The African Journal of Gender and Religion (AJGR) is a bi-annual publication, moved in 2017 from the Gender and Religion Program at UKZN (Center for Deconstructive Theology at UKZN) to the Desmond Tutu Center for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape. Yet the majority of women members of ACSA are not in ordained ministry.
On methodological and conceptual choices
During the fieldwork, the selected research participants held various roles in the church, from membership in the leadership of the parish (parish council) to simply attending Sunday services. The combination of the move to online surveying and the use of snowball sampling probably led to the sample including more people from a slightly higher socioeconomic class (people who had easy access to WiFi or mobile data) than would otherwise have been the case.
Inclusion through the eyes and experiences of research participants
8 The concept of intersectionality forms the conceptual framework used in the data analysis and discussion. It is noteworthy that participants in the interviews presented an overwhelmingly positive experience of inclusion in their current congregations.
Inclusion as acceptance
Importantly, the fact that the women interviewed spoke primarily of experiences of feeling included rather than excluded in their current parishes does not detract from the understanding of inclusion that emerges in the analysis. In addition, some women recounted experiences of exclusion in churches they attended or belonged to in the past, which contributed to a better understanding of inclusion.
Inclusion as community
Joyce, a member of the Mothers' Union (MU), mentioned language differences as a contributing factor to some not experiencing a sense of belonging within church groups. In relation to small groups, Palesa's comparison of the coronavirus to apartheid makes sense, as it has disrupted the lives of these groups:.
Inclusion as choice
She also mentioned her decision not to get involved in negative group dynamics in the parish. So her decision to join the Anglican Church was based on the need to feel connected to the area where she lived.
Inclusion as a voice
In resonating with Njoroge, inclusion as a voice is one of the more challenging forms of inclusion because of the level of discomfort and anxiety it presents to the person raising his or her voice. Nevertheless, the stories of the respondents show a freedom that comes from being brave enough to speak up, regardless of the outcome.
Inclusion as support
According to Mpho, young people seem to be "getting lost in the whole process" in the Anglican Church. In the same vein, Lerato and Palesa referred to a particular need for the parish leadership (non-ordained and ordained) to find ways to encourage the involvement of young people in the parishes.
Conclusion: towards an ecclesial framework of inclusion
Similar to the other four elements, the personal and structural levels of existence participate in the construction of inclusion and exclusion. As the framework is based on the experiences of selected participants in individual contexts, this research offers only a limited perspective on the question of involvement in the church.
Revisiting the Legacy of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians Today: A Lesson in Strength and Perseverance.” Verbum et Ecclesia 37, no. An Exploratory Study of the Experience and Place of Women in the Church: A Case Study of a Parish in the Church of the Province of South Africa (CPSA), Diocese of Cape Town.” MA, University of the Western Cape, 2006.
Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa: A Queer Theologian’s Appraisal
Introduction
26 discourse on religion and human sexuality, the importance of this publication by van Klinken and Chitando's cannot be overstated. In contrast to more concise reviews, this review article articulates four points worth considering when engaging van Klinken and Chitando.
An Appraisal
It is therefore appropriate to offer an assessment of this work, focusing on its promise and considering the further work that may be needed given its limitations. I am trying to contribute to the intellectual dialogue to which van Klinken and Chitando invite readers—whom I consider to be people of the Christian faith in Africa.
Coming to Terms with the Contours
4 Adriaan van Klinken and Ezra Chitando, Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa, (London: Hurst Publishers). Beyond these important institutions, Van Klinken and Chitando suggest that art is, in fact, the lifeblood of acknowledging the dignity and rights of those who are LGBT+.
Reimagining Bodies and the Body
29 Given that the bodies of Africa's LGBT+ people have been rendered unsafe, our commitment to reimagining must seek ways to recognize their dignity. In urging readers to reimagine the queer body, the authors also argue that ecclesiology needs to be reconceptualized—that the life of the church must be seen as deeply enriched by the diversity of sexualities and genders.
Considering the Moment
This reimagining of the Body—yes, the Copus Christi—is best seen in the chapters in the first and second parts of the publication. American evangelicalism is part of the "software" that allows the "hardware" of American exceptionalism to spread around the world.
Confronting Conservative Evangelicalism
16 Adriaan van Klinken, Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism, and the Arts of Resistance in Africa (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University, 2019), 42. Further, these formations, such as the Institute on Religion and Development, play a role leading role in determining the development of evangelism in Africa.
Faith to Fundamentalism
For this reason, it is essential to consider this strand of evangelicalism as deeply fundamentalist. An analysis of fundamentalism as it relates to this strand of evangelicalism in Africa requires a consideration of how culture is conceived.
Contemplating Method
Related to this, we are witnessing the rise of a rather conservative strand of evangelicalism gaining ground on the African continent and, quite importantly, this strand has direct links to right-wing politics in America. In response to the aforementioned limitation, I argue that it can be useful to read Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa alongside the works of scholars who present themselves as queer theologians.
Charlene van der Walt
37 Within the heteronormative there is only room for heterosexual experiences, constructions and realities and no other alternatives are tolerated. LGBTIQ+ bodies, like my own, experience surveillance and violence because they embody their sex, gender and sexuality differently from what is prescribed within the heteronormative ideal.27.
Hanzline Davids
38 Confessions of Christianity seriously, quite similar to van Klinken and Chitando, Davids draws on the very tradition of URCSA's doctrine to offer an alternative queer option, which he terms "an obscene proposition". This promise lies in its struggles with the violence directed at LGBT+ people and its transgressive courage to imagine a different reality, all while drawing on the faith that inspires and informs society.
Megan Robertson
This text, alongside Davids' other works, reveals the promise of queer theology in South Africa. 31 Megan Robertson, “Queer Studies and Religion in Southern Africa: The Production of Queer Christian Subjects,” Religion Compass 15, no.
Conclusion
Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa by Adriaan van Klinken and Ezra Chitando." Accessed May 16, 2021. Trump is out, but American evangelicalism remains alive and well in Africa." Last modified 17 January 2021.
Trans Inheritance Roundtable Fatima Seedat
Accordingly, the argument pays little attention to the consequences for the transgender heir, focusing instead on the parent's freedom to make a will according to a traditional reading of Islamic law. This is where Seehaam Samaai and Charlene May of the Women's Legal Center (WLC) start, in the South African legal context, with their argument that the right to freedom of religion should not overshadow the right to equality.
A brief analysis of the status of a transgender beneficiary for purposes of an Islamic will within. In the Islamic law of compulsory inheritance, a son inherits double the share of a daughter.3 The share of inheritance to which Z is entitled therefore depends on whether Islamic law regards Z as a son or as a daughter for the purposes of X's inheritance.
The status of a transgender persons within the South African context
A Brief Analysis of the Status of a Transgender Beneficiary for the Purpose of an Islamic Will in the South African Context. A Brief Analysis of the Status of a Transgender Beneficiary for the Purpose of an Islamic Will in the South African Context.
The status of a transgender person in terms of Islamic law
53 It can be argued that sex reassignment surgery falls into the category of wanting to change the nature created by Allah (God Almighty) and that a person who wishes to change the nature in which he or she was created is being deceived by Satan ( Satan). In 1988, a fatwa was issued by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi, regarding the status of a person who has undergone sex reassignment surgery.
Potential challenges by a transgender beneficiary in light of an Islamic will
There would then be no basis to challenge the allocation of shares in relation to the Islamic will based on constitutional principles. An Analysis of the Rationale Behind the Distribution of Shares in Relation to the Islamic Law of Succession." De Jure Law Journal 53 (2020b): 115–122.
A Feminist Response to Address Inheritance Discrimination in South Africa
63 Article 91 of the Constitution clearly recognizes the right to equality and non-discrimination by the state as well as private actors (whoever they may be). In doing so, we provide a summary of the right to freedom of will and how, in the application of religious beliefs and teachings on the issue, it intersects with the South African Constitution.
Freedom of Testation
Mohamed El-Tahir El-Mesawi (London-Washington: International Institute of Islamic Thought (HIT ii; Jasser Auda, Maqasid Al-Shariah An Introductory Guide, (Herndon, VA: IIIT, 2008); Muhammad Adil Khan Afridi, "Maqasid Al-Shariah -Sharia and safeguarding fundamental rights: Under the theme 'Islam and its perspectives on contemporary global and local challenges', Journal of Education and Social Sciences.(paper presented at IIUM International Conference on Islamic Banking and Finance, Institute of Banking and Islamic Finance IIUM, Kuala Lumpur, April 23-25, 2007), https://iaif.ir/images/khareji/articles/other/60.pdf.
An analysis of gender identity in Islam
68 property. The Islamic system is a comprehensive system in which inheritance is distributed based on obligations. They experience not just one form of discrimination, but multiple forms of discrimination based on their sex, gender, race and religion.
A rights-based analysis of gender identity
70 a balanced rights approach ultimately disposes of a zero-sum conception of the right to freedom of religion. Respect for diversity is one of the main reasons supporting the protection of both freedom of religion and the right to equality.
CASES
Inherence and Inheritance: A Roundtable Discussion on Inheritance for Transgender Muslim
Inheritance in the Islamic texts
Nevertheless, there is still a difference in the amount of inheritance distributed across gender and gender boundaries. In the Arabic lexicon used in the Qur'an, "man" and "woman" and "man" are described and.
The female subject in Islamic texts
80 When it comes to understanding the "imperfect legal capacity of women", scholar Ihsan Ahmad Nyazie presents what it does and avoids explaining what it is.18 In this regard, the obscurity surrounding the category of "imperfect legal capacity" limits Muslim women. in different ways. . Consequently, the woman and the femininity associated with her are articulated as a "defect" in contrast to the male and male normative legal subject.22 In this way, through the reduction of women's social roles to that of the female biological sex. The patriarchal and cis-normative interpretation of Islamic law renders anyone who is not a free, cisgender, Muslim man as legally "other."
The trans and intersex subjects in Islamic texts
Despite this interpretation of Islamic law favoring the cis-normative, masculine Muslim male, we can also look to the Islamic scholars who deal with the intersex topic in Islamic legal texts. 26 Ani Amelia Zainuddin and Zaleha Abdullah Mahdy, “The Islamic Perspectives of Gender Issues in the Treatment of Patients with Disorders of Sexual Development”, .
The law of the state
It is assumed that the dying father has a constitutional right to the exercise and freedom of religion that, in this case, has been armed to brand his son's resistance to transphobia as a violation of his religious freedom. When disputes have occurred, the state has prioritized the "right to religious freedom" of religious authorities in a secular state, when in reality they are equally complicit in the marginalization of these Muslim minorities.40 In addition to the state's fear of infringing on the rights of Muslims. authorities, the state also allows them to maintain hegemonic control over Muslim minorities, since any interference on their part runs counter to the legal concern about doctrinal entanglement: that the state either become too involved in the affairs of a particular religious community or excess of them. it becomes indicative of placing the mentioned religion on a pedestal in a supposedly secular society.41 In this way, the state appears politically.
Inherence and inheritance
While Abduroaf's article attempts to argue that the right to religious freedom trumps the validity of a transgender man's right to inheritance and, in turn, his prosperity and survival, I have criticized many of the shortcomings in this hypothetical case study. A brief analysis of the status of a transgender beneficiary for purposes of an Islamic will within the South African context." African Journal of Gender & Religion 28, no.1 (2022).
Interpretive Possibilities in Islamic Inheritance Law: Rethinking Daughters’ Shares
4 That is, “the relationship,” not a particular person with that relationship to the legator. In addition, this answer also explores the possibility of creating exceptions to the general principle of "Divine".
Family, Failure and Fatigue in the Field: A Patchwork of Omissions
Both in form and content, it speaks to three key issues of feminist scholarship: the place of feminist knowledge in the academy, the power and position of research, and the direction towards gender justice in all spheres of life. Our academic and private lives are inescapably intertwined, and the need to pretend otherwise can be a great strain on scholars who struggle with different demands on their time and energy.
Family, Failure and Fatigue in the Field: A Patchwork of Omissions
The point of departure for such a transformation lies in recognizing the gendered and racialized ways in which work, care work, insecurity and privilege are distributed within and between societies, and the differential risk differently situated researchers face when they choose to write subversively. As in the original speech, descriptions for visually impaired participants are included in the text.
An endless edit
Not just by peers, supervisors, bosses – some of them anyway – but, most importantly, by me. I particularly drew on the work of Cerwonka and Malkkis6 to reflect on what the realization of this marking and somehow coming to terms with my vulnerability and caring responsibilities meant.
Fieldwork hurts
At this point in the conversation, I started to regroup after having to take many breaks. When schools reopened, the same child who got sick in Uganda got a nasty headache.
Edited out
It was in the midst of all this musing that I came across the work of a dance therapist, Pauliina Jääskeläinen. In the article, written as a dialogue with a colleague - and I cannot recommend this piece highly enough - Pauliina writes about how the death of her son affected her research.10.
Parenting pain
104 Yet, during the past year, and during significant stretches of my life before that, this pursuit of seriousness seems to have taken its toll. Over and over, I constructed my "expertise" through an exclusion of my vulnerability, and through an exclusion of me-in-the-world, as fundamentally and more than in any other way, as a parent to my children.
Literature
