The shifting landscape of African-Pentecostalism in Kenya

I define African Pentecostalism as the Pentecostal thread that embraces some elements of African culture, without necessarily admitting it. It embraces some elements of the African heritage consciously or unconsciously. This research article sets on the premise that African Pentecostalism is the ideal phrase when referring to Pentecostalism in Africa. This drives us to consider the uniqueness of Pentecostalism in Africa rather than generalising its presence. This article seeks to demonstrate that African Pentecostalism in the 21st-century Kenya has undergone paradigm shifts in various dimensions, which includes leadership structuring, political orientations, modes of disciplining, eschatological concern, structural make-up, economic domain, health concern, ecumenical relations, gender relations, identity politics, theological education, poverty concern, use of science and technology, and general practices. Has the religious outfits that referred the earthly concerns as temporal tents and largely focused on the ‘eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands’ (2 Cor 5:1) appreciated the necessity of God’s kingdom and will-being ‘done on earth, as it is in heaven’ (Mt 6:10)? In light of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), has the ecclesiastical model that was too conservative become liberal in nature? The methodology includes interviews with selected people who are connected to this topic, participant observation and through an extensive review of the relevant literature.

Locus of control and culture of poverty. An appraisal of Lawrence M. Mead’s ideas in ‘Culture and Poverty’

Lawrence M. Mead presented an interesting argument as to why poverty exists in the United States. He problematizes the culture of the poor of which ethnic minorities over-represent. By referring to the geographic regions from which these ethnic minorities came from, he globalised the question of poverty in the US. This invites a global policy debate rather than a US-centric policy debate. Indeed, Mead so freely made references to Africa and the African culture severally throughout his commentary. It is against this backdrop that I show that Mead was right to a large extent on the question of inner-driven individualised orientation. However, he overestimates its influence and misreads what culture is. He presented the culture of poverty as the antecedent of poverty. It was concluded that manipulating both internal drive (internal locus of control) and the structure of society is a more effective way to tackle poverty.

Writing Africa, Righting America: An Experience of Otherness in J. P. Clark’s America, Their America

In this article, I examine one of the finest first-generation Nigerian writers, John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, who passed away on 13 October 2020, and who has been categorised as a Eurocentric writer. By critiquing his America, Their America, this work investigates the authenticity of this perception of J. P. Clark as a Eurocentric Nigerian writer. By analysing his autobiography vis-à-vis the notion of the Self and the Other, a theoretical concern in contemporary travel writing, the researcher establishes that every culture has its positive and negative aspects. It must not feel too proud to change as time and situation demand. It is clear that Clark vehemently rejects the US claim of the sophistication and superiority of their culture over African culture. The paper concludes that contemporary travel writing should be a rightful site for negotiating cultural compromises between the Self and the Other, since the gap may be difficult to close altogether.

Drawing on the Past, Regenerating the Present: A Comparison of the Works of Ayi Kwei Armah and Nicolás Guillén

<p>Novelist Ayi Kwei Armah and poet Nicolás Guillén are, respectively, Ghanaian and Cuban writers who embody the efforts of mid-twentieth-century artists to depict the day-to-day socio-political conditions and struggles of societies seeking to move beyond histories of racial and economic oppression. Both engage powerfully and controversially with ongoing debates around damaging colonial histories and disappointing contemporary realities. The achievement of independence did not usher in the new, improved nations sought by way of struggle and suffering in either country. Uncompromisingly, Armah’s and Guillén’s works portray both the irredeemable parts of colonial histories and those that can be put to the benefit of the present, together with the tension that this disparity between expectation and achievement engenders. Granted the varied nature of the subject matter of the works of the two authors and the seeming lack of relation between them, this study makes use of a selection of theoretical frameworks to find common ground for analysing their work. The analysis of Nicolás Guillén’s poetry is based on concepts fundamental to Latin American social and cultural criticism, notably, the ideology of whitening or blanqueamiento, cultural mixing or mestizaje, and feminist criticism. The study of Ayi Kwei Armah’s first novel The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) employs socio-cultural theories including traditional Ghanaian concepts such sankofa and the Akan symbol of adinkra, together with Jean Paul Sartre’s concept of the “engaged writer.” This thesis argues that, in spite of their different national and ethnic backgrounds, both writers draw on traditional aspects of African culture to provide the impetus for social and cultural regeneration in their societies. Critics have read Armah as presenting disillusioned and decadent images of Ghana and promoting limited roles for women in his work. Guillén too has been portrayed by critics as offering an objectified representation of women in his poetry of the 1920s and 1930s and has been accused of ignoring, as a poet of meztizaje or ethnic mixture, the issues of Blacks and Blackness. This thesis contests these limiting critical positions, arguing that the writers’ representations of women, Blacks and Blackness are more positive and progressive than has been allowed. Acknowledging the burden of racist histories, the false promise of postcolonial liberation, the blatant corruption and the unrealised expectations of their times, they nevertheless allow for the possibility of regeneration in the societies they both dissect and, in part, restore.</p>

Drawing on the Past, Regenerating the Present: A Comparison of the Works of Ayi Kwei Armah and Nicolás Guillén

<p>Novelist Ayi Kwei Armah and poet Nicolás Guillén are, respectively, Ghanaian and Cuban writers who embody the efforts of mid-twentieth-century artists to depict the day-to-day socio-political conditions and struggles of societies seeking to move beyond histories of racial and economic oppression. Both engage powerfully and controversially with ongoing debates around damaging colonial histories and disappointing contemporary realities. The achievement of independence did not usher in the new, improved nations sought by way of struggle and suffering in either country. Uncompromisingly, Armah’s and Guillén’s works portray both the irredeemable parts of colonial histories and those that can be put to the benefit of the present, together with the tension that this disparity between expectation and achievement engenders. Granted the varied nature of the subject matter of the works of the two authors and the seeming lack of relation between them, this study makes use of a selection of theoretical frameworks to find common ground for analysing their work. The analysis of Nicolás Guillén’s poetry is based on concepts fundamental to Latin American social and cultural criticism, notably, the ideology of whitening or blanqueamiento, cultural mixing or mestizaje, and feminist criticism. The study of Ayi Kwei Armah’s first novel The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) employs socio-cultural theories including traditional Ghanaian concepts such sankofa and the Akan symbol of adinkra, together with Jean Paul Sartre’s concept of the “engaged writer.” This thesis argues that, in spite of their different national and ethnic backgrounds, both writers draw on traditional aspects of African culture to provide the impetus for social and cultural regeneration in their societies. Critics have read Armah as presenting disillusioned and decadent images of Ghana and promoting limited roles for women in his work. Guillén too has been portrayed by critics as offering an objectified representation of women in his poetry of the 1920s and 1930s and has been accused of ignoring, as a poet of meztizaje or ethnic mixture, the issues of Blacks and Blackness. This thesis contests these limiting critical positions, arguing that the writers’ representations of women, Blacks and Blackness are more positive and progressive than has been allowed. Acknowledging the burden of racist histories, the false promise of postcolonial liberation, the blatant corruption and the unrealised expectations of their times, they nevertheless allow for the possibility of regeneration in the societies they both dissect and, in part, restore.</p>

ROOTLESSNESS IN ELIZABETH BOWEN'S THE DEATH OF THE HEART, AND CHINUA ACHEBE'S ARROW OF GOD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN ANGLO-IRISH AND AFRICAN POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE

Postcolonial literature views the British Empire of the nineteenth century as unique in human history and literary products for it provides writers with different subjects that deal with the idea of how to resurrect the colonized identity even after getting liberation. Postcolonial literature seems to label literature written by people living in countries formerly colonized by other colonized and other colonial powers as British. Such literature and particularly novel, emerged to focus on social, moral, and cultural influences and their interrelation with the impact of English existence upon some countries as Ireland in Europe and Nigeria in Africa. Irish novel shares its genesis with the English novel. When we write of the eighteenth century and use the phrase ' the Irish novel', we are necessarily referring to novel written by authors who, irrespective of birthplace, inhabited both England and Ireland and who thought of themselves as English or possibly both English and Irish. This fact is apparent within hands when we talk about the Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen and her novels that show the obvious effect of her Irish identity upon her works during the period of World Wars I and II with a consideration to Ireland as a British colony. The same impact with African culture, postcolonial Nigeria, when its writers saw the changes crept to their traditions. Their literary products concentrated on questioning their nation how to keep and reserve African identity from alternations. Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian writer tried to reflect his culture in a mirror to readers and challenge them with their own strength and weakness in his novel Arrow of God. His novel tackles these weaknesses of the traditional outlook and senses for change. The research paper tackles the concept of rootlessness in postcolonialism through Anglo-Irish novel The Death of the Heart (1938) of Elizabeth Bowen ,which is tackled in the first section , and postcolonial Nigerian novel Arrow of God (1964) written by Chinua Achebe in the second section. The paper ends with conclusions and works cited.

Food and medicinal relevance of Cucurbitaceae species in Eastern and Southern Africa

Background The traditional use of medicinal plants is an integral part of African culture and plays a major role in African societies. For centuries, plants have been used to cure diseases and till date, a vast majority of the African people especially in rural communities depend on the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of various ailments. Main body The Cucurbitaceae family has a diversity of medicinally relevant species which also play significant roles in food security in Africa. While some are underutilised and are sourced from the wild, others are domesticated and cultivated for food. This review therefore highlights the significance of Cucurbitaceae species in Eastern and Southern African countries. The use of various species in the traditional food and medicine systems of these countries is documented. The review further discusses some poisonous species with close resemblance to edible plants. The fatal effect of consuming any part of such plant species like young or old leaves and unripe fruit is highlighted. Conclusion This review is thus a documentation of the crucial role of Cucurbitaceae species in food security, treatment of a variety of diseases and its negative effect on humanity and livestock.

Women in Southern African History

Women have played complex roles in the history of Southern Africa, a vast region that comprises diverse local histories as well as social and cultural forms. The diversity of the region has been both integrated and fragmented through historical connections, which have centered on South Africa as a subimperial power. Prior to colonial conquest and the impact of Christian missions and European trade, gender relations varied, partly due to an array of social and kinship systems. Overall, however, the position of women in southern African societies deteriorated after colonization. Economic, political, and cultural dynamics impacted on gender relations through the interaction of European and indigenous patriarchy, colonial rule, and capitalist modes of production, which reinforced and transformed one another, evolving into new structures and forms of domination. The paradox of similarities due to settler colonialism and differences in respect of timing and pathways to decolonization impacted upon the trajectories of postcolonial gender politics and the representation of women in the postcolonial political structures of southern Africa. Despite initial differences regarding legal gender equality, everywhere that liberation movements in power established themselves in the region, discourses of “African culture and tradition” became pertinent. Colonial customary laws and powers given to traditional leaders remain at the heart of contemporary battles over gender equality and social justice.

Interrogating Issues of Sexuality in Africa: An African Christian Response

The issues of sexuality have been very contentious in Africa more so after the legalization of same-sex marriages by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2015 under the President Obama reign. Africans have resented the way sexuality is understood and practiced in the west and has termed it un-African. Some scholars and indeed African leaders have argued that the attitude towards sexuality is a modern practice which is being introduced and even forced to Africa by modernity and influenced greatly by the western worldview. In a modern setting, different sexual orientation has been accepted as a lifestyle and has been institutionalized. Although African does not refute the fact that there were and indeed still are people with different sexual orientation, they do not find it right to institutionalize it since according to African culture, this is an abnormality that needs to be corrected, sympathized with and tolerated. To that end, African peoples assisted those with a different sexual orientation to live normal lives as much as possible. At the same time, the community was kind and tolerant and never banished or mistreated them based on their sexual orientation. This paper will attempt to show the attitude taken by the African people, the process of assisting those with different sexual orientation and how they were incorporated into the society. The paper will draw valuable lessons to be learned by modernity and which will correspond to African Christianity in accordance with the teaching of Jesus Christ

Orthodoxy and the myriad of challenges posed in the socio-economic sphere of Africa

The above title does not only pause a challenge to us but also displays before us the celebration of our achievements in Africa which are worthy of celebration. In this paper therefore I will address the problems of Africa on social and economic ground in relation to culture. I addressed this issue before and have discussed it at length with my brother-in-Christ father Evangelos who is an ethicist. The social and economic problems are not entities in themselves but they each have a root cause and unless we address the roots we may not find any positive or lasting solutions. The root problem faced by many is a sense of cultural erosion which has led to lack of self-identity and thus resulted in many of the visible problems we are experiencing and we are desperately trying to find solutions to them. This problem may be self-inflicted as some of us may think but it is largely blamed on Religious missions in Africa from the past centuries to now, and also on the colonial powers who imposed themselves on Africa. The positive and negative effects of the two have left a great impact on an African way of thinking and acting. We have become aliens in our own African land, whether we are Black, Arab, White or Indian or whatever race of African. As each day dawns we are faced with the consequences of the past mistakes and even in trying to find solutions we repeat the same mistakes on an ongoing basis. I will discuss my reflection on several of these bases; 1) dialogue with African culture a) identity crisis, b) Cultural erosion c) Cultural disintegration d) family unit and social unit break ups and confusion, e.) Generation gap f.) Economic gap g.) Religious bias and mission misrepresentation h) indigenous languages, species i) Colonial Stigma j) Economic imbalance and trade unfairness.