Religious Leaders Reduce Intimate Partner Violence in Uganda [Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, July 2022]

Title:

Religious Leaders Reduce Intimate Partner Violence in Uganda

 

Published:

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, 25 July 2022

Click here to read

From the article:

"In Uganda, a primarily Christian country in East Africa, 56% of women who’ve been married report being sexually violated by a current partner, according to Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Strong patriarchal beliefs often influence this behavior, but those in positions of power, like religious leaders, can shift traditional gender roles.  

 

A team of psychologists, public health and political scientists, human-centered design experts, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) researchers, including Betsy Levy Paluck of Princeton University, wanted to determine whether religious leaders could reduce intimate partner violence by incorporating more progressive interpretations of Bible teachings on romantic partnerships into their couples counseling."

 

Ambivalent Belonging: Born-Again Christians between Africa and Europe [Scholarly Article - Journal of Religion in Africa, June 2022]

Title:

Ambivalent Belonging: Born-Again Christians between Africa and Europe

 

Author:

Leslie Fesenmyer 

Assistant Professor, Social Anthropology and African Studies, Department of African Studies and Anthropology, School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Published:

Journal of Religion in Africa, 3 June 2022

https://brill.com/view/journals/jra/52/1-2/article-p119_6.xml

Abstract:

Historically entangled with nation, race, and religion, questions of belonging are pressing and affective ones in Africa and Europe. Against the backdrop of anti-migrant hostility, globalization, and autochthonous claims, I consider how born-again Christians in London negotiate belonging between Kenya, their country of origin, and the United Kingdom, their country of residence. As ‘migrants’ and ‘diasporans’, they are seen as not belonging in either national context. Adopting a scalar approach, I argue that their identification as born-again Christians and claim to membership in a global Christian community allows them to ‘scale-jump’ and offers a morally and emotionally meaningful sense of belonging. At the same time, their encounters with various racial and religious Others locally, nationally, and transnationally mediate where they feel at ‘home’. In the face of contradictions and ambivalence, Pentecostalism helps them to navigate competing symbolic, material, and affective concerns as they seek belonging across multiple sociospatial scales.