I read the article, followed the link and read Oliver Tambo's speech delivered at his inauguration as Chancellor of Fort Hare University. Both scholars cited in the piece. Richard Elphick an imminent historian of South African history and Christianity, and Olufemi Tiawo, a great African thinker, recognize the problems colonial missions created and faced. This is an old debate which early African theologians addressed in the 1960s. It was taken in a new and robost manner in Volume 1 and 2 of Of Revelation and Revolution by Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff; works in which they meticulously argued that Christian missionaries failed to live their own logic of a faith which prioritized individual freedom because in the case of South Africa the project of modernity was brutally compromised by apartheid, racism, and an unbridled capitalist project, even as it promoted modernity and its institutions in a system which the missionaries found themselves at odds, but were also collaborators and shared a similar world view of modernizing Africans; hence the numerous projects the missionaries started in education and "godly medicine."
Throughout my graduate school career, I was confronted with literature which articulated the link with colonialism and religion, and as some one studying theology and philosophy, it made me appreciate black theology and the theology of liberation. Yet I was also convinced that out of that negative praxis by missionaries, Africans were provided a space to stand, speak, strategize, and liberate themselves, even if that was the goal of missionaries. At the Parliament of World Religions in Cape Town in 1999, Nelson Mandela spoke of the work religious communities did in South Africa and pointed out that when he grew up the only schools where blacks could get an education was in the mission schools.
Recognizing the ambiguity of these institutions is not an apology for apartheid and colonialism and I do not think those discuss these issues are interested making an apology for white supremacy of slavery, ideals and practices that are be definition indefensible. These discussions offer us an opportunity to probe the past and recognize how far we have come as a continent.
Elias Bongmba
On Monday, December 30, 2013 7:18:26 AM UTC-6, kwame zulu shabazz wrote:
-- Throughout my graduate school career, I was confronted with literature which articulated the link with colonialism and religion, and as some one studying theology and philosophy, it made me appreciate black theology and the theology of liberation. Yet I was also convinced that out of that negative praxis by missionaries, Africans were provided a space to stand, speak, strategize, and liberate themselves, even if that was the goal of missionaries. At the Parliament of World Religions in Cape Town in 1999, Nelson Mandela spoke of the work religious communities did in South Africa and pointed out that when he grew up the only schools where blacks could get an education was in the mission schools.
Recognizing the ambiguity of these institutions is not an apology for apartheid and colonialism and I do not think those discuss these issues are interested making an apology for white supremacy of slavery, ideals and practices that are be definition indefensible. These discussions offer us an opportunity to probe the past and recognize how far we have come as a continent.
Elias Bongmba
On Monday, December 30, 2013 7:18:26 AM UTC-6, kwame zulu shabazz wrote:
Nonsense. Sometimes "nuance" winds up being a thinly veiled apology for white supremacy. Next, we will see a "nuanced" interpretation of slavery. This is, in fact, repackaged racism from earlier era masquerading as scholarship.kzs
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
No comments:
Post a Comment