Browsing by Author "John, Sokfa Francis."
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Item A postcolonial critique of religion and ethnicity in Southern Kaduna with specific reference to an online forum.(2016) John, Sokfa Francis.; Settler, Federico Guliano.Against the background of ethnic and religious relations and conflicts in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, this study examined the emerging social and cultural spaces on which religious and ethnic identities are contested, such as the internet; and the religious forms and ideological practices that are (re)produced and invoked on such spaces to create imaginations of identity and for othering. I employ postcolonial theory and research in digital religion to specifically examine a Southern Kaduna Online Forum and the prevailing representation on the forum. I analyze a two-year worth of Online Forum’s content (2013-2014), which I complemented with a self-administered online survey. The online survey results indicate that majority of respondents were relatively young (ages 20-40), male and Christians belonging to the several ethnicities of Southern Kaduna. Most respondents have been members of the Online Forum for over 2 years, and identified more universal goals as their motivations for joining, such as, to pursue Southern Kaduna interest, support state creation and to promote peace, although their visions of peace differ. In addition, respondents viewed strategies such as interfaith dialogue and prayer as less likely to bring about peace in Kaduna; while political solutions such as state creation and equal political representation were viewed as more likely to bring about peace. In my analysis of the Forum’s 2-year content, I identified key narratives through which Southern Kaduna Christian Self, Hausa-Fulani Muslim Other, and Religion are constructed and depicted by Online Forum users. Generally, Southern Kaduna Christians are imagined as marginalized, loyal, non-violent, and morally superior, while Hausa-Fulani Muslims are imagined as suspicious, inferior, aggressive and rigidly religious. Online Forum members further critically engage in conflicting representation of religion both as a problem to society which causes retrogression, and as an intrinsic part of society which cannot be particularly separated from politics. Among other things, I argue that Online representation emerges out of offline conflicts, and reflect varying degrees and intensity of offline conflicts. I further argue that Online Forum members are knowingly or unknowingly engaged in religious work through their participation in the online forum; producing rhetoric and epistemology through their active participation, and creating a digital archive of religion in Africa.Item A theological analysis of selected writings of E. Chitando, G. West and A. van Klinken on African masculinities in relation to gender justice.(2013) John, Sokfa Francis.; Siwila, Lilian Cheelo.The broad field of men and masculinities is increasingly being enriched by the emergent religious discourse on the subject in Africa. At the heart of this religious discourse is an agenda for change and transformation of men which owes largely to the influence of African Women Theologians and their struggle for gender justice. This study was an attempt to do a theological analysis of the writings of three scholars who belong to this trend, within the framework of the theology of gender justice. These are, A. van Klinken, G. West and E. Chitando. The study is interpretive in nature, and sought to re-read and re-present the writings of these scholars in a way that enhances their utilization and appreciation. Thus, using the thematic networks analysis, the study explored firstly, the themes that emerge from the writings of these scholars; secondly, the extent to which these themes contribute to the general discourse on African masculinities and gender justice; and thirdly, the ways in which these writings can further contribute to such discourses. The resultant analysis showed that specific themes (termed the global themes) form the major claim and heart of the writings of each scholar. For Chitando, “men can, should and must change!” West was able to show that given the space and tools such as Contextual Bible Study, men can change and embrace alternative forms of masculinities that are life-promoting. Van Klinken on his part argues for an alternative framework for analyzing masculinities and a different approach to gender justice. Drawing from a critical evaluation of these different positions, it was recommended that their approaches can be enhanced with more attention to the inequality inherent in the gender relations among men themselves. Moreover, religious approaches to the transformation of men also need to emphasize to men the costs of harmful masculinities and what they stand to benefit from proposed alternative masculinities as men.