Accounting for the Shift Towards ‘Multifaith’ Religious Education in Zambia, 1964 -2017

This article sheds light on the factors that contributed to the development of ‘multifaith’ Religious Education (RE) in Zambia after 1964. Our analysis makes a contribution to the discourse on inter-religious RE in Zambia by demonstrating how Zambia became a multifaith society, a context in which political statements and ideologies have influenced the framing of the aim, and selection of, the content of the subject. Research for this article consisted of interviews with Christian missionaries who shared with us their involvement in developing, teaching and evaluating standards of the teaching of RE. We also carried out an appraisal of literature related to the topic so as to complement our arguments. Contrary to widely held perceptions which attribute RE to the missionaries’ influence, this article argues that Christian missionaries, immigrants and local politics all had their own influence on the move to develop a ‘multifaith’ RE. Missionaries developed the kind of RE that responded to Zambia’s religious context, local politics, the multiracial, multicultural and multifaith situation in the country, and invested their time, energy and money in the subject. These efforts to move towards ‘multifaith’ RE were challenged by internal and external forces. In the context of shifting political ideologies, the current nature and content of RE has been challenged to reflect a multifaith RE which mirrors the religious context of the country. We argue that Zambian scholars of RE can learn a number of valuable lessons from the missionaries such as their hard work and passion to ensure that RE remains a curriculum subject with required books. As the next RE research agenda in Zambia, we propose researching on the subject in terms of its rationale and its educational basis

Accounting for the Shift Towards ‘Multifaith’ Religious Education in Zambia, 1964 -2017

This article sheds light on the factors that contributed to the development of ‘multifaith’ Religious Education (RE) in Zambia after 1964. Our analysis makes a contribution to the discourse on inter-religious RE in Zambia by demonstrating how Zambia became a multifaith society, a context in which political statements and ideologies have influenced the framing of the aim, and selection of, the content of the subject. Research for this article consisted of interviews with Christian missionaries who shared with us their involvement in developing, teaching and evaluating standards of the teaching of RE. We also carried out an appraisal of literature related to the topic so as to complement our arguments. Contrary to widely held perceptions which attribute RE to the missionaries’ influence, this article argues that Christian missionaries, immigrants and local politics all had their own influence on the move to develop a ‘multifaith’ RE. Missionaries developed the kind of RE that responded to Zambia’s religious context, local politics, the multiracial, multicultural and multifaith situation in the country, and invested their time, energy and money in the subject. These efforts to move towards ‘multifaith’ RE were challenged by internal and external forces. In the context of shifting political ideologies, the current nature and content of RE has been challenged to reflect a multifaith RE which mirrors the religious context of the country. We argue that Zambian scholars of RE can learn a number of valuable lessons from the missionaries such as their hard work and passion to ensure that RE remains a curriculum subject with required books. As the next RE research agenda in Zambia, we propose researching on the subject in terms of its rationale and its educational basis

From “White Fathers” to “Black Fathers” in Kasama and Mpika Dioceses in Zambia

Employing the missiological theory of Henry Venn (1796-1873) and Rufus Anderson (1796-1880) on indigenisation of churches, this article explores the lived experiences of black Zambian Catholic clergymen, nuns, catechists and lay people at some of the mission stations that were once in the hands of Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as White Fathers, from 1891to1991 in the Archdiocese of Kasama and Diocese of Mpika. To write about the White Fathers from the point of view of our interviewees accords us an auspicious opportunity to pay tribute to Fr. Hugo Hinfelaar to whom this article and this particular issue of the Zambia Journal of Social Sciences is dedicated. Having arrived in Zambia as a young Dutch White Father missionary in 1958, Fr. Hinfelaar desired to understand the culture of the Bemba people among whom he was working. He, therefore, became a serious field worker – an anthropologist, historian and theologian. He retired and returned home in 2014, after having contributed to the efforts of indigenising the Catholic Church’s clergy and inculturation of the Catholic faith in the country. The article demonstrates that the indigenisation of Kasama and Mpika Dioceses was incomplete. This is because, of the “three selves”: self-propagating church, self-sustaining church and self-governing church in the indigenisation theory, the self-sustaining church has not been realised according to the respondents, although some of them spoke of the White Fathers having accomplished their mission. This article proposes a reengagement with the discourse of ‘self-sustainability’ which has largely been abandoned by local Catholic theologians. However, it is now an issue which has become all too apparent to be ignored as the Catholic Church becomes more and more indigenised, at least in terms of its clergy. This article proposes a new theme in Church history in Zambia, namely, the localisation of the personnel and self-sustainability in the Catholic Church in Zambia

Lived Disablers to Academic Success of the Visually Impaired at the University of Zambia, Sub‑Saharan Africa

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) benchmark of persons with disability in every population is 15.6 per cent. However, the University of Zambia is way below that benchmark as it is home to less than 0.1 per cent of students classified as ‘disabled’. Within the 0.1 per cent, students with visual impairment are the majority, estimated at 70 per cent. The purpose of this study was to explore disablers (also known as barriers) to academic success faced by students with visual impairment at the University of Zambia. A Hermeneutic Phenomenological approach directed the research process. Seven purposively sampled participants volunteered to voice their lived experiences and a cluster of themes emerged thereafter. Emerging from their lived experiences are thirteen disablers that impede the learning experiences at University and key amongst them are: (i) negative attitudes; (ii) policypractice disjuncture; (iii) staff unreadiness and unpreparedness; (iv) inaccessible buildings; and (v) rigid curricula. Keywords: disablers; Hermeneutic Phenomenology; inclusive education; University of Zambia; visual impairmen

Lived Disablers to Academic Success of the Visually Impaired at the University of Zambia, Sub‑Saharan Africa

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) benchmark of persons with disability in every population is 15.6 per cent. However, the University of Zambia is way below that benchmark as it is home to less than 0.1 per cent of students classified as ‘disabled’. Within the 0.1 per cent, students withvisual impairment are the majority, estimated at 70 per cent. The purpose of this study was to explore disablers (also known as barriers) to academic success faced by students with visual impairment at the University of Zambia. A Hermeneutic Phenomenological approach directed the research process.Seven purposively sampled participants volunteered to voice their lived experiences and a cluster of themes emerged thereafter. Emerging from their lived experiences are thirteen disablers that impede the learning experiences at University and key amongst them are: (i) negative attitudes; (ii) policypractice disjuncture; (iii) staff unreadiness and unpreparedness; (iv) inaccessible buildings; and (v) rigid curricula

Contemporary Africa through the theory of Louis Dumont

Abstract This article responds to a trend in recent anthropological scholarship in Africa that has overemphasized a lack of social organization following the advancement of neoliberal reforms across the continent. Using a theoretical framework informed by the theory of Louis Dumont, I show that social organization remains an important analytical topic in times of crisis, and that this is best apprehended through an analysis of values. The ethnographic focus of this article is Pentecostal Christianity as it is practiced on the Zambian Copperbelt. In this particular African context, Pentecostalism is animated by an overarching value that I call "moving," which is in turn made up to two sub-values: charisma and prosperity. By exploring how Pentecostal believers navigate the hierarchical relationship between these two sub-values, we are given a clear picture of the social world that Pentecostal adherence makes possible

Accounting for the Shift Towards ‘Multifaith’ Religious Education in Zambia, 1964 -2017

This article sheds light on the factors that contributed to the development of ‘multifaith’ Religious Education (RE) in Zambia after 1964. Our analysis makes a contribution to the discourse on inter-religious RE in Zambia by demonstrating how Zambia became a multifaith society, a context in which political statements and ideologies have influenced the framing of the aim, and selection of, the content of the subject. Research for this article consisted of interviews with Christian missionaries who shared with us their involvement in developing, teaching and evaluating standards of the teaching of RE. We also carried out an appraisal of literature related to the topic so as to complement our arguments. Contrary to widely held perceptions which attribute RE to the missionaries’ influence, this article argues that Christian missionaries, immigrants and local politics all had their own influence on the move to develop a ‘multifaith’ RE. Missionaries developed the kind of RE that responded to Zambia’s religious context, local politics, the multiracial, multicultural and multifaith situation in the country, and invested their time, energy and money in the subject. These efforts to move towards ‘multifaith’ RE were challenged by internal and external forces. In the context of shifting political ideologies, the current nature and content of RE has been challenged to reflect a multifaith RE which mirrors the religious context of the country. We argue that Zambian scholars of RE can learn a number of valuable lessons from the missionaries such as their hard work and passion to ensure that RE remains a curriculum subject with required books. As the next RE research agenda in Zambia, we propose researching on the subject in terms of its rationale and its educational basis