Towards an African ecogender theology: A decolonial theological perspective

Abstract

The struggles for environmental and gender justice have challenged how theology is done in Africa. This article framed within the context of continuous search for lifegiving African Christianity, argues that a radical relational solidarity that existed between African humanity and environment in some Zambian traditional societies was grounded on ecogender principle. Thus, it seeks to probe deeper into contemporary challenge of African men's alienation from environment as a consequence of colonial quest to restructure African social order. Employing decolonial theological perspective, the article tried to reinterpret some life-giving elements from Bemba and Shila cultural heritage in order to re-conceptualize contemporary African Christian ecotheology. It is from this perspective where African ecogender theology is constructed towards transformation of African human and environment relationship.

Recent developments in African political theology

“…Thus, African ecological theologies have made use of specific African visions seen to be conducive to sustainable development but have gone on to suggest how this vision may inform ecological dynamics around the world. Thus, the idea of the sacrality of the environment as seen in perceptions of sacred groves, trees, mountains, and other dynamics of human relationships with the environment are seen to be conducive to the development of a theology that promotes care of the environment (Antonio, 2012;Kaunda, 2016Kaunda, , 2020Mwambazambi, 2011). Queer (LGBTIQ)þ issues that have recently rocked many African countries.…”

Trajectories of mutual zombification in the praxis of post-colonial faith in South Africa. The need for African decoloniality theology

“…Thus, there is a dire need to deploy other ways of seeing, and the struggle is not about legitimising "ongoing practices involving the coloni[s]ation of people, culture, and the environment" (Lander 2002:257). In addition, as noted by Kaunda (2016a), ADT is locked in a struggle to unmask the manifestation of Africa's own self-recolonising thought system, disguised as the legitimate way of knowing, acting and knowledge production in Africa -an uncontested way of meaning-making and interpretation of reality. To do so, I focus on the following approaches.…”

Jubilee as Restoration of Eco-Relationality: A Decolonial Theological Critique of ‘Land Expropriation without Compensation’ in South Africa

“…For example, under the traditional systems in many Zambian ethnic groups, such as the matrilineal Bemba of the Northern Province, both men and women had equal access to and control over productive resources such as land (Keller et al, 1990). The equal access to the land was undermined during the colonial period, when men were encouraged to cultivate the land to raise taxes for the colonial administration (Kajoba, 2002; Kaunda, 2016; Keller et al, 1990). The introduction of colonial capitalism began to erode traditional notions of the land and made local communities more yielding to a mechanistic view of the land.…”

“…Andrejs Kulnieks et al (2013: 192) and others point out that the land and other elements of creation were conceptualised within ‘mechanized metaphors of domination’ that reduced them into lifeless machines subject to scientific observations, described in the title of Carolyn Merchant’s (1980) book as ‘the death of nature’. Colonialism designed a new social order in which the land was enslaved (Kaunda, 2016).…”