Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora Recent documents in Isabel Mukonyora, Ph.D. en-us Sun, 31 May 2009 06:39:16 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/11 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/11 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:45:27 PDT Same as the abstract of the published paper titled, "The Dramatization of Life and Death by Johane Masowe", University of Zimbabwe Humanities Journal (1998). See also Johane Masowe's Life and Death Dramatizations," SMT 88/3 (2000): 409-30 Isabel Mukonyora Religion and Ecology http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/10 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/10 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:39:50 PDT Isabel Mukonyora Religion and Ecology http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/9 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/9 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:27:25 PDT This article introduces Masowe Apostles as an environment-conscious movement whose rituals and religious language tie experiences of marginality and suffering to ideas of barrenness and infertility, while good fortune and blessings related to giving birth and nurturing life give expression to a way of understanding God as the source and protector of life. Students of religion will find in Masowe Apostle teaching the foundations of an eco-theology supported by ritual behavior which communicates religious truth through symbols suggesting the immanence of God as a healing power. Isabel Mukonyora Religion and Ecology http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/8 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/8 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:13:07 PDT This paper examines the connection between roles fulfilled by women as mothers and crop producers in Shona families, their familiarity with the environment of their work and the naming of Mwari (God), The Great Grandmother Earth worshipped by the Great Pool (Dzivaguru). It is argued that there is more to learn about ecology from female informants on Shona culture than the offical male leaders of the society. Isabel Mukonyora Religion and Ecology http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/7 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/7 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:56:02 PDT This paper dismisses the claim that Johane Masowe (1914-1973) is a "Black Messiah" replacing Christ among Masowe Apostles. It shows that Johane Masowe simply uses a symbolic religious image that is commonly used by diviners, spirit mediums and prophets to claim authority as leaders among Shona people. The prophet Johane Masowe is described as having suffered from depression, sickness, and having had near death experiences, all reminders of "kufa", the end of life. Then he is portrayed as "waking up" and getting restored to good health through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is argued that this provocative language is drama aimed at awakening the consciousness of God (Mwari) as the the source of life. "Dying" is a powerful symbol reminding believers of the causes of their misfortunates as Satan, while "rising" is a reminder of hopes for salvation in Shona religious language. Isabel Mukonyora African Initiated Churches http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/6 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/6 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:30:01 PDT In addition to co-editing this book, I published my first two articles as a masters graduate answering to a call to offer a short responses to the suggestion that the Bible has been used to support a western imperial Christianity from which African seek freedom by "rewriting the Bible." The first of my responses is a short article explaining that leaders of African Initiated Churches look to the Bible for messages that correspond with African religious aspirations, not stories of the victimization of the downtrodden. The second article suggests that feminist theologians make use of the Bible as advocates of liberation theology. This makes "rewriting" the Bible an exercise in contextual interpretations of the text, not necessarily the production of extra biblical texts. Isabel Mukonyora Intepretations of the Bible in Africa http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/5 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/5 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:24:12 PDT This article shows how women members of a Masowe Apostle patriarchal church exploit the general interest in the emancipation of believers to constrct from their experiences of oppression a radical feminist message hope. This article was used to prepare for the writing of "Wandering a Gendered Wilderness" (2007). Isabel Mukonyora Gender and Religion http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/4 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/4 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:09:25 PDT This paper argues for the development of a multi-dimensional concept of the "diaspora" to encompass experiences of reality in more recent histories of conflict. It is shown how a specifically African quest for a redemption through journeying and enacting rituals in peripheral places makes the "diaspora" a word more complex than traditional scholarship on the African Diaspora suggests. Masowe Apostles confront us with ways of thinking and acting in religious communities where diaspora means more than slaves being scattered abroad; but also the fragmentation of cultures, displacement, marginality and oppression in more recent histories of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. Isabel Mukonyora Gender and Religion http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/3 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/3 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:39:33 PDT This article shows how the Shona-speaking prophet Johane Masowe (1914-1973) adapted Christianity to the difficult human conditions that forced him and his followers to migrate from Zimbabwe during the economic depression of the 1930s. It suggests that the prophet Johane constructs a distinctly African theology of liberation by using the Exodus as symbolic language expressive of human suffering and hope for the redemption of African victims of oppression. The Exodus is used to legitimate Johane's migration from his rural home, Gandanzara, to Harare, Bulawayo and across the border to different cities in southern, central, and east Africa where Masowe Apostles are found today. This article goes beyond the analysis of texts that theologians traditionally use to explain Christianity, to the lived experiences of people addressing problems of displacement through migratory behavior. Isabel Mukonyora African Initiated Churches http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/2 http://works.bepress.com/isabel_mukonyora/2 Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:32:19 PDT Isabel Mukonyora African Religions and Politics