A Critical Study of African Womanhood, Maternal Roles, and Identities in Theological and Cultural Constructs in the Roman Catholic Tradition
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DOCTORAL THESIS African Women as Mothers and Persons in Rhetoric and Practice: A Critical Study of African Womanhood, Maternal Roles, and Identities in Theological and Cultural Constructs in the Roman Catholic Tradition Arabome, Anastasia Award date: 2017 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 02. Oct. 2021 African Women as Mothers and Persons in Rhetoric and Practice: A Critical Study of African Womanhood, Maternal Roles, and Identities in Theological and Cultural Constructs in the Roman Catholic Tradition by Anastasia Arabome, MA, D.MIN A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Humanities University of Roehampton 2017 1 Abstract Title: African Women as Mothers and Persons in Rhetoric and Practice: A Critical Study of African Womanhood, Maternal Roles, and Identities in Theological and Cultural Constructs in the Roman Catholic Tradition This thesis adopts maternal well-being as a prism for studying the roles and identities of African women. It critically analyzes the dynamics in culture and religion that militate against women’s quest for fullness of life. As its methodology, it adopts narratives of African women as a source and means of theological research based on the anthropological model. This method prioritizes the voices and humanity of previously silenced, excluded, and oppressed women and their conditions of maternal mortality, poverty, and oppression rooted in gender biases and patriarchal stereotypes. Theology has largely ignored the reality of maternal mortality evidenced by the paucity of theological materials. A consequence of the neglect and ignorance of this critical factor is the chasm between the rhetorical use of feminine and maternal symbolisms to represent and define the significance of women in church and society and the concrete realities that confront them as women. Bridging this gap necessitates identifying exemplary icons and models of maternal leadership and wisdom in scripture, traditions, and cultural practices to redefine the status, identity, and role of women. It also entails recognizing and harnessing the unique gifts, qualities, and spirituality of African women for the edification of church, transformation of society, and flourishing of humanity. Of salience is the practice of maternal leadership as a source of a new ethos for church and society through women’s capacities and contributions, though a patriarchal mind-set imposes biological motherhood as the sole criterion for defining women’s existence and relevance. Maternal leadership and wisdom liberated from a reductionist, biological understanding of motherhood and the highlighting of incarnated roles and identities inspired by maternal values represent innovative and original aspects of this thesis. 2 Only by listening to voices of women can church and society develop a more just, liberating, and inclusive understanding of womanhood and motherhood. Nothing substitutes for the voices of women. 3 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 6 Introduction: “A Bird Cannot Fly on One Wing”: Approaching the Bridge and Minding the Gaps ........................................................................................................................ 7 Terminological Considerations: Maternal Well-being, Maternal Values, Motherhood, Mothering, and Midwife…………………………………………………………12 Theological Considerations ........................................................................................ 20 Historical and Cultural Considerations ....................................................................... 21 Ecclesiological and Ethical Considerations: Looking beneath and beyond the Texts 24 Methodological Considerations .................................................................................. 26 Limitations and Lessons: Between Narrative Methodology and Practical Theology..35 Outline of Chapters ..................................................................................................... 40 Chapter 1. The Unholy Trinity of Religion, Motherhood, and Poverty ........................... 45 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 45 1. The Construction of Identities: African Women in Religion, Culture, and Society. ............................................................................................................................... 48 2. Swimming in a River Full of Crocodiles: Poverty and Maternal Mortality ........... 55 3. The Community Called Church and Maternal Mortality: Between Rhetoric and Reality ................................................................................................................... 63 3.1. The Church as Family .................................................................................... 65 3.2. Of the Joys, Hopes, Griefs, and Anxieties of Women ................................... 70 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter 2. Smiling with Our Own Teeth and Telling Our Own Stories: Redeeming and Redemptive Motherhood ............................................................................................ 83 Introduction..…………………………………………………………………..... 83 1. The Power to Define and Name .............................................................................. 84 2. Silencing, (M)Othering, and the Struggle of Naming............................................. 91 2.1. Beyond Socialization ..................................................................................... 96 2.2. Mothering in a Kibera Slum .......................................................................... 98 4 3. Of the Fatherhood and Motherhood of Men ......................................................... 101 4. African Motherhood in Conversation with Christology and Ecclesiology ........... 105 4.1. The Christological Experiences of African Women in Conversation with the World Church................................................................................................ 106 4.2. In Their Own Words .................................................................................... 116 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 121 Chapter 3. Living Witnesses and Prophetic Voices: Maternal Values of African Women ................................................................................................................................... 124 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 124 1. Pentecost Revisited: the Holy Spirit in the Church .............................................. 125 2. African Women: Experiences of the Reality and Gifts of the Spirit .................... 132 3. The Spirit in the Lives of African Women: New Roles and Identities ................. 141 3.1. Marguerite Barankitse: the Value of Peace and Life ................................... 141 3.2. Leymah Gbowee: The Value of Justice and Peace ...................................... 143 3.3. Angelina Atyam: The Midwife of Forgiveness and Reconciliation ............ 147 3.4. Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe: The Value of Hospitality and Dignity ................. 150 4. Gifts of the Spirit: Maternal Values of African Women ....................................... 152 The Gift of Wisdom ............................................................................................ 153 The Gift of Counsel ............................................................................................ 155 The Gift of Fortitude ........................................................................................... 157 The Gift of Piety ................................................................................................. 158 The Gift of the Fear of the Lord .......................................................................... 160 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 161 Chapter 4. When a Sleeping Woman Wakes Up: Critical and Creative Retrieval of Historical and Biblical Resources ............................................................................. 163 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 163 1. Peering through History and Searching the Scriptures