Studying religion in the pluriversity: decolonial perspectives

Taking up the concept of the pluriversity as developed by mostly South American thinkers, this essay shares some thoughts about what the study of religion/s might look like if we seriously engage with questions of decolonisation. Building on the critique of the dominant Western, Eurocentric, colonialist and racialised models of thought that have historically shaped the field, I make a constructive proposal for an approach to the study of religion/s that centres around three Ps: a commitment to Pluriversality, an acknowledgment of Partiality, and a commitment to Participatory work. I illustrate this with some specific examples from studying religion in contemporary African contexts

Changing the narrative of sexuality in African Christianity: Bishop Christopher Senyonjo’s LGBT advocacy

This introduction to the special section dedicated to Bishop Christopher Senyonjo puts his ministry in the wider context of contemporary African Christianity, in particular African Christian politics of homosexuality and LGBT rights

The future of Christianity and LGBT rights in Africa – a conversation with Rev. Dr Bishop Christopher Senyonjo

In this interview, Rev. Dr Bishop Christopher Senyonjo narrates his involvement in LGBT advocacy in Uganda, and reflects on his pastoral and theological motivation and inspiration for this work

Ancestors, embodiment and sexual desire : Wild religion and the body in the story of a South African lesbian sangoma

This article explores the intersections of religion, embodiment and queer sexuality in the autobiographic account of a South African self-identifying 'lesbian sangoma', on the basis of the book Black Bull, Ancestors and Me: My Life as a Lesbian Sangoma, by Nkunzi Zandile Nkabinde. The article offers an intertextual reading of this primary text, first vis-à-vis David Chidester's Wild Religion: Tracking the Sacred in South Africa, and second, vis-à-vis some black lesbian feminist writings, specifically by Audre Lorde, M. Jacqui Alexander, and Gloria Wekker. This intertextual reading foregrounds the embodied and in fact queer nature of the wild forces of indigenous religion in contemporary South Africa, and it illuminates how embodied and erotic experience is grounded in the domain of the sacred. Hence the article concludes by arguing for a decolonising and post-secular move in the field of African queer studies, underlining the need to take the sacred seriously as a site of queer subjectivity

African Studies Keywords: Queer

“Queer” is a relatively recent and somewhat controversial term in African studies. Yet it is proving to be productive, not only for understanding African subjectivities of sexuality and gender, but also Africa’s position in the larger economy of knowledge. This essay explores the productive tensions between “queer” and “Africa,” and aims to read Africa as queer and to read queer from Africa. Thus, rather than imagining Africa and queer as polar opposites, the essay harnesses the critical, productive, and creative affinities between these two terms that are vital for the project of decolonizing and queering queer Africa

Pentecostal intimacies: women and intimate citizenship in the ministry of repentance and holiness in Kenya

This article explores the intersections of gender, sexuality and citizenship in the context of one prominent neo-Pentecostal movement in Kenya, the Ministry of Repentance and Holiness (MRH) led by the charismatic Prophet David Owuor. Employing the concept of intimate citizenship, the article analyses, first, how MRH engages in a contestation of intimate citizenship in the contemporary Kenyan public sphere, especially in relation to women’s bodies. Second, it examines how MRH simultaneously configures, through a range of highly intimate beliefs, practices and techniques, an alternative form of intimate citizenship defined by moral purity and concerned with a political project of moral regeneration. Coining the notion of ‘Pentecostal intimacies’, the article provides insight into the reasons why so many people, especially women, are attracted to MRH, and hence it interrogates the liberal frame in which intimate citizenship is usually conceptualised

e+e−e^{+}e^{-} pairs from a nuclear transition signaling an elusive light neutral boson

Electron-positron pairs have been observed in the 10.95-MeV $0^-\to0^+$ decay in $^{16}$O. The branching ratio of the e$^+$e$^-$ pairs compared to the 3.84-MeV $0^-\to2^+$ $\gamma$ decay of the level is deduced to be $20(5)\times10^{-5}$. This magnetic monopole (M0) transition cannot proceed by $\gamma$-ray decay and is, to first order, forbidden for internal pair creation. However, the transition may also proceed by the emission of a light neutral $0^{-}$ or $1^{+}$ boson. Indeed, we do observe a sharp peak in the $e^{+}e^{-}$ angular correlation with all the characteristics belonging to the intermediate emission of such a boson with an invariant mass of 8.5(5) MeV/c$^2$. It may play a role in the current quest for light dark matter in the universe.Comment: 6 page