identity, of being without any rights, is
embedded in a horizon of hope carried by strong
faith in God:
“… and I knew that God had a plan with me (…)
and although I am still on the expulsion list, I
will not give up, I was overwhelmed with fear
and anxiety, but I still have hope in God. My
God is a strong tower, and I will enter it…” (AE,
Ham 11/05)
The quest for a spiritual home away from home is
realised by migrant women in a double twist. On the
one hand, they turn inside: they are doing theology
in working on issues of acculturation, identity, but
also on experiences with the evil, suffering and exclusion, which they relate to the biblical story, in
which a strong and victorious Christ is the central
motive (“Because Jesus lives, I can live tomorrow!”).
49
Another tendency, which can be named a movement
towards universality, shows, however, that it does
not only remain with an interest of women (and
men) to work on themes theologically from within
their experiences of migration. With their readiness
to take on new cultures, languages and to integrate
themselves into new societal and religious contexts,
openness towards the others is flagged, by indicating the interest to share on faith contents and religious practice: This is the way we believe, and make
sense of our lives, and how do you believe? The recognition of the particularity of their Christian belief
bears an ecumenical dimension, in as far as the :
“our themes could be, regardless the disparities in
experience, also your themes”.
This makes plausible why migrant women stand out
prominently with their way of doing theology out of
the migrant situation. They succeed in formulating
– sometimes across and against culturally and religiously transmitted gender expectations – the interrogations of a wider community: articulating the
suffering of people whenever their humanity and
dignity is denied, and wherever humans fall prey of
societal scapegoat mechanisms, but at the same
time vocalising hopes and aspirations for a more
just future for all.
3. Conclusion: Identifying patterns in African
African
women doing theology
Against the background of the forgoing discussion
and the findings presented in the case vignettes, the
following observations, which may cautiously
termed patterns, can be highlighted:
3) In ritual performance (healing, prophecy) and
through the interpretation of crucial themes for
the wider community women gain access to recognition and power106, also within the public
sphere. Examples of addressing maternity, but
also sickness and sterility the realm of influence
of women holding spiritual positions in AIC
reaches beyond the limits of the private sphere or
the church.107 This appropriation of the public
sphere by “occupying” a discourse territory is, as
we have seen, not exempt of the initially indicated
ambivalence.
4) Doing theology by African women seems to be
closely connected to the mode of religious transmission, located in daily family practice, and
could be described with Barbara Myerhoff as “little tradition”108, whereby rituals and discourses
relevant for the religious and societal community,
sustain women´s religious emancipation, regardless the prevalent restrictions.
5) Theologising from an African woman´s perspective seeks to intertwine the life-experiences, for
example of a migration situation, with the story
of Christ. The images portrayed in the theological
utterances range from a personal friend and saviour, to a victorious Christ who heals, and restores dignity, but also the conqueror of evil, another real experience threatening life and the vital
forces of humans. It is interesting to note, that
these images are not clearly connected with gendered comments, but the inclusiveness of the utStephen Ellis/ Gerrie ter Haar: Worlds of Power. Religious Thoughts and Political Practice in Africa. London:
106
1) African women are doing theology from within
their life-experiences, and in reflection of the
given societal codes and conventions. This normative foundation can, especially with regard to
gender roles and relations be both oppressive and
affirmative, and cannot be generalised. Often, as
shown in the case vignettes, both tendencies are
found, resulting in a picture of ambivalence (e.g.
flexible gender system, yet prevalent expectation
of motherhood as ideal femininity).
2) Stimulated by cross-cultural encounters interpretation or re-interpretation of role models (e.g.
deaconesses as “mothers for all”) is an indicator
of an autonomous appropriation, also of religious functional roles, in and through which
theological articulation is possible.
50
Hurst& Company, 2004: esp. 90ff., describe how religion
plays a key role in African politics, because the spirit
(world) is considered providing power.
Philomena N. Mwaura: „A Stick Plucked out of the
Fire: The Story of Rev. Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus is Alive
Ministries“, in: Isabel Apowo Phiri et al. (Eds.): Her
Story: Hidden Histories of Women of Faith in Africa.
Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2002: 202-224,
refers to Pentecostal women in their claim to political
power and aspirations for social upward mobility in
Kenya.
107
Cf. Barbara Myerhoff: Number of Our Days. A Triumph
of Continuity and Culture among Jewish Old People in an
Urban Ghetto. New York: Urban& Schuster, 1980.
108
terances seems to encompass aspirations of both
men and women, even though women may develop critical stances against male domination,
and seek to fill roles, which put rigid gender systems to test. This last aspect may be a contribution which African migrant women can offer to a
revisited contextual African theology no longer
confined to the geographic-cultural setting of the
continent alone.
Selected bibliographic references
Apowo Phiri, Isabel et al. (Eds): Her Story: Hidden
Histories of Women of Faith in Africa. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2002.
Bowie, Fiona/Kirkwood, Deborah/ Ardener, Shirley:
Women and Missions, Past and Present. Oxford/
Providence: Berg, 1993.
Broch-Due, Vigdis/ Rudie, Ingrid/ Bleie, Tone (Eds):
Carved Flesh/Cast Selves. Gendered Symbols
and Social Practices. Oxford/ Providence: Berg,
1993.
Ellis, Stephen/ Ter Haar, Gerrie: Worlds of Power.
Religious Thought and Political Practice in Africa. London: Hurst& Company, 2004.
Kanyoro, Musimbi: „The Meaning of the Story:
Theology as Experience“, in: John S. Pobee
(Ed.): Culture, Women and Theology. New
Delhi: ISPCK, 1994: 19-33.
Oduyoye, Mercy Amba: Hearing and Knowing.
Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 41993.
Reh, Mechthild/ Ludwar-Ene, Gudrun (Eds): Gender and Identity in Africa. Münster/ Hamburg:
LIT, 1995.
Williams, Michael A./ Cox, Collett/ Jaffee, Martin S.
(Eds): Innovation in Religious Traditions. Berlin/ New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1992.
51
2.1.7
Men of God in the Pentecostal
Movement and their Visions of
Women's Roles
Akosua Adomako Ampofo109
University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has
anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to
release the oppressed” (Luke
(Luke 4:18; NIV).
Introduction
Today churches are (once again) being acknowledged as “development partners” by several sections
of the public as well as the state whether in addressing HIV/AIDS, building hospitals, or contributing to
Higher Education. Today many churches belong in
the fold of the New Independent Churches (NIC).
They carry out missionary outreaches, feed the hungry, heal the sick, build universities, and importantly in many cases, promise a life that is abundant
and prosperous not only spiritually but also materially. In the context of a state struggling to meet the
needs of its citizens, one that does not seem to provide a way out of material poverty and social exclusion, the teachings of these new churches are potent, and gendered. The power of the teachings of
their leaders, the bishops and archbishops, prophets and overseers, generally referred to as “men of
God”, and the knowledge that they convey, is not
limited to Sunday mornings and weekday services.
There are TV and radio programmes, audiotapes
and books that reach a wide audience beyond their
own congregations.
As messengers who could provide a response to the
deepening social divide between the haves and havenots, who could, according to Paul in the bible convey that “in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, male
This paper is part of a larger project being carried out
with Rev. Dr Michael P K Okyerefo on the discourse of
Church leaders. This version carries some analyses and
reflections that do not necessarily form a part of that
collaboration.
109
52
nor female, slave nor free man”110 we examine the
discourse of these men of God in the area of gender
relations in Ghana. Despite important strides that
have been made through legislation and Civil Society advocacy, contemporary Ghanaian society remains highly gendered and social expectations for
women generally continue to confine them to more
subordinate roles.
In this paper, I refer to work by Michael Okyerefo
and myself in which we examine the discourse of
four prominent contemporary Ghanaian Christian
leaders from the Charismatic-Pentecostal/Evangelical movement on gender, marriage and women:
Pastor Eastwood Anaba, Bishop Agyin-Asare,
Bishop Dag Heward Mills, and Rev Samuel Korankye Ankrah. These men were not selected through
any particularly scientific selection process. However, each of them belongs to the Ghana Pentecostal
Council111 ; each heads a large church, with international branches in some cases; each has either a TV
or radio broadcast, or both; and each has several
books, pamphlets and audio tapes to his name,
which are read or listened to by church members
and others alike. We also need to note that we do
not seek to make any theoretical statements on our
own understandings of any of the biblical texts referred to. This is not a theological paper, but one
that seeks to suggest what the perspectives of the
church leaders portends in our social context.
Finally, as a member of a particular denomination, I
do not intend to convey that my own denomination
requires no scrutiny on the subject.112 However, it is
110
The Book of Galatians 3:28.
The Ghana Pentecostal Council is an umbrella fellowship of Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches in Ghana
with a membership of two hundred and thirty denominational churches and ministries. Other major Christian
groupings include the Christian Council of Churches, the
National Catholic Secretariat and the National Association
of
Charismatic
Churches
(http://ghanapentecostalcouncil.org accessed January 17,
2011).
111
A recent Masters thesis that examined women in leadership in my own Baptist denomination revealed hostility
by many male leaders towards women in leadership in
the church. Unlike the NICs we do not have any women
leaders who stand out in church leadership, not even
112
the scale of the influence of the leaders under review
that makes their perspectives worthy of attention.
They have created a powerful body of popular discourse/knowledge that reflects a masculinity that
can be liberating for women to the extent that they
eschew violence, advocate companionship and monogamy, and underscore the responsibilities of
husbands and fathers. At the same time, some of
their discourse reflects a conservative tone regarding the position of women relative to men that some
might argue re-inscribes male domination. We thus
explore the gendered implications of their messages—whether the teachings portend liberation
from gender domination and more egalitarian gender relations, particularly between spouses. Because
of the power of church leaders and “men of God” in
contemporary Africa, pronouncements they make
on marriage and gender can have a profound impact
on women’s position in the marriage relationship,
and, given the importance of marriage in our cultures, on gender relations more broadly. Using the
lens of “masculinity” I thus examine the discourse
of the men of God and suggest implications for
gender relations. Lisa Lindsay and Stephan Miescher define masculinity to refer to “a cluster of
norms, values, and behavioral patterns expressing
explicit and implicit expectations of how men
should act and represent themselves to others”
(2003:4). Obviously male gender, just like female
gender, is culturally constructed, and context specific, undergoing change as notions are contested,
approved, reinvented and so forth. Lindsay and Miescher have already noted the importance of exploring which institutions in Africa promoted specific
notions of masculinity, how they do this and in
which contexts. I argue that the men of God provoke a particular strand of masculinity that is both
respectful of, and sensitive to, women as human
beings, but also sometimes emphasizes the limitations and inequalities of women relative to men,
especially their “own” husbands.113
In the rest of this paper I look briefly at questions of
knowledge production in Africa; I then go on to
(male) pastors wives, and we have only two female pastors.
113
Based on Paul’s exhortations in the Book of Ephesians.
examine the place of contemporary independent
(Pentecostal-Charismatic) churches in Ghana and I
conclude the paper by using the discourse of the six
selected church leaders as a lens to explore what this
portends for gender relations and the status of
women in Ghana.
Africanizing Christian Knowledge
Perhaps one arena where African discourse is making global inroads is in the area of popular religion.
By popular religion I refer mainly to the new independent African churches, which are predominantly
in the Pentecostal-Charismatic tradition. Andrew
Walls (1996) sounded a note, reiterated by Philip
Jenkins (2007), that there is a dramatic demographic shift of Christianity from the global north to
the global south. Jenkins contends that the “centre
of gravity in the Christian world has shifted inexorably southward, to Africa, and Latin America” ...
where “the largest Christian communities on the
planet are to be found” (Jenkins 2007:1). While
David Martin (2006: xvii) agrees there is an astonishing rise in “Pentecostalism and its associated
penumbra of charismatic Christianity”, he argues
that compared to the major role it plays in “southern” Christianity, Pentecostalism “plays a relatively
minor role in northern Christianity” (Martin 2006:
28), apart from the United States. The reasons he
assigns to the resistance of the global north to such
religiosity include a cultural difference bearing on
what Peter Berger has dubbed “European Exceptionalism”, relating to enlightenment and secularism principles (Martin 2006: 29). Whatever the case,
in terms of knowledge generation, religion factors
into people’s beliefs, practices and behaviour.
As Christians, as academics, and as individuals
deeply committed to social justice, both of us are
deeply interested in Christian discourse and its impact on our societies. The missionaries sowed the
seed of Christianity on the African soil. Being agents
of the gospel they brought with them characteristics
of their social milieus, which they consciously or
unconsciously, sought to transplant into the African
soil. Since Vatican Council II of the Roman Catholic
Church held in the 1960s, however, the inculturation of the gospel has become the norm in the
church in Africa (Okyerefo 2011). So while some of
the historic churches accept certain “traditional”
practices that used to be considered pagan, such as
the pouring of libation, some of the new churches,
53
on the other hand, would label this action as demonic.114 Inculturation or indigenization is an attempt to make the Christian message or the church
incarnate, and thereby acceptable, in African cultures, a process necessary to engage with the critique that Christianity is imposed from outside and
therefore not an indigenous religion.
Amanor
(http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj13/amanor.html;
accessed January 17, 2011) concludes that scholars
are not in agreement about the factors that led to the
rise of Pentecostalism in Africa in general and
Ghana in particular. Some authors attribute it to
nationalistic feelings of self-expression and independence from Western missionaries, while others
attribute it to the failure of orthodoxy in the historic
Churches to recognize those elements of African
Traditional Religion and culture which gave true
identity to African Christians. Still others note that
the so-called orthodox churches failed to utilize the
(spiritual) gifts of church members for the benefit of
their Churches. In any case, the growth of African
Independent churches, and “independent” strands
within historic churches has been phenomenal over
the last several decades. Elsewhere Okyerefo (2008)
discusses the important role of the CharismaticPentecostal churches in meeting the needs of Ghanaians both in the Diaspora and at home, in ways
that neither the traditional mainstream churches,
nor the state has been able to do. Thus, they fill social, economic as well as spiritual needs, and the
messages they convey are down to earth and resonate with language that shows they are attuned to
people’s daily realities. They are thus not, as Paul
Gifford argues (1991) “resolutely opposed” to socioeconomic development but through “the provision
of social amenities they expand their religious
community to engage public culture … in ways that
defy a simple compartmentalization of religion and
socio-economic development” (Okyerefo 2010).
Unless of course the content of the libation prayer is
totally unacceptable to Christian principles, for example
cursing of one’s enemies.
114
54
Is this the Pentecostal Vision for
Christian
Christian Women (Wives)?
Christian doctrine sees marriage as a central pillar
of societies, and much of current discourse from
church platforms in Ghana pays attention to marriage, including the breakdown of marriages.
Among our sample there are some basic beliefs on
marriage that are shared by all: marriage was instituted by God (Anaba 2010); marriages, especially
those of church leaders, are under (satanic) attack
(Agyin-Asare et. al. 2005; Agyin-Asare 2006); and
the best foundation for a solid marriage is the word
of God. In this discourse, the men of God accord
different responsibilities for the welfare of marriages to wo/men, as well as according blame differentially for the failure of marriages. Some of this
discourse may be considered liberating to women as
it calls men (back) to responsibility, very much in
line with traditional notions of being an Opanyin
[elder] in traditional Ghanaian societies. Men are
called to court and love their wives, provide for them
and their children, and lead the family spiritually,
physically and socially. Irresponsible husbands and
fathers are chastised and exhorted to return to the
path of true leadership. For example, the AgyinAsares (2005) hold that the onus is on the man to
make the marriage work.
Hence too, Pastor Anaba’s contention that the man,
being the bone out of which the woman was taken,
must develop her and bring out the best in her
(2010). It would seem that the woman is thus relieved of much of today’s burden of securing her
family’s livelihood, which would be somewhat of a
diversion from traditional norms that place much of
the responsibility for care and/or provision of children on mothers. The wife is also, it would appear,
relieved of the burden of making the marriage work.
Exhortations to young women at traditional marriage ceremonies are frequently laden with messages about the care to be given husbands, reproductive work, and prayers for her fruitful womb
without similar ones for prospective husbands. This
would suggest that the man must provide loving
care and cherish his wife, a situation which should
make a wife bloom.
However, how the man is to do this is not concretized. Further, at the same time, much of the discourse reminds the woman who the head of the
family is, and what that means for her individual
autonomy. In the view of the Rev. Mrs. Agyin-Asare,
co-author of one text with the Bishop Agyin-Asare
(Agyin-Asare and Agyin- Asare, 2005) the wife does
not have the right to dominate her husband no matter her circumstances in relation to his. She advocates equality of man and woman (in spirit), yet the
woman must submit to her husband in natural
things. Nonetheless she provides a caveat–the wife
should submit in humility not blind obedience,
since submission does not mean inferiority and that
the woman’s submission to the man (her husband)
does not extend to matters of the spiritual life where
the woman is answerable directly to God (2005).
Perhaps there is an implied contradiction with her
husband’s perspective, and that of other men of
God. Indeed, Charles Agyin-Asare himself demands
that marriage be headed by the man in all aspects
with “room for mutual respect... (H)e must stand
“in a place of spiritual authority for your home”
(Agyin-Asare 2006: 17; emphasis ours). When it
comes to a husband’s unfaithfulness or abuse,
Charles Agyin-Asare seems to advocate only for a
faith-solution for a woman in the case of unfaithfulness and physical abuse – “you are not the first
woman to be beaten by your husband, and you will
not be the last…Rise up with the Word of God and
use your spiritual weapons…keep going to church,
listen to tapes, pray, notice the blessings around
you, keep your vows” (2005:35). It is difficult to see
where a physically or emotionally abused woman
might find reprieve in such a situation because
while she “keeps her vows” the extreme end might
be her loss of life. If there is a compassionate way
out for wives who may go through such situations
then the texts Okyerefo and I explored did not provide them. What would be useful as women go
through challenges in marriage would be for the
church to provide a safe haven like the biblical
places of refuge, where women could find physical
and emotional/spiritual healing. Pastor Eastwood
Anaba also holds that the “woman is to be in subjection to the man and call him lord and the man is to
give honour to his wife”. Further, he points out that
those “women groups who think the days of women
submitting to their husbands are over” are wrong
(2010: 187). Perhaps the contestations might be
easier to traverse if the church would operationalise
what it understands by husbands headship and
wives submission to their husbands in marriage
(Ephesians 5:22-23) relative to the mutual submis-
sion Paul calls for in the previous verse (Ephesians
5:21) or Paul’s exhortation to husbands to love their
wives “as Christ loved the church” (Ephesians 5: 2527). The absence of a practical context for such
male headship and female submission leaves it open
to an array of interpretations that include the complete domination and abuse of wives. In such a
scenario “women’s groups” will appear to remain in
constant opposition. So, questions one might ask
could include, does submission mean a woman
accepts a beating if dinner is late on the table, or
does headship mean a man need not consult his
wife in family decision making?
The Nature of Woman
Woman
We may come to a better appreciation of our authors’ perspectives on women’s place in church and
society when we examine their writings on the socalled “nature” of women. One perspective is that a
woman’s desire for a husband has been made into a
curse because it was part of the woman’s punishment for disobeying. Heward Mills notes that although women are cursed without exception from
the original curse that affected Eve (and Adam) and
are thus considered and treated as second class citizens in today’s world, yet there is promotion and
betterment for those that are of God. He also notes
that a woman is a life-giver, a nurturer, tender and
more durable. The woman takes information like a
radar, takes things and feels things. Thus it would
seem that a lot of space is created for women to
flourish and bring their giftings to the church.
Women’s nature also determines that they should
be protected and provided for because they are
weaker vessels in terms of physical strength. This
certainly lines up with scientific knowledge on
women’s physiology, including muscle capacity and
use of oxygen. However, when it comes to discussions of women’s emotional or rational make up the
descriptions are less favourable. Charles AgyinAsare, in explaining God’s rationale for creating us
male and female writes, “If all we have were “macho
men” there would be no “music” to the rhythm of
the world. The “world would have been drab with
everybody having muscular features, manly faces,
not much emotion and not many smiles”, while if
the world had been filled with women, “there would
have been confusion, jealousy, gossip and you can
imagine what it would have looked like” (emphasis
ours). The texts also indicate that women are less
55
able to separate emotion from logic. Thus, the men
of God establish not only the physical attributes of
wo/men, but juxtapose these, not merely against
woman’s weaker physical frame, but many of the
negative stereotypes about women that are common
in the media and popular culture —their alleged
penchant for creating confusion, and tendency towards jealousy and gossip, quarrels and instability.
By (re)inscribing such stereotypes the opportunity
to infantalise and control women can be rationalized; who would not want to control confusion,
jealousy and gossip?
According to Heward Mills women are susceptible
to deception, and have more problems than men
because they are the special targets of evil spirits.
They therefore need a “covering”. This covering
serves as a shield of protection. Pastor Anaba
stresses also that a husband is a woman’s cover; he
provides her with a physical defense, spiritual protection and emotional fortitude, just as “Jerusalem
was clothed with broidered work” by God (2010:
141), symbolizing a marriage relationship. In furtherance of this idea, Heward-Mills asserts that
women “need a covering for their lives” and warns
that they should not “see themselves as equal to
men and as good as any one else” (2008: 9) “This
covering is provided sometimes by husbands, pastors or spiritual fathers” and a woman ministering
without this covering is “out of place”. It is not clear
who this “spiritual father” would be if a woman is
married to a man considered to be insufficiently
godly, and whether this would not contradict exhortations regarding a husband’s headship.
Women’s sexuality, varied mood-swings and temperamental nature make them unsuitable for steady
leadership authors argue. They recognize women’s
potential to destroy men with their sexuality. Heward-Mills admonishes women to cover themselves
decently with appropriate clothing so not to promote immorality and licentiousness (Heward-Mills
2008: 34). In the light of this, in his Ministerial Ethics, he cautions male ministers, in the execution of
their duty in relation to women, to leave their doors
open, be in the company of other ministers, and
resist the temptation of touching body parts of
women such as buttocks and the chest (2008:3637). One wonders why a minister would need any
instructions not resist temptations to touch a
woman’s buttocks or chest. However, he also ex-
56
horts that there is far more to a woman than her
physical body. A progressive tone is heard when
contrary to current popular discourse he encourages
women that their real reason for being on earth is
not to find a husband or bring forth children but to
serve God and do His will. But a sense of ambivalence persists. Heward-Mills exhorts women not to
be like Eve, and speaks of an alternative to the negative influence of Eve through “Abigailism”, a reference to a woman in the Bible who spared her husband’s family from attack through sophisticated
strategizing (1 Kings), which is prevention of impending disaster, and prevention of husband from
committing sin. While Heward-Mills discourse
here is steeped in this “Eve” mentality regarding
women as evil and temptresses, Korankye-Ankrah
and Anaba do not write about women in these texts
in the light of evil influence. Rather, women are
solution-givers, which Anaba derives from the same
Eve, which he reminds means “giver of life”. He
argues that there was a change in Adam’s philosophy from “the woman whom thou gavest to be with
me” to bone where he saw her as part of him, his
wife: “At first Adam blamed his wife for his predicament but later on he referred to her as the
mother of the living or a life-giver (Anaba 2010:
138).
When it comes to leadership positions, this is generally reflected as a God-given space for men. Basically it is when men shirk their responsibilities that
women are given the opportunity to take “man’s
honour” or take up the challenge to do the man’s
work as leader and spiritual head. Pastor Anaba
writes, “many women have jumped into leadership
position because of men who are unwilling to play
their role” (Anaba 2010: 213). The “absence of men
in leadership role in the family has compelled
women to stretch themselves beyond their limit and
sometimes even cross their line of authority” (Anaba
2010: 214). In other words, if men would do what
they were called to do women would not have to
take up these positions, thereby sparing them from
overextending themselves. The Rev. Sam Korankye
Ankrah (2010: 167-168) has a slightly different perspective. For him, women should be able to express
their spirituality freely and take part in all the religious and social life of the church. Consequently,
he gives greater and more meaningful opportunities
to all categories of women to be part of the church.
He emphasizes all categories of women because,
according to him, women are generally barred from
holding some key positions in the historic churches
(2010: 168). Women in his church, he says, are affirmed and given the opportunity to serve in various
leadership positions, although the type of positions,
whether limited to women groups, for example, are
not spelt out.
Whither then for Women in
Society and Gender Relations?
Any analysis would have to place the churches and
the men of God’s perspectives in our socio-cultural
context. While we need to be wary of oversimplification and generalization, it may be useful
to see where gender relations stood in the last few
100 years. In a forthcoming text on Contemporary
Africa Adomako Ampofo writes:
The constructions of gender among so-called
pre-colonial African people often meant that
women had available to them a number of different roles that were complementary to those of
men, and women played important social roles
as mothers, sisters, wives, chiefs, queens and
priestesses. Scholars of Akan society, for example, note several characteristics of gender relations suggesting "marked jural equality, a lack
of basic sex discrimination in the roots of the
kinship terminology" (Fortes 1969:93) and similar social commitments and responsibilities
(Tufuor and Donkor 1969). And work on coastal
Ga and Fante traders note their financial autonomy and household decision-making clout
(Robertson 1986; Hagan 1983). However, if we
apply the criteria usually employed in analyses
of status – power, wealth, and social position –
women as a whole enjoyed fewer of these than
men. Colonial rule when it came brought
women access to modern education, which provided them with new opportunities for autonomy. However, in other respects colonial rule
removed certain traditional structures which
had allowed considerable autonomy, such as independent access to resources and economic
ventures, and the mutual dependence of the
sexes based on an efficient division of labour. In
their place the colonial rulers introduced new
forms of subordination through differential access to the resources in the “modern” economy
(Bortei Doku 1992; Boserup 1970, 1990; Okeke
1999; Robertson 1986).
The church needs to be a place where women as
well as men, wives as well as husbands can experience the grace of God, and the freedom from bondage that Christ preached at the start of his ministry
(Luke 4:18). The church also needs to be a place
where women can express their spiritual gifting and
use these for the “Building of the body” (Ephesians
4:12). While one might read some of the discourse
of the briefly analysed texts as pro-woman, particularly in the call to greater responsibility and love
from husbands. This is indeed a positive aspect as it
does not let husbands off the hook in the marriage
relationship and would seem to call for a partnership. However, as one reads the perspectives on
woman’s “nature”, and her role in marriage and
society, it is less clear that wives in particular, and
women more generally, would find the freedom
from the captivity and oppression present in the
world’s gender systems. Indeed, in many cases, the
writings seem to reflect contemporary society’s notions about women rather than an alternative view
point. One would be hard put to find a reflection of
a radical agenda for women and the authors would
presumably denounce feminism as not providing
any kind of value for the Christian woman.115 Given
the importance of marriage, and the growing importance of religion, including Pentecostal/charismatic churches, the prognosis is mixed,
but does present evidence of trends which call for
further exploration and dialogue. Given that Lighthouse chapel provided support for Mission 21’s
forum of which this paper is but one, this suggests
opportunities for dialogue. Clearly NICs are not
necessarily averse, and indeed may be open, to collaborations with older churches. Such conversations among Christians from different traditions,
where we might jointly examine current sociopolitical data on women and men’s social and cultural positioning, could be the beginnings of more
nuanced voices from the men of God.
R eferences
Adomako Ampofo, Akosua. (forthcoming). “An
Introduction to Gender in Africa”. In: Manuh,
This in spite of the fact that there are important feminist theologians in Ghana, foremost being Mercy
Oduyoye.
115
57
Takyiwaa and Esi Sutherland-Addy (dds.). Africa
in Contemporary Perspective. Accra: SubSaharan Publishers.
Agyin-Asare Charles and Vivian Agyin-Asare.
(2005). Celebrating Marriage: How to be
Friends and Passionate Lovers, vol.2. Adabraka:
Advocate Publishing Ltd.
Agyin-Asare Charles. (2006). Till Death Do Us Part:
Handling Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage
Vol.3.
Anaba, Eastwood. (2010). Time of Love: The Marriage Covenant. Great Britain: Polestar Group
Ankah, Sam Korankye. (2010). The Rising of the
Sun: Shining From Obscurity. Accra: Combert
Impressions.
Gifford Paul. (1994). “Ghana’s Charismatic
Churches”, Journal of Religion in Africa, 24, 3:
pp. 241-265
Gifford, Paul. (2004). Ghana’s New Christianity:
Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Heward -Mills, Dag. (2008). Daughter You can
Make it. Wellington: Lux Verbi.BM (Pty) Ltd.
Heward-Mills, Dag. (2008). Ministerial Ethics. Wellington: Lux Verbi.BM (Pty) Ltd.
Lindsay, Lisa and Stephan Miescher. (2003). Men
and Masculinities in Modern Africa. Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Okyerefo, M.P.K. (2011). “Spiritualität und christliche Missionsgeschichte in Afrika”. In: Rudolf
Pacik und Andreas Redtenbacher (eds.). Protokolle zur Liturgie (PzL), vol. 3.
Okyerefo, M.P.K. (2011). “The Gospel of Public Image in Ghana“. In: Harri Englund (ed.), Christianity and Public Culture in Africa, Ohio: Ohio.
University Press, pp. 273 – 289.
Okyerefo, M.P.K. (2008). “Ausländer!: Pentecostalism as Social Capital Network for Ghanaians in
Vienna”. Ghana Studies 11: pp. 77-103.
58
2.2
Workshops
2.2.1
Aspects of the History of the
Christian Women’s Fellowship
of the Presbyterian Church in
Cameroon
Anna Sommer
BA Student of History and Sociology, University of
Basel, Switzerland
Ida Mallet
Pioneer member of the Christian Women’s Fellowship (CWF) of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon
The
Th e Women’s Work in Cameroon
Women were gradually introduced in the missionary
work in Cameroon, even though in the early years of
the Basel Mission women were not supposed to
work in the field. The significance of the special
education for women grew with the commitment of
the female missionaries working in the areas of
operation and their Cameroonian counterparts.
1. The Basel Mission pioneers
One of the first “Sisters” who were sent to Cameroon with the explicit mention of building up the
Women’s Work was Maria Walcher. Born in 1897 in
South Germany, she arrived in Cameroon in 1927
where she took over a group of girls in Buea to teach
them sewing. The Missionaries Wildi were based in
Buea and accommodated and introduced her to the
working field. She was trained as a tailor as well as
in housekeeping and in farming. After approximately six months, when she was fluent in English
she moved to Victoria (Limbe) to found the first
Basel Mission girls school after World War I in
1931.116 Her girl’s school in Victoria was the first
Basel missionary institution for girls only in the
region.117 Apart from her work at the girl’s school in
Victoria, Maria Walcher travelled around the villages
of the region to hold courses in hygiene, childcare
and domestic work. In the north western region,
Elisabeth Bühler started the same activities in 1936.
The first centre for Women’s Work was situated in
Fotabe and directed by Maya Meier; the second was
based in Tali under the management of Heidi Fankhauser and opened its doors in 1957.118 There were
some girl’s schools around Douala, Edea and the
Grassfields Area already before, but because of the
troubles caused by the war they had to be closed.
The very first one was founded in Bethel in 1898
with Sister Ostertag as principle.119
In the „instruction“ (mission order) for the second
service of Sister Walcher in Cameroon in 1932 is
written: “Die Ihnen zufallende Aufgabe ist nicht nur
ein hoffnungsvoller und dankenswerter, sondern
auch ein überaus wichtiger Dienst. Die besondere
Notlage der afrikanischen Frau gibt unserer Verpflichtung zur Verkündigung der frohen Botschaft
besondere Dringlichkeit. Andererseits ist die Gewinnung der Frau im Blick auf die Gemeinde von
besonderer Bedeutung. Es ist daher unsere herzliche Bitte, dass Gott Sie zu diesem wichtigen und
grossen Dienst mit einem reichen Masse seines
Geistes ausrüste.“120 – The duty assigned to you is
not only full of hope and thankworthy but also a
very important service. The precarious situation of
the African woman gives our responsibility to proclaim the divine message a strong priority. On the
other hand, the preparation of the woman for the
congregation is of special importance. Therefore we
ask the Lord to equip you with a rich dosage of His
intellect for this important service.”121
Keller, Werner: Zur Freiheit berufen, 442 and Witschi,
Hermann: Geschichte der Basler Mission, 377.
117
Ngeh, Beatrice in: Evangelische Kirche in Kamerun, p.
177.
118
Ernst, Gertrud in: Christian Women move on in Faith
and Hope in Christ, 71 – 73.
119
„Instruktion für die zum zweiten Mal nach Kamerun
ausziehende Schwester Maria Walcher”, Q-3-3.30, Basel
Mission Archive, March 2011.
120
“Personenfaszikel Maria Walcher”, Basel Mission
Archive SV 164, March 2011.
116
121
Ttranslated by the author
59
These words show the importance of the Women’s
Work in the administration of the Basel Mission and
explain the foundation of the Committee of the
Women’s Mission (“Frauenmissionskommittee”),
an organ to generate donations among the Swiss
and German congregations. Initially, this Committee was covering the Women’s Mission and the
Medical Mission (Ärztemission). The Medical Mission was, like the Women’s Mission, an instrument
for administration and for generating donations.
Both of them were part of the committee in Basel,
which was responsible to nominate and finally send
out the employees.122
2. The Marriage Training Centre
During a research trip to Cameroon I met several
Cameroonian pioneer activists of the Women’s
Work and the CWF whom I had the opportunity to
interview. Among the interview partners, no one
could remember Maria Walcher, justified by the fact
that she left Cameroon already in 1939. By contrast a
person whose name was often mentioned is Lina
Weber, a teacher by training. She arrived in Cameroon in 1945 for the first time and after some short
stays in Victoria and Bali, she acted as the founder
and later head of the Marriage Training Centre
(MTC) in Bafut.123 The MTC became one of the important centres of the Women’s Work. The main
tasks of this centre were the education of young
women. In the minutes of a meeting in the forefront
of the opening of the centre the courses are described in detail: “Courses shall train girls of the
Grassfields for their future tasks as wives and mothers and enable them to make a real Christian
home.” The schedule consisted of cookery, housewifery, laundry, gardening and theory of gardening,
hygiene, Christian home life, education of children,
arithmetic, reading, knitting and sewing. An ordinary day’s course started at 6 a.m. with getting up
and Morning Prayer and ended at 9 p.m. with the
“lights out”. The hours in between were filled with
lessons about the topics mentioned above. In the
first years the courses lasted for 8 to 9 months, later
they were shortened to 6 months.124 In an article
written by Lina Weber, she tells about the first class
with 13 participants from the surrounding areas,
held at the MTC in 1958. The class was opened up
on the 16th of February with a church service held by
Pastor Shu and Mr. Fofang and found its high point
with the closing weekend from 9th to 11th of August, seven month later. The skills taught were
mainly housework, needlework, basic medical education, singing, meditation and bible studies.125 In
1960, the Basel Mission established the Women
Teachers’ Training Centre in Mankon, Bamenda
and Lina Weber was nominated as director of the
seminary.126
Around 1970 the name of the Marriage Training
Centre was changed into Home Making Centre
(HMC) and the orientation became more technical.
In the 1980ies the request for a professional training
for girls with a certificate accepted by the government was high and the decision was taken to transform the centre into an official school with vocational training. In September 1989 the upgraded
course for four years was started to prepare young
women and girls for the “Certificat d’aptitude professionelle”. After the four years they were qualified
in Food and Nutrition and Fashion and Fabric. At
the turn of the millennium the Presbyterian Home
Making Centre became the today’s Presbyterian
Girl’s School of Science and Technology (PGSST), a
full scale girl’s institution for technical education.127
3. The Christian Women’s Fellowship
The Christian Women’s Fellowship was founded in
1961, three years after the foundation of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. This decision was
taken because of the fact, that the Women’s Work
became more important every year and it was necesThe citation as well as the resume are from: Committee
Meeting M.T.C., 18th of September 1959 Bafut, PCCCAL
6783
124
„Auftrag“, December 1959, Article by Lina Weber, in:
PF Lina Weber, SV 265, BMA, March 2011.
125
122
Witschi, Hermann: Die Geschichte der Basler Mission
1920 – 1940, Band 5, 400.
126
CV of Lina Weber, PF Lina Weber, SV 265, BMA, March
2011.
Che, Christina in: Christian Women move on in Faith
and Hope in Christ, 59 – 61.
123
60
Obituary of Lina Weber, June 2004, in: PF Lina Weber,
SV 265, BMA, March 2011.
127
sary to put it on an administrative organisational
level. For the participants of the movement it was
inevitable to be accepted as a fully recognised organ
of the independent PCC.128 The first National President of the CWF was Ida Mallet. Being a church
elder already for many years, she was elected as
President around 1970. The Centre for Women’s
Work was situated in Bafut for the first 9 years in the
surrounding of the Marriage Training Centre. In
1970 it was transferred to the Church Centre in
Mankon, Bamenda.129
The CWF – groups frame Church services on Sundays as well as all the different Church activities
during the year. The CWF – members are easily recognised by their uniforms composed of a yellow
printed fabric, a white blouse and a white headscarf.
The Christian Women’s Fellowship forms a part of,
and is led by, the Department for Women’s Work
with its National Secretary. The hierarchy of the
Presbyterian Church in Cameroon as well as of the
Women’s Work Department including the CWF is
rather complicated and sophisticated. The authority
on top is the Synod, followed by the Committee of
the Ministry which is the highest executive body. For
every department of the Church there exists a National Committee. In the case of the Women’s Work
this is the National Committee for Women’s Work,
where the National Secretary is working together
with the Secretary of the Committee of the Ministry,
with a male member of the said Committee, with
the Regional Secretaries, with the Presbytery Presidents as well as with the National Secretaries for
Youth and Men’s Work. The smallest administrative
levels are the CWF – groups, including the individual members. Within the groups, several posts are
to be occupied, such as the group president, the
group secretary or the treasurer. The organisation
between the groups and the National Secretary is
constituted as follows: above the groups is the Zonal
Level which coordinates the groups within the Presbyteries. In small Presbyteries, groups are not organised in Zones, they are directly subject to the
Ngeh, Beatrice in: Evangelische Kirche in Kamerun,
177.
128
Letter from A. Flückiger, 2nd of October 1970,
PCCCAL 711.
Presbyteries. The next level are the Presbyteries with
their Presbytery Officers, which (and who) form the
link between the zones/groups and the Regional
Secretaries. The Regional Secretaries of the three
Regional Secretariats are coordinating the activities
of the Presbyteries and the groups. Additionally,
there is a Women’s Work Helper in each Presbytery,
who works together with the Regional Secretaries
and links them with the Presbyteries, Zones and
Groups. The development and carrying out of programmes and activities are in the responsibility of
the National Secretary, Workshops and courses are
mostly organised on the Regional level. Leadership
Courses take place at Presbyterial Levels. In the
groups, who meet usually on a weekly basis, singing, praying and meditation as well as study lessons
are the main activities.130 The Church hierarchy is
similar to the structures of the former Basel Mission; the high differentiation involves many different persons and shares out power.
4. Summary
The paper aims to relate the historical background
of the Women’s Work of the Basel Mission in Cameroon with the foundation of the Christian
Women’s Fellowship four years after the former
Basel Mission Church became the independent
Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC). The CWF
comprises today about 50’000 members in almost
every corner within the PCC’s spheres of influence
and beyond. The movement operates at the grassroots and intersections of rural and urban life and
exercises a great influence over the behaviours and
patterns of everyday life of the respective women
and their families. Today, the CWF is the biggest
and most influential Christian women’s organisation in Africa. Yet, apart from incidental remarks its
history has not been investigated. It discusses the
institutional aspects of Basel Mission organisations
and the Women’s Work with a special focus on its
centrepiece the “Marriage Training Centre”. Then,
the history of CWF is developed, showing both continuities and changes in the projects and other activities since the early years. Final issues of the presentation are the motivation and the commitment of
CWF members.
129
130
CWF Handbook, 6 – 42.
61
The background of this short paper is my research
conducted in January/February 2011 on the occasion
of the 50th Anniversary of the CWF. The project
originates in a collaboration of the Women’s Work
Department of the PCC in Bamenda, the Centre for
African Studies Basel and mission 21. This made
available as sources of the presentation, documents
in archives in Bamenda, Buea and Basel, secondary
sources and interviews with CWF pioneer activists
and present members.
Key Bibliographical
Bibliographical References
Che, Christina in Gana, Elizabeth L. (Ed.): Christian
Women move on in Faith and Hope in Christ.
To God be the Glory for 40 years of Evangelisation. Department for Women’s Work PCC.
Bamenda 2001.
Department for Women’s Work National Secretariat: CWF Handbook, Department for
Women’s Work National Secretariat, Bamenda
2009.
Ernst, Gertrud in Gana, Elizabeth L. (Ed.): Christian
Women move on in Faith and Hope in Christ.
To God be the Glory for 40 years of Evangelisation. Department for Women’s Work PCC. Bamenda 2001.
Haas, Waltraud in Basler Mission (Ed.): Missionsgeschichte aus der Sicht der Frau. Texte und
Dokumente Nr. 12, Basel 1989.
Haas, Waltraud in: Kein Vogel fliegt mit einem Flügel. 12 Skizzen zu 175 Jahren Basler Mission,
Basileia Verlag, Basel 1990.
Keller, Werner: Zur Freiheit berufen. Die Geschichte
der Presbyterianischen Kirche in Kamerun.
Theologischer Verlag Zürich, Zürich 1981.
Miller, Jon: Missionary Zeal and Institutional
Control. Oranizational Contradictions in the
Basel Mission on the Gold Coast, 1828 – 1917.
Eerdmans and RoutledgeCurzon, Michigan /
London 2003.
Ngeh, Beatrice in Zimmermann, Armin (Ed.): Evangelische Kirche in Kamerun. Das Land – die
Menschen – die Kirche. Ein Handbuch. Erlanger
Verlag für Mission und Ökumene, Neuendettelsau, 2008.
Nikischin, Klaus-Dieter: Kirche und Eigentum in
Kamerun. Ethosbildung in der Presbyterian
62
Church in Cameroon in Bezug auf den Umgang
mit Geld und Landeigentum. Tectum Verlag,
Marburg 1999.
Prodolliet, Simone: Wider die Schamlosigkeit und
das Elend der heidnischen Weiber. Die Basler
Frauenmission und der Export des europäischen
Frauenideals in die Kolonien. Limmat Verlag,
Zürich 1987.
Witschi, Hermann: Geschichte der Basler Mission
1920 – 1940, Band 5. Basileia Verlag, Basel 1970.
Archival Sources from: the Basel Mission Archives
(BMA), the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon Central Archives and Library (PCCCAL) in Buea, the
Head Office of the Women’s Work Department in
Bamenda, the Store of the Bafut Health Centre as
well as the Principal’s Office of the Presbyterian
Girl’s School for Science and Technology (PGSST)
in Bafut.
2.2.2
The Changing Roles of Women
in Cameroon. The CWF in the
Field: Activities and Experiences
in Rural and Urban Settings
Tabea Müller
Ecumenical Co-Worker of Mission 21 in Cameroon
Esther Takang
Regional Secretary Women’s Work SW-Region,
PCC, Cameroon
Summary
This workshop concentrated on practical experiences in the field of women’s work within the PCC.
There is not much scientific data available about the
topic. Statistical data comes from www.unicef.org
as well as our own field research.
Contemporary situation of women in Cameroon
Responsibilities of women
In the rural areas, most women carry out subsistence agriculture in order to nurture their families.
They are responsible for most reproductive work
(domestic activities, childcare) as well as numerous
social duties and church activities. Whereas women
predominantly carry out small business activities in
the informal sectors, there are numbers of educated
women, mostly in urban areas, who work in different organizations on the basis of paid employment
as teacher, nurse, police-women, journalist, engineer, medical doctor, magistrate, lawyer or manager.
Gender roles
With the concentration of women’s responsibilities
in the reproductive and subsistence sector, women’s
roles are predominantly traditional. However, differences between rural and urban areas range from
a great dependency on male influence and power,
early marriages and pregnancies in the villages to
more opportunities, financial and social independence of women in the cities. Especially in the
younger urban generation, changes can be observed
where women step out of traditional roles and begin
to lead their lives on a more self-determined base
with less children and more financial independence.
Education, mobility and media/internet facilities
also contribute to changing gender patterns.
Challenges
Depending on their place of living, women in Cameroon face numerous social, cultural, political, economic and infrastructural challenges. There are
traditional gender roles which highly structure
women’s lives and prospects, even if they are changing nowadays. In addition, infrastructural barriers
like insufficient roads; problems with secure access
to electricity and safe water as well as communication network make it difficult for women to reach
markets, education or health care facilities. Widows
and single mothers face special burdens due to certain traditional practices. Not at least, the reality of
corruption and political instabilities challenges
women’s lives enormously.
The role of CWF in the process of change
Activities
The work of the CWF concentrates on spiritual enrichment but plays a key role in the socio-economic
transformation of humanity as well. Apart from
Bible studies and worship, women are trained to
improve their traditional duties like cooking,
healthcare and home management. Above this,
there are also new projects aiming towards greater
economic independency and empowerment of
women.
In general, to open up space and time to gather as
women with specific goals, provides a ground for
reflection, exchange and challenge of lived patterns
and roles of women. Leadership courses help
women to acquire relevant skills to manage groups
and speak openly.
The new Women’s Economic Empowerment and
Literacy Project (WEELP) encourages women to
improve and develop their business activities in
order to generate income on a sustainable basis. In
valuing own strengths and experiences, empowerment goes beyond economic independence but enables self-confidence and greater gender awareness.
Outcomes
Although certain activities can be regarded as manifesting traditional gender roles, the CWF has enabled women to open up themselves, to speak in
63
public and to carry out leadership positions, not
only in the movement itself. Women learned to acknowledge their gifts and abilities.
Today, we can find encouraging role models in decision-making positions as well as an increased
value given to the education of women and girls.
With an increasing economic independency and self
sufficiency, women gradually gain more power over
their own lives and decisions and are able to raise
their voices for women’s rights. On the level of the
PCC, women have made an enormous impact on the
economic, spiritual and social development of the
church.
The changes we observe on the level of the young,
urban generation and even among rural women to
reflect on their roles and begin to actively change
them, are encouraging.
Challenges
As main carers for their families, women already
have great power and a voice that could be raised
more. Indeed, the process of change is very slow
and often still on a low level. Unfortunately, at times
women still block each other, preventing the creation of supporting networks and alliances.
64
Requirements and Recommendations
Some input was given from a small study of WEELP,
analysing the factors for a successful performance
of development and change.
See table below
In a vital discussion the workshop participants
elaborated some recommendations for an ongoing
discussion and further developmental work:
• Women should be represented in the political/decision making spheres
• Women should practice solidarity amongst each
other
• We recommend a higher media presence of
women and women’s projects, especially also in
relation to the church
• We promote to put an ongoing relevance on the
education of girls and women
• Potentials are there and should be used from
within
Factors for success
comment
Group takes self initiative for meeting, activities, Become responsible for own development
contact to WEELP
Clear planning and analysis of own capaci- Be realistic
ties/efforts/reality
Democratic group structures
All members participate fairly, listen to each other,
break down hierarchical barriers where everything
depends on leaders, participatory approach instead
of top-down
Group consists of and works with those who are Work without force/group pressure
interested and com
committed
Group works transparently
Regarding to decisions taken, financial matters etc.
Become aware of hidden splitting within group,
processes behind the scenes, mistrust, jealousy
Open exchange of ideas, knowledge and experi- Everybody profits, application of acquired knowlences and further development
edge
Sustainable point of view
Long-term, holistic, concern for next generation
Spirit of working together
Flexibility and following of common instead of
individual interests only
Consistent communication among each other
All members informed, open exchange even in the
media
65
2.2.3
Development and Challenges of
Partnership in Women’s Work
between Cameroon, Nigeria
and Switzerland
Susan Mark
Principal of EYN John Guli Memorial Bible College
in Michika, Nigeria /The Head of EYN Women’s
Movement (ZME), Nigeria
Meehyun Chung
The Head of Women and Gender Desk, mission 21
Switzerland
Beatrice Ngeh
The Head of Women’s Department of PCC, Cameroon
The workshop held at Basel Mission 21 House at
Switzerland from 14th – 16th October 2011 was very
enriching as I will review. This workshop comprises
of people from different countries and Christian
religious background yet one thing was uniting that
is the love of Christ. People were lovely and warmly
welcomed and the days together in the workshop
were like days in paradise.
The pre-conference workshop on women’s work in
various churches of mission 21’s
21 partner churches
took place on 13 October 2011. This workshop was
to help women to learn from one another what they
can do together and how they can further improve
their partnership. Here the women were encouraged
to put their minds, hands and heads together to
forge ahead in the work of God and to lead fellow
women, especially Christian women, to the fullness
of life (spiritually, socially and economically). As a
result there was a report of women’s work from
different countries which were very interesting and
educative. The traditional role of men seems to be in
almost all the African countries and churches.
Though, only few have not started ordaining
women.
Final resolutions from the prepre-conference:
The partner churches should work on improving
and maintaining relationship because Mission 21
value partnership beyond money. Therefore, we
should try to share ideas and materials through
66
Emails and home page. Exchange visit and study
materials and also gender policy.
The conference:
There were several paper presentation and workshops which I may not be able to talk about separately but rather in relation to specific common
themes.
• Church should be active in transforming the society and contextualizing the Bible. The church
should not conform to the society because the
church should be above the culture.
• Women should think and form associations,
write and reflect on theological issues that affect
women especially to combat some wrong or literary interpretations.
• In detribalization we need to Christianized tribalism by having Christian will instead of tribal will
because it is the church that needs to influence
the secular.
• Women should learn and stop being enemies of
one another.
• Women should struggle for education as right
reformation and citizenship right, education
gives right of participation
• Educated women are more likely free from this
epidemic HIV/AIDS, so we need to support and
encourage women education.
• There was also a call for foreigners not to attract
pity to themselves but to work hard for their living and not to get involved in prostitution.
• When in difficulty or in need of help go to the
police.
In the workshop we focused on the following
q ues
ues tions:
1. What is the European/African approach to development?
2. How do we understand development from the
African and European point of view?
3. What have you learnt in contact with women in
Africa and in their situation?
4. What kind of challenges do the European/African
women have to face?
5. What impact do you recognise that the CWF and
ZME have made in church and in society?
6. What kind of exchange do we have between
global North and South?
7. Which aspects of women’s movements from
global south were you able to export and adapt in
the European context?
Recommendations:
The above are few out of many things from the conference, however, I will like to make some observations are recommendations about the conference.
• The duration of the conference is too short compare to the importance of the subject or papers
presented. For these papers needs more time for
proper digestion.
• If possible, the presenters’ papers need to be sent
to each participant ahead of time for pre-study
before the conference.
• The invitation should exceed one person from
each country for two are better than one and is
biblical.
• If possible, the conference should take place on
an annual basis.
• Feminist theology should be discussed and developed according to contextual importance like
domestic violence and divorce and HIV& Gender
etc
• The workshop audience could be divided according to their levels of existing knowledge and experiences.
• For deeper discussions it is recommendable to
arrange meetings between former co-worker and
partners. Because former co-workers are indeed
still bridge makers between Switzerland and
partner countries.
• To develop study materials together and exchange the ideas and experiences is one of most
important follow-ups.
67
2.2.4
Women in Migration:
Africa in Switzerland
Carole Erlemann-Mengue
Member of the Board of the African Association of
the Basel Region and Founding Member of the Africa Diaspora Council Switzerland (ADCS)
Fatima Rubi-Ibrahim, MA Fine Arts
Meeting and Resource Centre for Black Women,
Zurich
Julie Leuenberger-Eya
Integration und Organisation der Afrikanischen
Diaspora in der Schweiz
Carole Erlemann-Mengue, Julie Leuenberger-Eya
und Fatima Rubi berichteten zu Beginn des
Workshops über ihre eigenen Erfahrungen und
Wege, welche sie hier in Europa gemacht haben.
Die Migration von AfrikanerInnen in die Schweiz
war vor 15 Jahren noch relativ einfach. Voraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche Integration sind gute
Sprachkenntnisse. Bis diese erworben sind, braucht
es in der Regel zwei bis drei Jahre intensives Lernen.
Die Sprachkenntnisse sind wiederum Voraussetzung für eine berufliche Qualifikation und Integration. Carole Erlemann-Mengue hat diesen Werdegang eindrücklich anhand ihrer eigenen Biografie
geschildert. Angefangen hat sie als einfache Hilfsarbeiterin in den Fabriken der Region Basel, dann
machte sie eine dreijährige Berufslehre an der Gewerbeschule. Heute arbeitet sie als selbstständige
dipl. Coiffeuse. Einen ähnlichen
Werdegang schilderte Fatima Rubi, welche heute
eine Ausbildung an der Fachhochschulefür Künste
macht.
Frau Julie Leuenberger-Eya, Präsidentin von Solinetz-A, berichtete über ihre Arbeit mitAidskranken
AfrikanerInnen in Zürich. Solinetz-A arbeitet eng
mit der Aidshilfe Zürich zusammen. Nicht alle betroffenen AfrikanerInnen haben Zugang zur medizinischen Versorgung und Information, da sie z.B.
ohne Bewilligung in der Schweiz leben. In diesem
Zusammenhang wurde auch auf die prekäre Lage
der AfrikanerInnen hingewiesen, welche in der
Prostitution arbeiten.
68
Es wurde auch über die finanzielle Erwartungshaltung der eigenen Familien in Afrika gesprochen.
„Du lebst in der reichen Schweiz, du hast ja Geld“.
Tatsache ist, dass die Afrikanische Diaspora für
viele afrikanische Länder zu einem wichtigen Wirtschaftsfaktor und Devisenquelle geworden ist. Auf
der anderen Seite fehlt es den AfrikanerInnen in der
Schweiz oft über das notwendige Kapital, um eigene
wirtschaftliche Aktivitäten zu entwickeln. Die Afrikanische Diaspora in der Schweiz ist bis jetzt
schlecht organisiert. Afrika ist ein grosser Kontinent mit 54 Nationen, verschiedenen Sprachen und
Religionen. Ein gemeinsames Bewusstsein als „Afrikanische Diaspora“ muss erst noch entwickelt
werden. Dieses ist notwendig, wenn die Afrikanische Diaspora im globalen Wettbewerb der Migration bestehen will. Dafür braucht aber es eigene politische, wirtschaftliche und soziale Strukturen.
Aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus wurde im November
2010 der „Afrika Diaspora Rat Schweiz ADRS“ von
verschiedenen afrikanischen Vereinen in Bern gegründet. Der ADRS vertritt als Dachverband die
Interessen der AfrikanerInnen in der Schweiz. Der
ADRS will ein starkes Netzwerk unter den afrikanischen Organisationen in der Schweiz und Europa
aufbauen. Am 3. März 2012 ruft der ADRS zum 1.
Kongress der afrikanischen Diaspora Schweiz auf.
Dieser findet in Bern statt und wird mit finanzieller
Hilfe des Bundesamtes für Migration BFM und der
Unterstützung der Gewerkschaft Unia, welche die
Räume zur Verfügung stellt, organisiert. Thema des
1. Kongresses ist die Integration der AfrikanerInnen
in der Schweiz. Der ADRS hat Frau Bundesrätin
Simonetta Sommaruga und BFM Direktor Mario
Gattiker als Rednerinnen eingeladen.
Neben dem Aufbau politischer Strukturen braucht
es auch soziale Netzwerke. Aus Betroffenheit über
das Schicksal von Guy Yombo, haben Mitglieder des
ADRS am 3. Dezember 2011 den „Solifonds Afrika
Diaspora Schweiz SADS“ gegründet. Der SADS unterstützt Afrikanerinnen und Afrikaner, welche in
der Schweiz leben und durch eine schwere Krankheit oder Unfall in Not geraten sind. Guy Yombo
leidet an Krebs im Endstadium. Er ist mittlerweile
handlungsunfähig, hat aber von den zuständigen
Amtsstellen nicht die notwendige Unterstützung
erhalten. Dank dem SADS konnte erfolgreich Druck
gemacht werden. Zudem sammelt der SADS Geld
für Guy Yombo, um seine ausstehenden Rechnun-
gen zu bezahlen. Für diesen Zweck und für weitere
Sammlungen wurde ein offizielles Konto eröffnet.
Fazit:
Für eine erfolgreiche Integration der Afrikanischen
Diaspora in der Schweiz braucht es eigene Strukturen. Es braucht eigene Medien für den Informationsaustausch und Diskussionen. Es braucht Strukturen und Treffpunkte, welche den AfrikanerInnen
bei der sprachlichen und beruflichen Integration
helfen. Es braucht einen Fonds für Mikrokredite,
damit AfrikanerInnen sich eine eigene wirtschaftliche Existenz aufbauen können. Es braucht soziale
Netzwerke wie den SADS, damit z.B. kranken AfrikanerInnen geholfen werden kann, welche durch
das staatliche Netz fallen oder in diesen Institutionen Hilfe brauchen. Grundsätzlich arbeitet der
ADRS für ein positives Verhältnis zwischen SchweizerInnen und AfrikanerInnen. In Afrika findet ein
enormes Wirtschaftswachstum statt. Afrika ist ein
wichtiger Rohstofflieferant. Die Schweiz kann von
beidem wirtschaftlich profitieren. Die hier lebenden
AfrikanerInnen sind eine wichtige „Brücke“ nach
Afrika, da sie die Sprachen sprechen und Landeskenntnisse haben. Die Afrikanische Diaspora kann
ihrerseits von der Freiheit und demokratischen Kultur der Schweiz profitieren. Es ist an der Afrikanischen Diaspora selbst, diese Chancen wahrzunehmen und sich zu organisieren.
Thomas Erlemann, Basel 21. Dez. 2011
69
2.2.5
Women & HIV/AIDS:
Experiences from Tanzania
Melania Mrema Kyando
Head of Women’s Work and coordinator of the
HIV/Aids programme, Moravian Church in Tanzania-Southern Province (MCT-SP)
Claudia Zeising
Ecumenical co-worker for mission 21 with the Moravian Church in Tanzania-Southern Province
(MCT-SP)
Abstract
We have reached a time where all over the world
people know about HIV/AIDS. It has been a scourge
in many countries, specifically in Africa and millions have died. Sadly enough we can see little to no
decline in infection rates and it seems that more
women are infected than men.
In Sub-Saharan Africa most women living with
HIV/AIDS have contracted the virus from their husband. However, because of misinformation many
women, and men, living with the virus have been
stigmatised, rejected by members of their family,
their churches and their communities. They have
become almost dehumanised, like the living dead.
They are often treated as outcasts.
Specifically women risk to be called promiscuous or
be branded as a “loose” woman. For this reason
many of them are not willing to get tested and receive free medication but rather prefer to die. In this
paper, the emphasis will therefore not be on the
medical facts, such as transmission, but the social
impact of HIV/AIDS on everyday life of women in
southern Tanzania.
In the rural areas of southern Tanzania women and
girls have little power to control their lives. They
have little access to education, they are lacking skills
and live in total dependence of their father and later
their husband. Girls are often abused by teachers as
well as other men, making them more vulnerable to
contracting HIV/AIDS. Despite those circumstances
women are often wrongly blamed for the spread of
HIV/AIDS.
It is a fact that:
70
• women are infected with HIV more easily than
men
• due to circumstances women are often infected at
a younger age
• due to problems at childbirth women receive
more blood transfusions thus contracting the virus
• poor nutrition and child bearing weakens women
so that AIDS will break out more easily
• pregnant mothers can spread the virus to their
unborn children
• as caretakers for the family women tending sick
people are more easily infected by caring for family members dying of AIDS (specifically older
women contracted the virus this way)
The only way to break the vicious cycle is a more
open approach. Talking about the disease, educating girls and women on transmission and health in
general, through open discussions, by establishing
self-help-groups, through moral and practical support it is hoped to change the environment.
Education and training is also needed for the many
women caring for orphans, adding an additional
burden to their everyday life.
The department for women and children of the
Moravian Church Southern Province is approaching
these issues in many different ways thus hoping to
reach a large number of women and girls.
I. General information (Claudia
(Claudia Zeising)
“AIDS has become to haunt a world that
thought it was incomplete.
Some wanted children. Some wanted money,
some wanted property, some wanted power, but
all we have ended up with is AIDS.”
Bernadette Nabatanzi, traditional healer, Kampala,
Uganda, 1994
(cited from “the invisible cure”, Helen Epstein)
Introduction
Whether we acknowledge it or not, HIV/AIDS has
become part of everyday life in most African countries. It feeds on poverty and gender inequality. Specifically women and girls are the most vulnerable
target. According to UNAIDS statistics the highest
infection rate is found among young women and
adolescent girls between the age of 15 and 24. In
sub-Saharan Africa 76% of young people between 15
and 24 living with HIV are female. Worldwide,
young women are 1.6 times as likely to be infected
than their brothers, friends or countrymen of the
same age group. (UNAIDS, 2006 Report on the
Global HIV Epidemic, May 2006, Geneva, p.88)
Due to tradition and culture girls are often not in
control of their sexual activities. Dependence, poverty and power struggles often result in unwanted
sex, pregnancy and infection at an early age. But
older women are often also caught in the same cycle. They are depending on their husbands, who
often have an additional girlfriend or even a second
wife. If one person in this group is infected the virus
quickly spreads. What is little documented is the
infection rate of older women. It is often assumed
that due to reduced sexual activity older people are
not endangered. However, we find an increasing
number of older people infected with the virus. In
the older age-group infection is likely to result from
caring for their dying children.
Beside physical consequences HIV/AIDS has a destroying influence on the economical, social and
psychological welfare of a society. It has wiped out
large numbers of one to two generations leaving
children and old people behind.
The situation in figures:
• 15 million children world wide have lost one or
both parents due to AIDS. 12 million live in countries south of the Sahara. It is assumed that this
number may have increased to 25 million by the
end of 2011.
• In African countries 90% of the sick are cared for
in their families.
• 30% of households are managed by old people
(60 +).
• In southern Africa more than half of the orphans
are living with their grandparents.
Effects of HIV/AIDS
H IV/AIDS on the social situation
Traditionally African families are closely knit together, depending and relying on each other in
many ways. Within a family support is given in every
possible way. Family ties instigate the only reliable
infrastructure, not only in rural areas. Old people
are taken in and cared for by their children if they
can no longer look after themselves. If parents die,
children are taken in by other relatives. If one part of
the family can not afford to send children to school,
other family members may cover those costs if possible. Any big issue – weddings, hospital costs, funerals – are equally shared.
However this system of interdependence has come
under immense strain due to HIV/AIDS. Almost
every family is directly or indirectly affected. If a
large number of working age members die, it is the
old and the young who somehow have to cope. Over
the last ten years the extended family system has less
and less been able to secure the lively-hood of orphans as required by tradition.
In a society where there is mainly subsistence agriculture families survive on what they produce.
Women carry the biggest workload – household
chores, including fetching of water and firewood,
planting, weeding, harvesting, processing of harvest
or sales,... – still some families take in up to 6 orphans, putting additional strain on the tight budget.
Where traditionally the older generation could expect to be looked after when they get weak or become sick, they now face the challenge of having to
care for their dying children and are often left with
young grandchildren to be looked after. Besides
lacking the bodily strength to work in the field they
are left alone with the financial and emotional
stress.
Sometimes 2 generations are missing causing a gap
in knowledge, development and experience which is
difficult to overcome. How and what are they going
to teach their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren? How are they going to provide to
their needs? What will happen, when they themselves become to weak? Often enough the already
difficult life is worsened by stigmatization. This cuts
the ones left behind from their social ties and leaves
them as outcasts.
Children have been left behind with no one to care
for them and the number of child-headed households has increased dramatically. In general it is a
girl who leaves school in order to ensure the everyday life of her brothers and sisters. If they are lucky
they have a place to stay and a piece of land which
can be cultivated. However, it can not be assessed
71
how they can grow up to lead a responsible adult life
without suitable guidance.
If possible material support should be organized for
families who care for orphans, funding of schooling
for children, as well as medical needs.
A case history
Aurelia Mlabis lives in Itongo, Nshamba in the
southwest of Tanzania. In front of Aurelia Mlabis
hut is the grave of her daughter. She died of AIDS
two years ago. Now Elida (4), Aidan (13) and Evodia
(15) live with her grandmother. They have no contact to their father. Aurelia says that after the death
of his wife he turned crazy.
She is about 75 years old but continues to cultivate
her piece of land. There she grows bananas, sweet
potatoes, maize and beans. But the harvest is not
good and the rains have not come. “If I only had
what I get of the land, we would be starving”, she
says. She is lucky to receive a small allowance
through an organization called KwaWazee, 2000
TSH per child, less than a Euro. This year however,
prices have gone up drastically and she can not buy
all which is needed.
Asked how her life would be without AIDS she says
that she could go and work as she did not have to be
here to take care of her grandchildren. Then she
would have enough to live well.
She worries that if she dies, her grandchildren may
have to leave their home as her eldest son has the
right to her hut, according to tradition. Her dream is
to have enough money to build her own hut. “I have
wonderful grandchildren but my children brought
me many worries.”
(translated from: Stille Heldinnen – Afrikas Großmütter im Kampf gegen HIV/AIDS, HelpAge
Deutschland e.V., 2011)
What nee
needs to be done
The biggest issue is the fight for more openness.
Churches in Africa are deeply rooted in communities and play an influential role. Thus they can be a
major force for transition, giving an example and
encouraging members to speak out.
It is important to not only give spiritual support but
to engage in education and training in all HIVrelated areas. This encompasses prevention, health
care, home-based care and counselling programmes.
72
The department for women and children of the
Moravian Church in the southern Province of
Tanzania
The head of the department for women and children, reverend Melania Mrema Kyando, is tirelessly
fighting for openness concerning HIV/AIDS. She is
herself living with the virus and freely shares her
experiences whenever she has a chance. In weekly
visits to the district hospital she speaks to patients
starting on ARV's about possible side effects of the
medication and the disciplined schedule of taking it,
the importance of healthy nutrition as well as the
use of condoms. She listens to questions and helps
where possible.
Additionally she has succeeded in starting a selfhelp group at Ilolo village. This was not an easy task
as the fear of stigmatization keeps many people
from speaking about their status. However, in the
group members can share their worries, openly talk
about health problems or any other issue. Starting
with 8 people 2 years ago, the group has grown to
37 people of all ages and still grows. The group
meets once a month.
The department will start establishing small vegetable projects with the group and plans to organize
the writing of memory-books documenting the history of the family and the problems encountered
through the infection.
Since the beginning of the year the Moravian
Church southern province has an AIDS-desk, which
is headed by Melania Mrema Kyando. Beside providing information on any HIV/AIDS related issue, the
office helps counselling and organizes hospital
visits for children, if the grandparents can not cope.
It is envisaged to organize campaigns together with
local clinics, to develop capacity building courses in
order to equip women leaders and teachers to go
into schools and youth groups as well as to start a
home-based care training for family care-takers. We
are also aiming at having regular counselling days in
general and for girls in particular.
II. Living with HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS (Rev. Melania MremaMremaKyando)
The challenges of accepting a live with HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS is a serious problem. It is natural for people to react in different ways towards it. Most people
are frightened of HIV/AIDS.
People who are living with the virus go through
many different emotions. Some feel angry, some
worry, some are depressed or feel dejected. In the
beginning there often is confusion and people do
not know what to do. The situation is unpredictable
and so are the feelings. One day you feel rejected
and lonely, even punished. An other day you are
hopeful and are willing to fight for a better life.
People who live with HIV/AIDS need to be encouraged not stigmatized or even abused. Discouragement and rejection may cause a further spread of the
disease, as affected people will not be open about
their status thus risking the infection of people
around them.
More than ever before there is a need for the church
to offer hope and consolation to those living with
HIV/AIDS. They need to be encouraged to renew
their faith. As well as those living around them need
to be encourage to help and not reject those infected. It is unfortunate that HIV/AIDS still is often
considered as a punishment for evil and sinful behaviour or loose sexual activities. As a result many
HIV/AIDS patients have great difficulties to confide
in their pastor, or families and are afraid to share
their problems with them.
Very often there is also a phase of denial in the beginning. People are not willing to believe their
status. They say that the doctor must be wrong and
that it can't be true as they are feeling strong. So
they continue with their marriage, have unsafe sex
and may even die.
My personal account:
• Would I die of AIDS?
• What will be the reaction of my family when
they find out about this?
• Who will take care of me, when I get sick?
• How will my life be?
• But I had no answers. And at those days stig-
matization was very strong.
• I was afraid to be open.
People living with HIV/AIDS need help in many
different ways. Beside treatment they need encouragement, comforting, counselling, pastoral care
and mutual recognition.
In 2005 I became very sick. I could not get out of
bed. I had Typhoid. My body was weak and I lost
a lot of weight. Additionally I started a skin
problem, it was itching most of the time. Because of this skin condition people stayed far
from me. They did not dare to hug me or be in
direct contact.
Being sick I realized that I had the virus. The
whole year I was in and out of the hospital. On
the 8th of September the doctor advised me to
start treatment with ARV's. My CD 4 count was
twelve!
After I started with ARV's I fell sick with Tuberculosis. I left my home and stayed with my sister
in law, my husbands sister.
I feared many things:
• Suffering pain
• What would happen if other people found
out?
• What would happen to my children?
• What would be if I lost my job?
• And I was afraid of death! Because many peo-
ple died of HIV/AIDS.
My husband died in January 2004. When he was
in hospital I asked the doctor in charge to tell
me what was wrong with him. The doctor told
me that my husband was dying of AIDS. I had
nursed him and seen the symptoms. I got tested
and found that I was HIV+ as well.
At that time preaching was very judgemental.
Pastors talked of punishment before and after
death. I felt there was no reason to continue living. I became depressed. Depression made my
mind and body weak. I felt useless. I lost my
hope and felt this is the end of my life.
When he died I was left with many worries and
questions.
I eventually told my sister in law, that I was
HIV+. She was happy about my openness and
73
told me not to worry and that she would take
care of me. Still I was worried.
Challenges
1. Stigmatization
Stigmatization of people infected with HIV/AIDS is
there in many ways. It is found in words when people talk about another person they suspect to be
infected. Or in the way they talk about a person who
has died.
Most people are afraid of contact. They will refuse to
shake hands. In the family they will separate things
such as bath soap, clothes, other things which the
infected person has been in contact with. Husbands
may divorce their wives if they suspect them to be
HIV+.
In the society people living with HIV/AIDS may be
laughed at or joked about, or be openly accused of a
loose life style. In extreme cases they may be forced
to leave their home.
Due to this situation many people living with
HIV/AIDS decide not to be open. They feel shameful
and guilty.
My personal account:
I continued with my medication and my health
slowly improved. In 2007 I received an invitation
to the YWCA conference in Kenya. There I met
with many women from different countries. I
stayed with a woman who was HIV+ like myself.
However, she was open about her status. I was
not. I secretly took my tablets.
I liked to learn about HIV/AIDS and attended
many workshops. I prayed to God to set me free
and to allow me to tell others about my situation. I wanted to talk freely. I put it in my mind
that when I returned I would no longer hide but
be open. I resolved to start at my workplace and
with my husband’s relatives.
On the 29th of September I started to be open
about living with HIV/AIDS. Some people were
shocked and could not believe, others encouraged me to go on.
I spoke openly about my situation at a women
conference and many women cried. They asked
me why I did so and I told them that they should
74
allow me to talk. I told them that I was not going
to die, that my health would recover, that I
needed to encourage others.
Since then I have been advising and counselling
others. I give them encouragement and assist
where possible.
I asked for a chance to talk to my congregation
about HIV/AIDS and told them that I am HIV+. I
invited all those who had the same problem to
come forward, to come to my home or office,
wherever they wanted to meet me.
I encouraged people to get tested. I took orphans, who stayed with their grandmothers to
the hospital to get tested, after speaking with
the family. When they were found positive and
had to start medication I took them to my house
and made sure they recovered. After the health
improved they went back to their families.
2. Poverty
In southern Tanzania most people are living as subsistence farmers, with no regular other income. The
families are large and if possible most children go to
school. Under normal conditions many families
struggle to have sufficient money for needed expenditure. However, they are able to produce the food
needed and do not suffer from malnutrition.
If one or more members of the family become infected, the situation changes drastically. As they
loose strength they can no longer produce sufficient
crops. And they are often not able to work otherwise
to generate an income. Money is also needed for
medical care. Life becomes difficult.
ARV's are free, but good nutrition is needed as well
for the body to recover. People are therefore often
caught in a vicious cycle. Without good nutrition
they will not gain strength to fend for themselves.
But they are to weak to produce their own food and
have no money to buy what is needed.
The sickness causes poverty and poverty hinders
people to recover even with the medication – a vicious cycle!
If the breadwinner is sick, the whole family suffers.
Children can not be send to school and have to work
hard at an early age. Sometimes young children have
to care for their sick or dying parents, to be left with
nothing, if they die.
My personal account
Since 2007 I have been taking every chance to
talk to people about HIV/AIDS. The church has
supported and encouraged me in my fight for
more openness and a different approach to the
disease. I was able to start a small self-help
group with 8 people. Last year we were able to
register the group officially as it has now grown
to 37 people and continues to grow. Group
members find encouragement and consolation
from others who share the same problems. But
they have also learned not to hide. They will
openly admit to their status and encourage others to be open too.
Once a week I speak at the district hospital to
patients starting on ARV's.
I emphasize the importance of the medication
and a healthy nutrition and life style. Here people have a chance to ask questions and to learn
what they need to know about the disease.
4) To assist families living with HIV/AIDS or caring
for patients to get health insurance and other
possible assistance.
5) To start specially adapted small projects, such as
vegetable gardens and chickens, in order to improve family nutrition.
6) To ensure that there is no condemnation and
discrimination in the congregations and people
living with HIV/AIDS are affirmed as valued
members of the church.
7) Train church leaders on issues related to
HIV/AIDS, with special emphasis on women and
children.
8) Network and support existing care and counselling structures in building a community-based
care system.
I take every opportunity to teach about
HIV/AIDS and the life with the virus. I encourage people to speak out against stigmatization
and to assist each other in a good Christian way.
It is hard work, but God has given me the
strength to not only to help myself but help others.
3. Recommendations
We need to acknowledge the fact that there are
many people in our society who live with HIV/AIDS.
The number of orphans has drastically increased
and it is a challenge to find a good place for children
left behind if parents die.
People living with HIV/AIDS are valuable members
of the society and thus need to be integrated. We
need to help them to look after themselves and their
families. A multiple approach to the problem is
needed.
1) HIV/AIDS campaign – to educate people about
HIV/AIDS and to encourage them to get tested.
2) To encourage and counsel people living with
HIV/AIDS to accept their situation and to be open
about it.
3) To educate children at an early age about ways of
infection and prevention.
75
2.2.6
Women between Traditional and
Modern Society in the Context
of Sudan
Joy Alison
Trained nurse, trainer/counsellor in the field of
HIV/AIDS, Sudan
Gunda Stegen
Ecumenical co-worker for mission 21 in Sudan
In the village is no cash work for women nor for
men. The women go for digging, harvesting and
prepare storage food for the dry season.
n▸ The vegetable and greens provision in the traditional agricultural states of Equatoria is very good.
The states Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity face shortage of fresh food items as well as dry. The import
from the north is disturbed; the rainy season does
not allow movement via land. The neighbouring
countries (Uganda/Kenya) supply permanent
against hard currency the market.
1. Interaction “Moving in the Room under changing
conditions” – Greetings in the open space, narrow
path, marching, block wise, going in town, in the
village.
n▸ The main expression in town is:
2. Information exchange on the current situation in
the Republic of Southern Sudan (RoSS).
• Juba citizen: “Go to Ramciel, we do not mind.
Juba will be a place of commerce.”
“We are building a big airport in Juba.”
▸ The new currency:
• Government Official: “We go to Ramciel /Lakes
and build our new capital there.”
• Government Official: “We build a bigger in
Wau.”
• Juba citizen: “Let these people go and build there
kingdom in Ramciel, so that we get peace here.
We gave them plots of 5 x 5 now they are asking
for 10 x 10.”
The prices have increased up to 200 %. The exchange rate on the black market:
• 1 USD: 4 SSP
• 1 Euro: 3,12 SSP exchange office
See table 1 below
▸ Women in the house have to guarantee the daily
food security by organizing money for food items,
school fees, e.g.. It is also to mention that the level
of education is still low. The job opportunities for
women are rare and low paid. They are working in
town as cleaners, nurses, messengers, office clerks
or in the executive organs as there are police, prison
guards, wild life, and army.
76
Hans-Peter Duerr: „The nature of the forest is not
the collection of trees, but the space in between.”
The forest gains its beauty through the space, where
light, dim and folk passes through.
How much space a woman needs not to die joyfully
like Mrs. Mallard, because of the sad news delivered
to her of her husband’s death (see “The Story of An
Hour” by Kate Chopin (1894)?
Items
Price
Profession
Average salary
1 l diesel
7 SSP
watchman
400 SSP
1 l benzin
10 SSP
Waitress
200 + transport
1 kg flour
6 SSP
Driver
600 + allowance
1 kg sugar
10 SSP
Teacher village / Teacher town
450 SSP / 1200 SSP
20 l oil
170 SSP
Officer (middle)
2000 + allowance
Construction mat.
200 %
Plots (5x5) in Greater Juba
300 %
The space is in between the daily duties and traditions (as personal perplexity) and Political Influence
(as civil law) confirms by taking action.
committee, but also as trained peace mediators in
times of peace.
See table 2 below
Recommendations:
1) The PCOS Women Work needs a qualified, ecumenical co-worker to strengthen the position of
the national women secretary.
2) The PCOS Women Work is in need of donors and
resources, who have an interest to discuss and reflect on the female conditions in church and society. The enlightment has to be done according
the reality, not the desired one.
3) Women in general need more space, freedom to
re-gain physical, spiritual and kognitve strength.
The lack of energy (over burden) does not allow
her to participate to the degree she would like.
4) With the help and support from outside (gender
policy e.g.) women must be requested to be in
programme and project committees, being advisers of traditional and modern leaders.
5) The informal and the formal sectors of adult education have to be broadened.
6) The leading office in church and society, comprising the social services, must provide outreach
dimensions (mobile school, mobile library, mobile health care eg.).
7) An opportunity for women in church and society
is to network and increase the exchange with
other NGOs, women’s groups, countries.
8) Women have to be in the quorum in emergency
situations (danger of war), not only in the peace
77
Republic of Sudan, independency 1956
religious
secular
infor
informal
formal
illegal
The Zar cult, arab. arrih el achmar allows
women to celebrate
beside islam religion a
temporary sin sacrifice
to the demon. The
female priest or
“scheicha” is guiding
through the ceremony,
men can witness the
words behind the curtain.
Women move in men
clothes, drink, smoke,
behave like man and
request under ecstatic
dimensions their needs.
Quran & Interpre- Lesbian movetation: A husband ment
has to provide
house, housekeeping money,
education for
children, sexual
satisfaction.
A woman has to
go for education.
infor
informal
formal
Household
beauty salon
-Women Association since 1956
Family/Civil law
Property & Inheritance
-Access to education
-female today
more than 50 %
at universities
- Marriage contract
- Women are
requested to
come back to
work after maternity, they are
needed as labor
force.
Republic of Southern Sudan (RoSS) inde
independence since 09/07/2011
religious
secular
infor
informal
formal
House to house visits
Collecting fire-Women groups
deacons, elders in wood
borehole
Church
Funerals
Weddings
Birth
78
illegal
-CWF (Christian
Women Fellowship)
Field work
pregnancy and
maternity
-By-law Women
Work in the
PCOS,
-PCOS female
ordination since
2008 (3 women
without responsibility)
Nomads: youth
camps
alcoholism
infor
informal
formal
Work
- 25 % Quorum in
Government and
Admin.
State Women
Union (2008)
NGOs
- State Women
Union since 2008
(national network)
- work in admin.,
cooperatives eg.
b) Africa and Switzer
Switzerland
3
3.1
WHAT NEXT/
RECOMMENDATIONS
Evaluation by the
participants
Following is a collection of the feedback the participants of the conference gave during its final session
on Sunday, 16 October, ordered according to the
given themes and geographi-cal contexts. As much
as possible I have kept to the original voices. The
theme was Future Perspectives and Practices in Cooperation and the three lead questions were as follows:
1) Which important insights and impressions have I
gained in the course of the conference?
2) Which areas of relevance have I identified for my
own work?
3) My suggestions and recommendations for future
exchange and cooperation.
3.1.1
Women in Society
a) Africa
We need to get the knowledge of African women
professionals and scholars to the grass-roots of
women’s movements in Africa.
- We have to continue to analyse oppressive systems
and seek ways for transformation. mis-sion 21 could
provide opportunities to do this.
- Contact between African women at home and in
the Diaspora should be maintained.
- We need to find possibilities to cooperate at different levels.
- We need to invigorate women’s issues.
- It is good to have an encounter between partners
from the North and the South but what follows from
there?
- Partners from the North may help partners from
the South but how should this be done?
- The achievements which women in Switzerland
made within a short period should be acknowledged. This can encourage African women to continue their own struggle.
- The experiences of African women are an encouragement and an inspiration for Swiss women.
- mission 21 is encouraged to continue placing
strong emphasis on gender in its projects.
- Peace groups from Switzerland and Nigeria where
women are involved should be linked.
- There should be a platform for mutual exchange to
encourage one another in one’s work.
- There should be a critical evaluation of the selfunderstanding of women.
- We need to get more girls into secondary education in Africa.
- Men should be critical and accompanying partners
of women in their struggle.
- Women have to be involved in peace training.
- Men should enable the voices of women to flourish.
- Successes achieved should be celebrated.
- Individual biographies of women are valuable resources.
- We need unity and diversity.
- There is partly an idealisation of colonialism which
is highly problematic.
- There is partly a problematic internalised inferiority complex among women.
- The problem of violence against women need to be
followed and ways be sought how to move on.
- The CASB will continue to ask critical questions
about the type of women found in politics.
3.1.2
Women’s Concerns
in the Church
a) Af rica
- Gender policies need to be implemented.
79
- Polygamous women should be admitted to Holy
Communion.
- Women should be more than “entertainers” in
church.
- Church leaders have to be moved to involve more
women in leading positions.
- AACC and WCC have to be pushed to have more
women in leading positions.
- Women should support each other to get to leading positions.
- We need to move for women’s ordination in all
African churches.
- We need to raise our voices against the sidelining
of women in the AACC.
- Women theologians should refrain from pushing
lay women out of their positions.
- Women in leading positions should be brought
from countries where they are to countries where
they are not.
b) Africa
Africa and Switzer
Switzerland
- mission 21 should facilitate an exchange of gender
policies between its partners and with those who do
not yet have them.
- The women’s pre-conference of the next WCC’s
general assembly in 2013 should be in the focus,
also of mission 21 which should participate and
ensure the participation of women from its partners.
b) Africa and Switzerland
- Theological education of women from neoPentecostal churches should be promoted.
- There should be more joint projects like “reading
the Bible from women’s perspectives”.
- Emphasis should be laid, also by mission 21, on
the participation of women scholars in the Theological Institutes of AACC.
- African women scholars should be invited by CASB
as visiting lecturers in areas where they have expertise.
- A dialogue between mainline churches and neoPentecostals should be organised by mis-sion 21
with WCC being involved. mission 21 and Lighthouse could start a dialogue themselves.
- mission 21 and CASB should help facilitating an
exchange of women lecturers within Africa and between Africa and Europe.
- mission 21, CASB and WCC should promote African women to study in Western countries, also with
the provision or organisation of scholarships. Respective information has to be shared from North to
South.
3.1.4
Connecting Women’s
Movements and Representatives
a) Africa
- The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians meets next year. mission 21 should be in contact or involved.
- A forum should be established where women can
meet and share experiences and mutually support
each other. The women’s movements should be
used in this context.
- All Christian organisations should be gender sensitive in their communication.
- Feedback from conferences like this should be to
the women’s movements.
3.1.3
Theology from
Women’s Perspectives
a) Africa
- We need a new interpretation of the Bible, a hermeneutics of relationship.
- We need to find ways how the Circle of Concerned
African Women Theologians can be of help for
women’s groups.
80
- Representatives from women’s movements should
be involved in conferences like this.
- The Cameroonian CWF should be linked to the
Sudanese with the help of mission 21.
3.1.5
Migration and Integration
a) Switzerland
- A Swiss network for those engaged with migrant
communities should be established.
- Networking should be done between African
women in the Diaspora and African women’s
movements. There should be meetings and conferences.
81
Erlemann-Mengue, Carole
4
LIST OF AUTHORS
Adomako Ampofo, Akosua
Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo is a scholar and an
activist. She is currently Professor of African and
Gender Studies and Director, Institute of African
Studies, University of Ghana. From 2005 to 2009
she was the (founding) Head of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA), also at the
University of Ghana. Akosua Adomako Ampofo
holds a BSc in Architecture and an MSc in Development Planning from the University of Science and
Technology, Kumasi, a Post-Graduate Diploma in
Spatial Planning from the University of Dortmund,
and a PhD in Sociology from Vanderbilt University.
Atwal, Jyoti
Dr. Jyoti Atwal is Assistant Professor of Modern
Indian History at the Centre for Historical Studies at
the Jawaharlal Nehru University of New Delhi, India. Her fields of specialisation in research and
teaching are socio-cultural aspects of women’s lives
in colonial India, gender relations and nationalism
and Hindu widows in the reformist, nationalist and
contemporary perspectives.
Chung, Meehyun
Dr. Meehyun Chung is a Korean pastor and theologian. She is a minister of the Presbyterian Church of
Korea and Vice President of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. Currently she is
Head of the Women and Gender Desk at mission 21.
She studied and lectured at Ewha Womans University, Korea. She received the Karl Barth Award in
2006 for her doctoral thesis on the relationship between Karl Barth and Korean theology.
Ekué, Amélé
Dr. Amélé Adamavi-Aho Ekué is a theologian and
Profes-sor of Ecumenical Ethics at the Ecumenical
Institute Bossey, Switzerland. She hails from Togo
and specialises in ecumenism and missiology.
Moreover, her fields of expertise include Christianity in the non-Western world, especially African
history of Christianity, the ecclesio-genesis and
theology of migrant churches in Europe, and religion and violence.
82
Carole Erlemann-Mengue hails from Yaounde,
Cameroon, and has been living in the region of
Basel (Lörrach, Germany) since 1993. She is the
mother of two children (6 and 24 yrs).
Following various posts as an unskilled worker, she
trained as a professional hairdresser at the Vocational School in Rheinfelden and opened her hairdressing parlour “Blacky” in Basel in 2006.
Fonki, Perpetua
Dr. Perpetua B.N. Fonki is the Head of Department
of Clinical Counselling at the Cameroon Christian
University. She was previously a communication
officer of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon
(PCC) and is currently still a part-time lecturer at the
Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kumba, Cameroon. She is the first woman to have studied theology at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in
Kumba. She completed her doctoral degree in the
USA.
Kyando, Melania
Melania Mrema-Kyando works for the Moravian
Church in Tanzania, Southern Province, where she
is Head of Women’s Work and coordinator of the
HIV/Aids pro-gramme. She is one of the few
HIV/Aids infected women who speaks openly about
her infection.
Melania Mrema-Kyando studied at the Theological
College at Lutengano, Tanzania.
Lenka-Bula, Puleng
Prof. Puleng Lenka-Bula is Associate Professor of
Ethics at the Department of Philosophy and Systematic Theology at the University of South Africa. She
teaches Political and Economic Ethics, Social Ethics
and African Women, Womanist and Feminist Ethics. Her research interests focus on the intersections
of economics, ecology, justice and ubuntu/botho,
especially in ways that they relate to intellectual
property rights and life forms in the context of economic globalisation. In 2009 she was a visiting
scholar at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto.
Leuenberger-Eya, Julie
Ich bin in Kamerun geboren und aufgewachsen. Seit
neun Jahren lebe ich in der Schweiz, in Zürich. Ich
habe eine KV-Ausbildung in der Heimat absolviert.
Hier in der Schweiz habe ich verschiedene Integrationsausbildungen absolviert.
Seit 2006 bin Ich Gründerin von SOLINETZ-A, Verein für AfrikanerInnen mit HIV/AIDS hier in der
Schweiz und deren Angehörigen. Ich arbeite eng
zusammen mit Aids-Hilfe Schweiz und der Zürcher
Aids-Hilfe, in der sich jetzt meinmein Büro befindet, und im Unispital Zürich.
Ich bin seit Anfang 2011 Mitglied des Ausländerbeirat in Zürich (für die Amtszeit 2011-2014).
Ich bin auch Gründungsmitglied des ADRS (Afrika
Diaspora Rat Schweiz) und repräsentiere den hier in
Zürich.
Mark, Susan
Susan Mark is the Principal of EYN John Guli Memorial Bible College, Michika (Nigeria). She is the
National Direc-tor of EYN’s Womens’s Fellowship
of EYN. She teaches and carries out preaching assignments in churches or confer-ences within or
beyond the realm of the EYN.
Susan Mark holds a Masters in Theology degree
from the Theological College of Northern Nigeria,
Bukuru.
Macamo, Elisio
Prof. Elisio Macamo is Tenure Track Assistant Professor of African Studies at the University of Basel,
Switzerland. His major research interests are the
sociology of religion, technology, knowledge, politics and risks. His current research projects focus on
the politics of the rule of law and comparative studies of development.
Prof. Macamo studied in Maputo (Mozambique),
Salford and London (England) and Bayreuth (Germany).
Mallett, Ida
Ida Bokeng Mallett has been a church elder since
1961. She was the first National President of the
National Committee of the Women’s Work Department at the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC)
and was in charge of this office for ten years. In
addition, as a member of the Christian Women’s
Fellowship (CWF) she has played a significant role
in the reorganisation of the Theological Seminary of
the PCC in Kumba and the foundation of the Girl’s
Hostel of the PCC in Limbe.
Müller, Tabea
Tabea Müller is a manager of social and non-profit
organi-zations and has been working as an ecumenical co-worker for mission 21 in Cameroon
since 2009. She has assumed various positions in
the Women’s Work Department of the Presbyterian
Church in Cameroon, such as Manager of the
Women’s Economic Empowerment and Literacy
Project (WEELP). Her particular concern is a sustainable, ecologically sound and self-responsible
approach to development.
Ngeh, Beatrice
Beatrice Ngeh is National Secretary and coordinator
of the Women’s Work Department of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. The goal of this department is to enable women to participate with equal
rights in Cameroonian society - in all processes of
decision-taking, especially relating to health and
economic issues as well as social matters and spiritual-ity. She has been working as an English and
history teacher for 24 years as well as leading ecclesiastic and women’s groups for 27 years. Beatrice
Ngeh studied social sciences at the University of
Yaounde, Cameroon, alongside pedagogy, history
and geography. She also holds a diploma in Bible
studies.
Rubi-Ibrahim, Fatima
Fatima Rubi-Ibrahim is a Nigerian sculptor and
painter based in Olten, Her studio offers workshops
in stone carving as well as a platform for artists to
display their works and skills. With Art-Ract she
manages an organization aimed at promoting African artists and Nigerian contemporary arts in
Europe.
She is a founding member of the performance
group ARTUMULT and completed a Masters in Fine
Arts at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Institut Kunst in Basel. ARTUMULT is a group of artists
from all over the World. Its goal is to critically reflect on, and create awareness of, cultural identity in
relation to migration.
Fatima Rubi-Ibrahim is a member of the Meeting
and Resource Centre for Black Women based in
Zürich.
83
Sommer, Anna
Anna Sommer is a research assistant at the archives
of mis-sion 21. She studies history and sociology at
the University of Basel, Switzerland. Her main interest is centred upon African history. She is currently
conducting research on various historical and sociological facets of the Christian Women’s Fellowship
(CWF).
Takang, Esther
Esther Enow Takang Oben is Regional Secretary of
the Women's Work Department of the Presbyterian
Church in Cameroon, South West Region. She has
worked with the Help Medical Foundation. She has
a passion for the em-powerment of women and the
underprivileged and encour-ages partnership between women and men in development. She holds a
Bachelor of Science Degree with Double Majors in
women and gender Studies, sociology and anthropology from the University of Buea, Cameroon. She
also holds a Certificate in Credit Management from
the Pan African Institute for Development in Buea,
Cameroon.
Vermot-Mangold, Ruth-Gaby
Dr. Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold spent many years
wor-king as a researcher and expert in development
cooperation in conjunction with several African
countries. She headed the Schulstelle 3. Welt
(Global Education) in Switzerland and has organised advanced training courses on development
issues and peace politics for teachers and students.
She has lectured on the politics of gender and development at different universities.
From 1995 to 2007, she was a member of the Swiss
Parlia-ment (National Council) and a member of the
Council of Europe.
On behalf of the organisation PeaceWomen Across
the Globe, she explores women’s contributions
towards resolving conflicts and opening up avenues
for reconciliation. She holds a doctoral degree in
social anthropology.
Zeising, Claudia
Claudia Zeising has been living and working in Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia and Swaziland for nine
years. She was active in the fields of agriculture,
education and women’s work. In 2009 she left for
Tanzania where she is now active as an advisor for
84
the Women’s Work of the Moravian Church in Tanzania - Southern Province.
Claudia Zeising studied agricultural science in Göttingen, Germany.
5
DONORS
mission 21 and the Centre for African Studies Basel
would like to express their gratitude to the following
organisations for their support towards the conference:
5.1
Donations
Department of International Affairs,
University of Basel
Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche
des Kantons Basel-Landschaft
Evang.-Reformierte Kirche
des Kantons Solothurn
Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft
net-solution
Reformierte Kirchen Bern-Jura-Solothurn
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
Unité des Frères en Suisse
World Council of Churches
5.2
Deficit coverage
Basler Mission
Stiftung Dialog zwischen Kirchen, Religionen
und Kulturen
85
86
87
6
ORGANISATION
AND INFORMATION
The conference was a joint venture between
mission 21 and the Centre for African Studies Basel
(CASB).
mission 21, protestant mission basel
mission 21 comprises a community of churches and
Christian organisations bringing together people of
different countries and cultures, fostering contact
with other ways of life and providing tangible help
wherever peace, justice and the Creation itself are
under threat.
Working in alliance with fifty-seven partner
churches and organisations, mission 21 provides in
seventeen African, Asian and Latin American countries, a beacon of hope founded on the gospel.
There are around 100 projects to fight poverty, to
promote healthcare, women's rights and peace
work, as well as to support theological training and
development and the ecclesiastical disciplines. With
an equal vote our partners deliberate in the mission
synod ("mission parliament") on the future of the
work of the mission. In Switzerland, mission 21
supports collaboration and research in the sometimes strained relations between missionary work
and development cooperation.
mission 21
evangelisches missionswerk basel
Missionsstrasse 21
CH-4003 Basel
phone +41 61 260 22 42
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.mission-21.org/agenda
88
Centre for African Studies Basel (CASB),
University of Basel
The Centre for African Studies Basel (CASB)
coordinates Africa-related teaching and events at the
University of Basel in cooperation with institutions
outside the university. The CASB is the only
institution in Switzerland offering a Masters Degree
in African Studies. Through the Centre of
Competence on Africa it promotes and coordinates
research on Africa at the University of Basel.
Centre for African Studies Basel
Steinengraben 5
CH-4051 Basel
phone +41 (0)61 267 34 82
[email protected]
http://zasb.unibas.ch/

12-02-15_Reader FINAL PRINT

Transcription

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