Journeying with the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians on Contextuality (1989–2021)

Abstract

The author describes her journey with the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (the Circle) in the 25 years between 1996 and 2021. This is done in terms of the methodological values of autoethnography, a method to describe and critique cultural phenomena through the author’s own experiences; “cultural” referring here to the culture of doing theology from African women’s perspectives. The author describes her participation in five of the six Pan-African conferences of the Circle (the first in Accra, Ghana, 1989, is included in the discussion, but was not attended by the author). The article specifically notes developments in the foci of the conferences in general. The author’s journeys with the conferences in Nairobi, Kenya (1996); Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2002); Yaoundé, Cameroon (2006); Kempton Park, South Africa (2013); and Gaborone, Botswana (2019) are presented. The author evaluates the Circle’s ability to contextualise its theologies in terms of five questions, namely: 1) whether the Circle has been non-reductionist in establishing the causes of contextual patriarchy; 2) whether the Circle has been able to establish a multi-dimensional contra-culture vis-à-vis patriarchy; 3) whether the Circle has placed the binaries of male and female in dialogue with one another; 4) whether the Circle and its theologies have brought healing to a gendered society; and 5) whether the Circle has established partnerships outside its epistemological and social borders.

Gender-Based Violence in Some Pentecostal Churches—A South African Study

“…The Neo-Pentecostal church movements contribute to GBV by distorting theology to fit cultural norms and values (Brokaw 2020, p. 2). The chairperson of the South African chapter of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, Nontando Hadebe, asserts the following: "Religion plays a role in the continuation of GBV through traditional teachings about women in the Bible, leaving them feeling like they are subordinate to men" (Landman 2022). Hadebe further claims that some of these religious narratives that have been imposed on women are the root cause of their staying in abusive relationships, as they believe that they are obeying God by doing so (Landman 2022).…”

Decently transgressing: expressions of female heterosexuality and the discourses of (hetero)sexual pleasure in South Africa

“…Ultimately, the Afrikaner woman’s place was reduced to the home and her role was reduced to that of a wife and mother in the family (Cloete, 1992). The consequences of these patriarchal discourses were that women were assigned an identity of forced belonging, according to which their bodies became mere possessions of men and never belonged to themselves (Landman, 2009; Shefer and Ratele, 2011). Tamale (2017) argues that the control and regulation of women’s sexualities are crucial in maintaining patriarchal-capitalist societies whereby the economic relations within families are engendered, that is, men are the heads of households and women are expected to provide offspring.…”