Based on in-depth interviews with over twenty inspirational Kenyan and Ugandan Christian and Muslim leaders actively involved in struggles for LGBTIQ rights, this open access book shows how religious leaders in East African countries can be agents of progressive social change.
Through a community-based approach of life-story methodology, a team of field-leading scholars and practitioners from Kenya and the UK draws out crucial, critical insights into the personal, theological and social sacrifices and challenges that these religious leaders face in everyday realities dominated by conservative religious interpretations and theologies. In so doing, they also identify common strategies religious leaders develop to respond to these challenges while keeping true to their mission.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com
Arvustused
Stories of Change offers a rare and compelling collection of voices that are too often absent from academic and public debates At a moment when discussions of religion and sexuality are frequently framed in terms of inevitability and conflict, the books cautious optimism feels both timely and necessary. * Canadian Journal of African Studies * For decades Africans have been fed a steady stream of loud, poisonous and alienating anti-LGBTIQ rhetoric from dogmatic religious leaders. This rare gem of a book gifts readers with the hitherto-muted voices of 24 religious leaders from E. Africa who have taken a strikingly different path from the mainstream; evoking empathy, love and compassion. To crown it all, they speak with dignity, intelligence and a calmness that is so refreshing and authentic. A must read. * Professor Sylvia Tamale, Ugandan Decolonial feminist Scholar * These 24 testimonies from East Africa surprise and delight. LGBTQI Christians, Muslims and allies counter exclusion and prejudice with narratives of resilience and hope. They offer compassionate insights into scriptural stories and the lives of faith they share. Collectively, the stories show an undercurrent in religious affiliation in East Africa that challenges dominant narratives. * Emma Wild-Wood, University of Edinburgh, UK *
Muu info
20 interviews with Kenyan and Ugandan Christian and Muslim leaders actively involved in struggles for LGBTIQ rights, presented and analysed by leading researchers and practitioners from Africa and the UK.
Foreword: A testament and source of hope, by Ezra Chitando
Introduction: Religious leaders and LGBTIQ inclusion in East Africa
PART I: Stories of LGBTIQ religious leaders
Chapter
1. Pastor Caroline: 'God is like a mother who holds you when you cry'
Chapter
2. Reverend Jalendo: 'I have learned from my own woundedness'
Chapter
3. Pastor Trevor: 'If there is anything that has taught me about God, it is my same-sex attraction'
Chapter
4. Mama Annette: 'My existence as a trans pastor is a manifestation of God's love'
Chapter
5. Pastor Aggie: 'I am learning to accept and live with my scars'
Chapter
6. Pastor Ria: 'We need to remember that God does not make mistakes'
Chapter
7. Pastor Deron: 'The Lord has a reason why I am a transwoman'
Chapter
8. Bishop James: 'Some of us are martyrs by doing this work'
PART II: Stories of LGBTIQ-allied religious leaders
Chapter
9. Pastor Silvina: 'My role is to be a tree that bears fruits'
Chapter
10. Pastor Neema: 'My task is to respect divinity as reflected in each of us'
Chapter
11. Evangelist Vincent: 'My hope is that LGBTIQ people will know God'
Chapter
12. Pastor Stephen: 'I arrived at the point of repenting for my homophobia'
Chapter
13. Pastor Zipporah: 'I persevere with my calling to preach love in the community'
Chapter
14. Evangelist Josephine: 'As a mother in the community, I should have no boundaries'
Chapter
15. Pastor Laura: 'I feel like Queen Esther, who put her life at risk to save others'
Chapter
16. Bishop Roger: 'When you start being inclusive, you are branded'
Chapter
17. Reverend Kimindu: 'This can only be a calling, or I would have stopped long ago'
Chapter
18. Fr Marangi: 'I do not support LGBTIQ people as an activist, but as a Christian'
Chapter
19. Sheikh Dawoud: 'I do not promote homosexuality, I just protect people who are part of our community'
Chapter
20. Sheikh Abdallah: 'LGBTIQ people have gifts which we need for the umma to grow'
Chapter
21. Youth leader Abdi: 'We have to stand with them because of that brother- and sisterhood'
Chapter
22. Bishop Joseph: 'We will come to accept our LGBTQ+ children as a blessing'
Chapter
23. Professor Vashti: 'My grandmother taught me that faith and activism go hand in hand'
Chapter
24. Bishop Senyonjo: 'God is still creating, and he continues to reveal things'
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
David Kuria Mbote is a community activist and a leader of the Kenyan gender and sexual minority rights movement.
Barbara Bompani is Reader in Africa and International Development at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK. She is co-editor of Christian Citizens and the Moral Regeneration of the African State (2017).
Adriaan van Klinken is Professor of Religion and African Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. He is the author of Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism and Arts of Resistance in Africa (2019).
Damaris Parsitau is a scholar of religion and a former Director of the British Institute for Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. She currently serves as President of the African Association for the Study of Religions.
