AASR Scholar of the Month

 

“Since joining AASR, my network and visibility have increased. The community is a platform for mentoring and collaboration.” 

Those are the words of Dr Josiah Taru, AASR Scholar of the Month. In this edition, Taru who is from the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, Rice University, takes us through the trajectory of his career as a researcher in African religious studies. 

Interviewer: Tell us about yourself, your academic background and research interests.  

Josiah Taru: I consider myself an academic nomad, wandering in search of knowledge and the meaning of life. In my personal and academic life, religion is central. My educational journey has not been straightforward. It meanders through different disciplines and subjects. Early in life, I took an interest in literature and history. I found that the two complement one another. On one hand, History, with its focus on political processes and prominent figures, explained the trajectory that nations and states had taken. Literature, on the other hand, focuses on the everyday life of ordinary people, the decisions they make in difficult situations, sacrifices, and small victories. History compresses time and space, covering events over many years across the globe. 

I enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe in 2005 to study for a Bachelor of Arts, focusing on classical studies, economic history, and sociology. My love for history continued. My curiosity shifted from political to economic history. I developed an interest in economic thought modules that traced the development of economic ideas over time. I started to appreciate religion’s role in economic life; ideas by Thomas Aquinas and many other philosophers were shaped by their religious beliefs and doctrines. Of all my first-year courses, anthropology stood out, so I shifted from a Bachelor of Arts to a Bachelor of Science in Sociology in my second year. At the time, no undergraduate degrees were offered in social anthropology; one had to pursue a degree in sociology, which came with several anthropology courses. So, I decided to pursue sociology to document my people’s culture and push back against the paternalistic stance of European scholars. Becoming an anthropologist was a vehicle through which I could study my people, privileging their realities and ways of being and knowing from my perspective as a person in and of Africa.  

When I enrolled at the University of Pretoria as a doctoral candidate, I registered for a Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities. I saw this as an opportunity to consolidate all the lessons I had gained from sociology, anthropology, literature, history, and classical studies. I see myself as an un-disciplined and footloose academic.  

Interviewer: Can you give us some insight into your current research project(s)? 
 

Josiah Taru: My research focuses on ways in which religion provides resources for navigating the postcolonial challenges in Zimbabwe. I specifically research how Pentecostal Christianity anchors people’s lives in an uncertain context where the government has failed to deliver on its promises. My entry point is lived religion rather than what is said from the pulpit. I am currently working on a book project that discusses these dynamics.  

Studying Pentecostal Christianity has led me to develop an interest in Indigenous African Religion, youth studies, and migration. Pentecostal Christians are mainly youthful and mobile. My next project is on migration and religion. I am interested in how local spirits are articulated in new contexts or after migration.    

 
Interviewer: In what ways do you think your research addresses pressing societal challenges? 
 

Josiah Taru: Religion is a perceptual filter through which people evaluate, understand, and experience the world. Religion shapes voting trends, legal frameworks, policy, vaccine acceptance, attitudes toward technology, and daily choices and decisions. It provides spiritual and material resources for building resilience in times of uncertainty. By researching religious communities and understanding their approach to life, we are better positioned to incorporate their worldview in policymaking and development initiatives. Religion intersects with many facets of life and 

 
Interviewer: How do you see your career and research develop and evolve in the near future? 
 

Josiah Taru: As I mentioned, religion interacts and intersects with many facets of life. Migration is one aspect. In the future, I will focus on how African Christianity reconfigures itself in new localities outside the continent. It is time we take African Christianity as a global religion driving Christian revivals in Europe and the U.S. Currently, I am at the Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance, Rice University, and this is a conducive space to launch the new research project on religion and migration to understand how migrant religions add to the diversity and the forms of religious pluralism that emerge.  

I am passionate about training young scholars interested in studying religion from an African perspective. This might include taking spiritual entities seriously and increasing research on Indigenous African religions.  

Interviewer: From your experience, what advice would you give to younger scholars? 
 

Josiah Taru: My advice to young scholars is that we should break disciplinary silos and write across disciplines and fields. I also advise young scholars to take public scholarship seriously. We should work to translate our research for public audiences. There are a lot of interesting studies out there that need to be made accessible to the public. We should stop writing for fellow academics. 
 

Interviewer: What role has the AASR played in your career trajectory? 
 

Josiah Taru: Since joining AASR, my network and visibility have increased. The community is a platform for mentoring and collaboration. For example, I co-authored a paper with Benson Igboin – a member of the AASR – providing an overview of how Indigenous African Religions have been studied. As a member of AASR, I pushed to take interdisciplinarity seriously and learn from fellow scholars. 

  
Interviewer: Tell us some of the challenges you encountered in your career and how you surmounted them. What lessons did you learn? 

Josiah Taru: One of the challenges we face as scholars is our academic baggage. Our training, in most cases, is Western and our academic tools may not resonate with African realities. We navigate many hurdles, balancing concerns from the epistemic community, research participants, and publishers. One way to deal with this challenge is to be intentional when choosing journals and citations. Go for outlets that do not push you to romanticize and exoticize research participants. Tell the African story as it is.