It is indisputable that Black Theology of Liberation (BTL) intentionally un-thinks the West. BTL has its own independent conceptual and theoretical foundations and can hold without the West if it rejects the architecture of Western knowledge as a final norm for life. This, however, is a spiritual matter which the article argues. The historical arrest..
Read moreBack from the Crocodile’s Belly: Christian formation meets indigenous resurrection
Undoing all forms of domination – including, in particular, religious domination – remains a crucial imperative of our time, given that domination constitutes a spirit-killing dynamic that distorts, oppresses and throws living beings (both human and non-human alike) out of synch with themselves. One form of domination in colonial contexts is the totalising claim to..
Read moreDeep solidarity: Broadening the basis of transformation
Across the globe, conditions of labour are worsening, providing both challenges and opportunities. As labour is one of the places where the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class is always at work, new models of resistance are created here as well. Deep solidarity describes what happens when the 99% who have to work..
Read moreJesters, tricksters, taggers and haints: Hipping the church to the Afro-hop, pop-‘n-lock mock-up currently rocking apocalyptic Detroit
The following essay investigates the animating force of jester-humour and trickster-critique as necessary components of prophetic consciousness and social movement. Climate change devastation coupled with racialised socio-economic predation today faces social movement with a stark demand. The root-work necessary enjoins challenge of human presumption about the meaning of life at the most basic level. The..
Read more#FeesMustFall as social movement and emancipatory politics? Moving towards an apocalyptic theological praxis outside the limits of party politics
This article proposes three reflexive movements. The first one offers an introduction to Fees Must Fall, pointing to some aspects that allow us to understand it as a social movement and some of its basic features. The second movement is a theoretical one, constructing the notion of emancipatory politics. It is based on the distinctions..
Read moreResponses to migration: Tensions and ambiguities of churches in Pretoria Central and Mamelodi East
This article is a result of research being conducted to explore how churches in two regions of the City of Tshwane – Pretoria Central and Mamelodi East – respond to urban change and vulnerability. Both regions are deeply affected by urban migration patterns. Firstly, I will explore various forms of migration – transnational, rural-urban, urban–suburban and generational –..
Read morePrecarious housing in the Salvokop neighbourhood: A challenge to churches in the inner City of Tshwane
This article describes the daunting challenge of precarious housing in Salvokop located in the southern part of inner City of Tshwane, Gauteng Province. Insecure tenure, unmaintained dwellings, overcrowding, mushrooming of backyard shacks and the rise of the informal settlement, all that led to deep levels of vulnerability and neighbourhood deterioration. Current conditions show that life..
Read moreChurches claiming a right to the city? Lived urbanisms in the City of Tshwane
This article sets out to describe how churches have responded and continue to respond to fast-changing urban environments in Pretoria Central and Mamelodi East, animating Henri Lefebvre’s sociological perspective of citadins or urban inhabitants. We make tentative interpretations and offer critical appreciation. Churches, which were historically separated from the city centre, now directly participate in..
Read moreConceptual considerations for studying churches’ engagement with urban fractures and vulnerabilities
This article provides an overview of conceptual considerations underpinning the design of a research project on religious innovation and competition amidst urban social change. The conceptual work developed out of the planning of the research methods, questions and questionnaires, and provides the background on which particular methodological choices and research foci were built. In six..
Read moreExploring possibilities of social entrepreneurial activities as a tool to reduce unemployment amongst churches in Tshwane central and Mamelodi East: Pretoria case study
Unemployment is one of the major problems in South Africa. It is the concern of the government and the people at large to engage in means in order to reduce poverty. In this research, I would like to explore the possibilities of social entrepreneurial activities as a way of social and economic transformation in Tshwane...
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