Sisters in Solidarity: Resistance and Agency through Urban Community Food Gardens in Pietermaritzburg

In this article I explore the solidarity, resistance and agency of a group of women involved in an urban community food garden project in collaboration with the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA). I explore this initiative through the lenses of African Women’s Theology (AWT) and Oikos Theology and suggest that urban community food gardens represent a cooperation with nature and a resistance to social structures and systems that perpetuate marginalization, inequality, and subjugation of women. AWT provides a means to theorize and theologize women’s suffering and agency, and Oikos Theology recognizes the connection between economy and ecology. I tease out how ecological and indigenous wisdom applied in urban community food gardens results in a mutually sustaining relationship between local communities and the earth. I also show how the development of an ecological consciousness not only serves to mitigate food insecurity but empowers women to resist systems and structures of oppression and to embrace affirming and life-giving traditions.

A Dark Green Religious Analysis of the Life and Work of Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011)

Dark Green Religion (DGR), is an umbrella term formulated by Bron Taylor, to describe nature revering movements that do not fit into the category of organized religion. These movements use religious-like emotions to express their convictions and display a sincere commitment towards the environment. A central focus of DGR is a deep-felt kinship with all living organisms on Earth (arising from a Darwinian understanding that all forms of life have developed from a common ancestor), accompanied by feelings of humility coupled with a critical view of human moral superiority. This article presents a Dark Green Religious analysis of the life and work of Wangari Maathai (1940-2011). She was the first woman in East Africa to receive a doctorate, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work with the Green Belt Movement (GBM). In the DGR analysis, it is illustrated that the principles of belonging, interconnectedness and sacredness are revealed through Maathai’s written legacy. Evidence is also presented that she could be viewed as an example of Naturalistic Gaianism, one of the four types of DGR. In conclusion, a link between ecofeminism and DGR is proposed by highlighting the shared concepts between the two phenomena.

What Did We Do to Our Mountain? African Eco-Feminist and Indigenous Responses to Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge Districts, Zimbabwe

Cyclone Idai caused untold devastation in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, Zimbabwe. In scenes reminiscent of the biblical deluge, in some places entire settlements were eradicated from the face of the earth. Houses were swept away, bodies were submerged and water, typically understood as the source of life, became the source of death. Individuals, families, communities and nations were left traumatized, and the search for meaning continues. Inevitably, religion featured prominently in explanations of this tragedy. This article is a preliminary review of the explanations of Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts, Zimbabwe, within the frame of African Traditional Religion/s (ATR/s) and Christianity. The article delves into questions at the interface of climate change and religion, such as: how do survivors of the cyclone explain its occurrence? What do we learn about the interface between religion and climate change in Africa from the responses to Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts? The article adopts the African ecofeminist perspective. This is informed by the fact that women and girls comprise the bulk of the population heavily impacted by Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge as well as the fact that they are the ones who were in the forefront of mitigating the impact of devastation caused by this ecological catastrophe. Our article seeks to contribute to the ongoing scholarly discussions on the nexus between religion, gender and climate change by foregrounding the experiences of women and girls affected by Cyclone Idai. The first part of the article describes the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai. The second part outlines the Christian and indigenous interpretations of the cyclone. The third part of the article teases out the indigenous interpretations of unpredictable weather patterns.

Honouring Dr Alease Brown

This volume is dedicated to honouring the memory of Dr Alease Brown who was the initial lead editor of this special issue before her untimely passing. The impact of her sudden demise and the yawning gap that she left among the members of the Circle is aptly captured in the eulogy prepared by Professor Musa Dube.

Mother Earth, Mother Africa and African Women’s Role in Indigenous Religions

This paper explores the nexus between African indigenous religio-culture and ecology, gender, rituals and the environment, in current ritual debates. Current debates demonstrate that ritual has filtered into the public space thereby being resilient and at the same time vulnerable to exploitation by the public sphere. Examining the current debates on rites of passage, this article reviews four chapters from the book Mother Earth, Mother Africa and African Indigenous Religions. African indigenous rituals are spaces that produce knowledge for African ways of living. However, in search of progress, development and better life, most African people have been neglecting rites as they seem unprogressive. In ritual spaces, the novices were instructed about how to engage with nature and how to live with others within communities. Ritual spaces gave women and men (initiates) agency over a vast number of life issues. Drawing on African feminist cultural hermeneutics, I examine ritual functions as a tool to understand how contemporary African people’s search for justice can be gleaned within such African rituals in order to uplift women’s agency.

Sacred Earth and African Women’s Theology

This special issue is one of the nine academic publications emerging from the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians’ (the Circle) Fifth Pan-African Conference, held at the University of Botswana (Gaborone), July 2-5, 2019. The conference was also a commemoration of the Circle’s thirty years of existence. It featured papers on some aspects of the theme, “Mother Earth and Mother Africa in Theological/Religious/Cultural/Philosophical Imagination.” As was noted in the Conference Call for Papers:The land is often constructed as female gendered and the oppression of women is interlinked with the oppression of the Earth; and…it is widely acknowledged that we live in the era of global warming - which is humanly induced and of which many have also linked with anthropocentric religious/cultural/theological perspectives.

Gender and Access to Land Ownership: Christian Reflection on the Experience of Malawian Widows

Most women in Malawi encounter gender-based discrimination and violence when attempting to access land rights. Although legally land is transferred from parents to children, culturally in practical terms, land is either controlled by a brother or an uncle, leaving female members of the family with no decision-making powers. Upon the death of the husband, the widow loses property jointly held with the husband, as well as her own marital property to either the brother of the husband, or to her own brothers and uncles. Regardless of the many years spent in building their life together while enjoying the land they lived on and cared for together, unfortunately, the death of her husband leaves the widow with nothing. Lack of civic education makes many widows remain ignorant of the fact that the Malawian law protects them, and their land claims. This ignorance contributes to the suffering and impoverishment of many widows and leads some to live in acute poverty. The church has a special obligation to protect the rights of widows. It has an obligation to help empower women to secure land and the right to land so that widows can contribute to the larger community. Using a narrative approach, this article will demonstrate the difficulties faced by Malawian widows in terms of land claims. Current practices of inheritance and the ways widows are dispossessed will be uplifted through widows’ own stories about their lived realities. The article will conclude by proffering constructive proposals about how the church can empower widows to find solutions to these very real problems