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

Citizenship of Love: The Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics of Sexual Citizenship in a Kenyan Gay Music Video

Against the background of the current politicisation of homosexuality and the policing of sexual citizenship in Kenya and other African countries, this article offers an analysis of the Kenyan gay music video Same Love, released by the band Art Attack in 2016. Employing the concept of acts of citizenship (Isin and Nielsen 2008), the article foregrounds the political, ethical and aesthetic aspects through which the lyrics and images of Same Love perform an act of sexual citizenship mediated through art. It argues that as an artistic intervention, the video interrogates popular narratives of homosexuality as un-Kenyan, un-African and un-Christian and creates a sense of a citizenship that is yet to come: a pan-African, Christian and queer citizenship of love. Thus, the article explores the new possibilities of cultural, sexual and religious citizenship created through popular culture and public space in contemporary Africa

Data for: PETROLOGY OF SAPROLITE DEVELOPED ON GNEISSES IN THE MATOMB REGION, SOUTH CAMEROON

The petrological study of saprolite developed on gneisses in the Matomb region (South Cameroon) was carried out by petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses. The gneisses have a granoblastic heterogranular texture and are made up of quartz, biotite, feldspars, kyanite, garnet, rutile and enstatite. Chemically, they show high contents in SiO2 (64.93%), Ba (723 ppm), Sr (347 ppm), V (135 ppm), Zr (126 ppm) and moderate contents in Al2O3 (15.24 %). The REE content is low (99.12%) with a slight positive Eu anomaly and no Ce anomaly. From bottom to top, the soil is composed of a coarse saprolite and fine saprolite. The coarse saprolite is mainly sandy, showing gray, pink, red phases as well as white loamy sand and yellow sandy loam phases. The main minerals are quartz, kaolinite, gibbsite, goethite, hematite, biotite, muscovite, kyanite and rutile. In addition, the coarse saprolite also contains chlorite, smectite, vermiculite and chlorite-vermiculite. The fine saprolite is composed of white, pink and red brown phases. They have a similar mineral assemblage, with the exception of the concomitant disappearance of biotite and 2/1 clay minerals which certainly represent the first fugacity steps of biotite weathering. The SiO2 content decreases from the coarse saprolite to the fine saprolite compared to the parent rock, but the white sample of the fine saprolite shows high SiO2 (70.31%) content. The Al2O3 content increases up the profile while the Fe2O3 content is variable. The white samples show low Fe2O3 values (4.07 to 0.19%). The red material is particularly rich in Fe2O3 (15.32%). Ba, Zr, Zn and V show high contents in the profile. Cr (967.00 ppm) shows the highest value in the profile and U (1982 ppm) content is very high in one of the pink materials of the fine saprolite. SiO2 has negative correlation with Al2O3, Fe2O3, TiO2, Zr, Ni and V. The correlations of Fe2O3 with Cr and V are positive. The correlations between Zr and Th, Nb, Hf are positive. The REE contents increase up the profile and fluctuate in the saprolite phases. The white samples are very poor in REE. The Matomb soil samples show positive Ce anomalies and negative Eu anomalies probably due to the depletion of Eu, the relative enrichment of other REE or to the absence of carrier minerals. Contrary to what has always been observed in the South Cameroon plateau, the white samples of the fine saprolite show positive Eu anomalies. This could be indicative of the probable presence of other carrier minerals apart from feldspars which always occur in this milieu or the leaching of some elements. The (La/Yb)N<1 ratio in some weathered phases indicates a high mobility of LREE in these materials. Mass balance shows that the transition from the rock to the weathered materials is accompanied by a strong depletion of several elements particularly HREE and a moderate LREE enrichment. Thus, the relative mobility of elements determines the colour differenciation of phases in the saprolite

Assessing soil quality under different land cover types within shifting agriculture in South Cameroon

The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types. The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types. The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types. The common agricultural practice in the humid tropical forest zone of Cameroon is shifting cultivation, which leads to a landscape mosaic system characterized by a diversity of land cover types. Our objective was to evaluate soil properties and soil quality under these land cover types and to investigate on their interrelationships. Topsoil samples (0–20 cm) were collected at the same time from 8 different land cover types (bare soil with burned vegetation biomass (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation biomass (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (SF), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevrei forest (FG), and raffia and Uapacca forest (RA)) and analysed for routine laboratory determinations. A soil quality index (SQI) computed based on soil chemical properties, analysis of variance and multiple comparison tests were used to compare soils from different land cover types. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to select the most appropriate indicators that control soil quality. Several soil properties showed high to very high coefficient of variation within the land cover types. Organic matter was significantly high under forested land cover types (FC, FG, RA) and under bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1). Soil quality differs significantly (p = 0.000) from one land cover to another and shows the following ranking: SQI_FR1 SQI_FG > SQI_RA > SQI_FR > SQI_FC > SQI_JC > SQI_FS > SQI_JR. Organic matter (OM), available P, calcium (Ca), and pHw combined, accounted for 88.5% of the variation of soil quality. The soil quality appeared to be highly influenced by ashes from burned vegetation biomass which temporally enriches soils with nutrient elements and by the organic matter supplied by forested land cover types

Data for: PETROLOGY OF SAPROLITE DEVELOPED ON GNEISSES IN THE MATOMB REGION, SOUTH CAMEROON

The petrological study of saprolite developed on gneisses in the Matomb region (South Cameroon) was carried out by petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses. The gneisses have a granoblastic heterogranular texture and are made up of quartz, biotite, feldspars, kyanite, garnet, rutile and enstatite. Chemically, they show high contents in SiO2 (64.93%), Ba (723 ppm), Sr (347 ppm), V (135 ppm), Zr (126 ppm) and moderate contents in Al2O3 (15.24 %). The REE content is low (99.12%) with a slight positive Eu anomaly and no Ce anomaly. From bottom to top, the soil is composed of a coarse saprolite and fine saprolite. The coarse saprolite is mainly sandy, showing gray, pink, red phases as well as white loamy sand and yellow sandy loam phases. The main minerals are quartz, kaolinite, gibbsite, goethite, hematite, biotite, muscovite, kyanite and rutile. In addition, the coarse saprolite also contains chlorite, smectite, vermiculite and chlorite-vermiculite. The fine saprolite is composed of white, pink and red brown phases. They have a similar mineral assemblage, with the exception of the concomitant disappearance of biotite and 2/1 clay minerals which certainly represent the first fugacity steps of biotite weathering. The SiO2 content decreases from the coarse saprolite to the fine saprolite compared to the parent rock, but the white sample of the fine saprolite shows high SiO2 (70.31%) content. The Al2O3 content increases up the profile while the Fe2O3 content is variable. The white samples show low Fe2O3 values (4.07 to 0.19%). The red material is particularly rich in Fe2O3 (15.32%). Ba, Zr, Zn and V show high contents in the profile. Cr (967.00 ppm) shows the highest value in the profile and U (1982 ppm) content is very high in one of the pink materials of the fine saprolite. SiO2 has negative correlation with Al2O3, Fe2O3, TiO2, Zr, Ni and V. The correlations of Fe2O3 with Cr and V are positive. The correlations between Zr and Th, Nb, Hf are positive. The REE contents increase up the profile and fluctuate in the saprolite phases. The white samples are very poor in REE. The Matomb soil samples show positive Ce anomalies and negative Eu anomalies probably due to the depletion of Eu, the relative enrichment of other REE or to the absence of carrier minerals. Contrary to what has always been observed in the South Cameroon plateau, the white samples of the fine saprolite show positive Eu anomalies. This could be indicative of the probable presence of other carrier minerals apart from feldspars which always occur in this milieu or the leaching of some elements. The (La/Yb)N<1 ratio in some weathered phases indicates a high mobility of LREE in these materials. Mass balance shows that the transition from the rock to the weathered materials is accompanied by a strong depletion of several elements particularly HREE and a moderate LREE enrichment. Thus, the relative mobility of elements determines the colour differenciation of phases in the saprolite.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Contributions of soil chemical and physical properties in the dynamics of soil quality in the southern Cameroon plateau shifting agricultural landscape

Soil quality results from combination of chemical, physical and biological characteristics; according to ecosystems, some of these aspects become dominant. This Study was carried out on soils under 08 land cover types in the southern Cameroon ((bare soil with burned vegetation (FR1), bare soil with unburned vegetation (FR), Chromolaena odorata fallow (JC), bush ligneous fallow (JR), secondary forest (FS), primary forest (FC), Gilbertiodendron dewevei forest (FG), and raffia forest (RA) to assess the contributions of soil chemical and physical indicators into global soil quality index (IQSg). Topsoil samples were analyzed for physico-chemical characterizations and IQSg computed. Multiples statistical tests were used to compare the contribution of soil quality indicators and to select those that contributed the most in IQSg. Thus, under FR1, FC, FG and RA, IQSg was relatively high and the main contributors were chemical, estimated at more than 70%. Under FR, IQSg remains high and chemical contribution predominant (65%) on physical (35%). On the contrary, under fallows, IQSg is relatively low; these two types of contributions are nearly equivalents. Thus, the main indicators helping to assess IQSg in lower cost, contributing significantly to global soil quality and representatives of indicators are: organic matter (MO), pHw, and C/N ratio. The difference in contribution is due to the types of cultural practices, quality and quantity of MO brought by land cover types and topographical position

Elemental weathering fluxes and saprolite production rate in a Central African lateritic terrain (Nsimi, South Cameroon)

The comparison between contemporary and long-term weathering has been carried out in the Small Experimental Watershed (SEW) of Nsimi, South Cameroon in order to quantify the export fluxes of major and trace elements and the residence time of the lateritic weathering cover. We focus on the hillside system composed of a thick lateritic weathering cover topped by a soil layer. This study is built on the recent improvements of the hillside hydrological functioning and on the analyses of major and trace elements. The mass balance calculation at the weathering horizon scale performed with the parent rock as reference indicates (i) strong depletion profiles for alkalis (Na, K, Rb) and alkaline earths (Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba), (ii) moderate depletion profiles for Si, P, Cd, Cu, Zn, Ni and Co, (iii) depletion/enrichment profiles for Al, Ga, Ge, Sn, Pb, LREE, HREE, Y, U, Fe, V, Cr, Mn. It is noteworthy that (i) Mn and Ce are not significantly redistributed according to oxidative processes as it is the case for Fe, V and Cr, and (ii) Ge is fractionated compared to silica with enrichment in Fe-rich horizons. The calculations performed for the topsoil with iron crust as parent material reference reveal that the degradation of the iron crust is accompanied by the loss of most of the constituting elements, among which are those specifically accumulated as the redox sensitive elements (Fe, V, Cr) and iron oxide related elements like Th. The overall current elemental fluxes from the hillside system at the springs and the seepage zones are extremely low due to the inert lateritic mineralogy. Ninety-four percent of the whole Na flux generated from the hillside corrected from atmospheric deposits (77 mol/ha/yr) represents the current weathering rates of plagioclase (oligoclase) in the system, the other remaining 6% may be attributed to the dissolution of hornblende. The silica hillside flux is 300 mol/ha/yr and can be mostly attributed to the plagioclase and kaolinite dissolution. Al and Ga are exported from the lateritic regolith and maybe due to the dissolution of kaolinite crystals. Compared to the other immobile elements (Zr, Hf, Nb and Th), Ti is significantly exported. Among redox-sensitive elements (Fe, V, Cr, Mn, Ce), only Ce and Mn are exported out of the hillside system. The other elements (Fe, V, Cr) are likely able to be mobilized but over a short distance only. Rb, Sr, Ba, Ni, Cu, Zn are affected by export processes. LREE and Y are exported but in very low amounts (in the range from mu mol/ha/yr to mmol/ha/yr) while HREE and U are exported in negligible quantities. A first attempt is carried out to compare the mature ridge top profile from Nsimi SEW with the immature ridge top weathering profile from the Mule Hole SEW (South India), developed on similar granodioritic basement, in order to get deeper insight into (i) the contemporary saprolite production rates and (ii) the combined effect of precipitation (in terms of Mean Annual Rainfall, MAR) and evapotranspiration on the aggressiveness of the draining solutions. Considering (i) the contemporary Na flux as representative of the dissolution of plagioclase crystals and conservative during saprolitization processes and (ii) steady state of the inter-annual recharge (R) over a 10 years period, the current saprolite production rates (sigma(r)) are of 22 mm/kyr for Mule Hole SEW and 2 mm/kyr for Nsimi SEW, respectively. Even with a very low R/MAR ratio (0.04) compared to Nsimi, the chemical weathering at Mule Hole is active and related to the groundwater exports. At Mule Hole, plagioclase crystals are still present in the saprolite and the soil cover leading to a diffuse weathering front. The high Nsimi R/MAR ratio (0.2) allows the solution to be still aggressive with respect to the plagioclase and other weatherable minerals at the bedrock interface resulting in their complete breakdown in a few centimetres (sharp weathering front) leading to a mature saprolite. For the Nsimi SEW, if we consider (i) the low contemporary saprolite production rate (2 mm/kyr), (ii) the Miocene age (average 1