Religion and Social Transformation
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Browsing Religion and Social Transformation by Subject "African feminism."
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Item Trauma, memory, and spirituality in the experiences of women who survived the Gukurahundi atrocities.Abraham, Pretty.; Denis, Philippe Marie Berthe Raoul.In conflict zones, women and girls are frequently the most vulnerable and suffer the most harm. Their precarious position makes them easy target for heinous human rights violations such as rape and torture. Women survivors of these atrocities often must live with vivid and horrifying memories of rape, war, and death for the rest of their lives. This was the case for women who survived the Gukurahundi massacres in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland and Midlands areas, where the Fifth Brigade army committed grave human rights violations. The violence that happened between 1983 and 1987 left communities wounded and destabilised. understanding women’s traumatic experiences in the context of their surroundings is crucial for understanding how they process, recall, and deal with traumatic experiences. Furthermore, women’s experiences of trauma constitute an important starting point for understanding their lived reality. The goal of this studywas to document women’s accounts of the Gukurahundi massacres as well as to examine how they remember and cope with their traumatic past. This study also looked into how women express spirituality and construct meaning in the aftermath of the atrocities. The findings reveal that sexual violence trauma memories are highly detailed and enduring, even over long periods of time. Survivors recall their rape experiences clearly and in great detail, and their memories have shaped their current worldview. The personal experiences that women relate in this study include not just a history of what happened during Gukurahundi, but also the ongoing suffering and pain that they continue to endure in the present. Despite a possible Christian background, the women make no mention of their Christian faith and instead rely on their African traditional beliefs to construct and find meaning for their trauma. as a result, the chain of events and their repercussions are understood from a cultural standpoint.Item Women's education and sexual reproductive health rights: a case of African apostolic indigineous churches of Tanwena area Nyanga, Zimbabwe.(2019) Tsara, Lindah; Siwila, Lilian Cheelo.This study uses a post-colonial feminist theory and African cultural feminist hermeneutics to investigate whether the teachings of the African Apostolic Indigenous Churches of Tangwena area have any influence on the girl child’s limited education and her sexual and reproductive health rights. This study was a qualitative empirical research where data was generated from both fieldwork and secondary sources. The study found out that the teachings of AAICs covered in this study though not stated precisely on the ground, have a role to play in the limited education and poor sexual and reproductive health rights of most of the girls who drop out from school and get married young in Tangwena area. Tendencies such as the teaching of a girl child to preserve her virginity before she gets married and how to be a good mother as taught in these churches prepared the girl child only to be destined for marriage. This made some of the girls powerless and end up lacking power over their sexual and reproductive rights. This study also found out that although AAICs teachings have a role to play in most of the girls’ limited education; there were other factors that have nothing to do with the church teachings that were also responsible for the girl child’s limited education in Tangwena area. These factors include lack of exposure to social and economic activities, failing of the major grade Seven and form Four National Examination which screens who is proceeding with education and who is left behind, and parental influence. This study concludes that it only requires social commitment of all the stakeholders of AAICs indicated in the study to uplift the girl child’s education in their teachings as a form of empowerment, and the only way that will delay girls from getting married so young and desist from getting married to people who are older to them, who will force them to be voiceless in the marriage as far as far as reproductive health rights are concerned.