Category: News

The Pentecostalisation of Public Spheres, Leeds, UK, 14 March 2014

The Pentecostalisation of Public Spheres
Religion & Society @Leeds Research Day
14 March 2014, Fairbairn House, Main Building Upper Chapel

Pentecostalism, an umbrella term for rapidly growing charismatic movements in global Christianity, is often argued to be a public religion par excellence. It refuses to accept the marginal and privatised role which theories of modernity as well as of secularisation use to reserve for religion. Pentecostal Christianity manifests itself publicly, engages with social and political issues, and in the meantime reshapes the public and political sphere by its dualist religious epistemology in which the world is the scene of a spiritual battle between God and the Devil. This Religion & Society @Leeds Research Day explores these religious dynamics, discussing case studies in a variety of African and Chinese contexts.

Programme
From 9:15 : Coffee & tea
9:45–10:00 Emma Tomalin & Adriaan van Klinken: Welcome and opening

10:00–12:45 Pentecostalism and Kenya’s 2013 election
Gregory Deacon (University of Oxford): The Jubilee Campaign and Kenya’s Born Again Election 2013

Damaris Parsitau (Egerton University, Kenya): A Sinful Nation, Wretched Souls, a Wrathful God and a Strange Prophet? The Ministry of Repentance and Holiness in Kenya

Jörg Haustein (SOAS, University of London): Pentecostalism vis-à-vis the state: Ethiopia and China
Ethiopian Religious Politics and the Rise of Pentecostalism

Lap Yan Kung (Chinese University of Hong Kong): Redefining the Private and Public: Pentecostalism in China

12:45–13:45 Lunch

13:45–15:45 Pentecostalism, nationalism and society
Tobias Brander (Chinese University of Hong Kong)Pentecostalism in the Chinese Context: Between Counterculturalism and Adaptation

Afe Adogame (University of Edinburgh): African Pentecostalism, Civic Role and Social Capital Engineering

Barbara Bompani (University of Edinburgh): Transforming the Nation: Pentecostalism and the Public Sphere in Uganda

Venue: Fairbairn House, 71-75 Clarendon Road, LS2 9PH LEEDS
Contact: Dr Adriaan van Klinken, a.vanKlinken@leeds.ac.uk
Please confirm your attendance by email.

Obituary for Dr. Ephraim Chikakano Mandivenga

OBITUARY

EPHRAIM C. MANDIVENGA

Ephraim Chikakano Mandivenga (PhD) was born in 1937 in Gutu, Zimbabwe. He died on 5^th January 2014 at South Medical Hospital in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. He is survived by his wife and 4 children.

Mandivenga obtained a B.A degree with distinction in 1969 from the University College of Rhodesia (UCR), then a College of the University of London. He was the first black student at the university to obtain a distinction for the degree programme, and became a subject of discussion in Parliament for his achievement in early 1970. He furthered his education and acquired an M. Phil degree in Theology and Philosophy in the early seventies. Later, he had a brief stint as a High School teacher at the Presbyterian High school in Mhondoro before being snapped by the University of Botswana where he lectured Religious Studies for a few years. He joined the Department of Theology, at the University College of Rhodesia (UCR) as a lecturer in 1977. At the attainment of Independence in Zimbabwe in 1980, he was appointed Acting Chairman of the Department until 1982.

Inspired by the late Prof. Adrian Hastings, who took over as Head of department (1982-85), Mandivenga obtained a Ph. D. degree in1987 in the field of Islamic Studies from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He joined the Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe in 1982 as a lecturer in Islam and Introduction to Religion. He was appointed Chairman of Department for the period, 1992-1994. He retired in 2002.

As a lecturer, Mandivenga left an impressive history of excellent teaching in Islamic studies at the University. His lectures were carefully planned, well organised and precise. He was always punctual for class. As a product of one of the luminary English tertiary institutions in the United Kingdom, Aberdeen, he had a penchant for the British accent in the pronunciation of words. One of the indelible marks he left on the consciousness of his students was in the pronunciation of the Islamic declaration of faith, ‘There is only One God (Allah) and ‘Muhammad rasul Allah!’ (Prophet of Allah). He exuded great charm and his students found him quite accessible. This earned him a number of nicknames, including “Samsara” for his lectures on Hinduism.

His administrative ability is testified by his appointment as the Head of Department at the University of Zimbabwe. He was the second black African to hold this post in postcolonial Zimbabwe. In 1992 he was the Chair of Department when the University successfully hosted the International Association of the History of Religions (IAHR) Regional Conference.  At one time he served as the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts. In the Department, he headed an international team, with members from diverse countries and backgrounds. He chaired meetings professionally and planned his work diligently.  He left a legacy of democracy, participation and inclusiveness in Departmental Board meetings. His leadership is also seen in his successful recruitment of new staff in the Department that has seen the numbers swelling to the current 25 members of staff. He groomed a competitive set of scholars in his area of specialisation. Some of his products are now Professors and a good number hold PhDs in Religious Studies. Upon his retirement, he donated many books to the Religious Studies section of the Department, thereby honourably passing on the baton to the next generation of scholars. As a cheerful mentor, he endeared himself to both academic and support staff in the Department and the University.

Mandivenga’s major contribution to academia was his publication of the book, Islam in Zimbabwe (Harare: Mambo Press, 1983). In this book, he traced the historical background to the establishment of Islam in Zimbabwe. It has since become a fundamental text to the study of Islam in the country, with implications for understanding Islam in Southern Africa. His other contributions to the study of Islam can be detected in publications such as:

• “The role of Islam in Southern Africa” in C.F. Hallencreutz and M. Palmberg (eds), Religion and Politics in Southern Africa (Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1991);
• “The History and Re-conversion of the Varemba of Zimbabwe,” Journal of Religion in Africa, 19, 2 (1989), pp.98-124;
• “Islam in Tanzania: a General Survey,” in Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 11, no. 2, 1990, pp. 311-320;
•  “Muslims and the pre‐colonial history of Zimbabwe”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs,  vol. 13, no. 1, 1992, pp. 99-115;
• A book review, “Tudor Parfitt, Journey to the Vanished City: The Search for a Lost Tribe of Israel, Journal of Religion in Africa , vol. 26, no. 2, 1996, pp. 210-212.
• ‘The Cape Muslims and the Indian Muslims of South Africa: A Comparative Analysis in Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 20, no. 2, 2000, pp. 347-352.

Ephraim leaves a legacy of industriousness and astute scholarship that remains a heritage for the Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe and the African Association for the Study of Religion community.

Inserted by

Tabona Shoko (Prof)

University of Zimbabwe