Religion and Social Change (REL 346) Center for Global Education and Experience Nation Building, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Mind Fall 2018
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Religion and Social Change (REL 346) Center for Global Education and Experience Nation Building, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Mind Fall 2018 Instructor: LaMont A. Slater Cell: 081-772-0989 E-mail: [email protected] COURSE DESCRIPTION The course focuses primarily on the role and theology of Christianity in Southern Africa. Perhaps nowhere in the African continent is the study of Christianity as fascinating, complex, or contentious as in Southern Africa. In the twentieth century South Africans have used Christian doctrine both to justify and to oppose doctrines of racial segregation, and Christian leadership provided much of the impetus of the founding of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912, as well as SWAPO in Namibia. But the history of South African Christianity is found for the most part in local—or “micro”—narratives, while the highly elaborated “macro” narratives of colonialism, capitalism, and liberation-the backbone of the conventional histories of South Africa-assign Christianity a marginal role, or no role at all. This course is designed to help students reflect on the role of religion, particularly Christian theology, and analyze and assess both the positive and negative roles it has played in the process of change that characterized Namibian and Southern African history. Students will be encouraged to use the interdisciplinary insights gained through the other courses (history, politics and development studies) to assess for themselves what role religion has played in the changes Namibians have had to assimilate in their histories--through pre-colonial times, the colonial-era, followed by the apartheid regime, and the post-apartheid context. This course meets the Christian Faith (FC-3) general education requirement at Augsburg College. 1 INSTRUCTIONAL GOALS 1. To develop an awareness of the important role religions have played historically, as well as currently, in Southern African cultures and politics. 2. To demonstrate the significant role that Christian theologies have played in establishing and maintaining both positive and negative forms of social change in Southern African societies. 3. To articulate an understanding of the various interpretations and uses of the Bible as a tool for colonization, liberation, and unity. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. To further analytical development regarding religions and Christian theologies and the contributions they have made as it pertains to social changes in their societies. 2. To create awareness concerning African Traditional Religions, which were the beliefs informing the political, social, economic and religious aspects of the indigenous people in Africa pre-dating the arrival of Christianity. 3. To critically study the history of Christianity in Namibia and South Africa, in order to comprehend positive and negative impacts of Christianity on the traditional views of Namibians with regards to human sexuality, patriarchal structures, authority, reconciliation and public discourse. 4. To gain an understanding of the role of religions and African liberation theologies in the struggles against colonialism and Apartheid, as well as in the reconciliation processes in Namibia and South Africa. 5. To assess the relationship between Christian theology/liberation theologies prevailing in Namibia and South Africa and human rights principles. 6. To learn about the advocacy of the churches regarding the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Namibia. 7. To evaluate the consistency between the theologies preached by churches in Namibia and South Africa and their current actions with regard to contemporary social issues. 8. To analyze the involvement of religious leaders “global North,” or “first world,” in the liberation struggles of southern Africa. 9. To reflect upon one’s own responsibility (or lack thereof) for social changes in Southern Africa as a citizen of the “global North” or “first world.” 10. To compare and contrast the theological views and practice discussed by authors and lecturers in Namibia and South Africa with one’s own philosophical, religious, and/or spiritual beliefs and practice. 11. To reflect upon the relationship between one’s own philosophical, religious and/or spiritual beliefs and involvement (or lack thereof) in work for social change. 12. To discuss the growing presence of minority religious groups in southern Africa and their contributions to positive/negative social change in the region. 13. To become a more informed and active global citizen. 2 TEACHING METHODOLOGY Student Collaboration Session Working in groups, students will sign-up to lead collaborative research (outside of class) and discussion sessions (in class).Parting from the “Instructional Goals” and “Learning Objectives” listed above, as well as the “Theoretical Guides” in each unit description, groups are expected to brainstorm topics of personal interest relating to the theme of the different units in this course. Each student will lead two collaborative research and discussion sessions (two different units), and hopefully work with different classmates every time. Students should accomplish this through a combination of readings, lectures, individual and group reflections and discussions, and any and other media sources relevant and of your choosing. Students are encouraged to be creative when presenting their research findings and leading in-class discussion, and should utilize and engage a variety of these instruction mediums per class. Students should be prepared to present and lead the session for 30 minutes, and to answer questions and engage in discussion for 10 minutes. Each group should work closely with the Teaching Assistant through the process of designing their collaborative research and discussion. This will typically entail (but is not limited to) brainstorming of ideas, finding relevant outside resources, determining goals and objectives that are relevant for the week, etc. Any readings/other advanced preparation work the group will be requiring of their classmates must be handed out or otherwise made known to their cohorts by Friday or before the class they are responsible for instructing. Grading criteria is explained in detail in Course Requirements section below. 3 COURSE SCHEDULE** Class meets from 9am-1pm Unit I: 12 September The Role of the Dutch Reformed Church in Southern Africa/ Rev Thijs Van Der Merwe Unit II: 19 September The History of the Lutheran Church in Namibia/Bishop Brandt Unit III:26 September Unit IV: 3 October The Role of the Church During Independence/ Dr. Tschaka-Polo Unit V: 31 October African Traditional Religions\ Reverend Gurirab Sharpley Unit VI: 7 November Islam in Namibia/ Quba Masjid Unit VII: 14 November Judaism in Namibia/ Zvi Gorelick Unit VIII:28 November Presentations and Wrap up 4 **Course schedule is tentative. Units may change based on speaker availability. TENTATIVE CLASS OUTLINE Religion, Black liberation Philosophy Introduction of self and of one’s experiences with religion and spirituality Location: CGEE Experiential aspect: Self-Introduction Creative Projects: To be presented on the first day of class. Theoretical Guide: Brainstorming – a “What is religion?” How does religion function? Is religion still important? Why? When? How? What are your own experiences with religion? Especially with regard to items such as: “meaning of life”, “symbolic universe”, “values worth living for and from”, “change”, “society”. What is Social Change? Consider the similarities and divergences between religion in the U.S. versus religion in Namibia (Southern Africa). Readings will be given a week prior to the start of class The role of the church during independence Location :CGEE and Guest Speaker/ Dr. Tachaka-Polo Dr Tschaka-polo will give a talk on the tole taht the Lutheran church played duringthe independence movement. Questions such as , what was the role of the local churches, and how was their role different than those of the missionaries.. Readings will be given a week prior to the start of class The Role of the Dutch Reformed Church in Southern Africa 5 Location:CGEE Rev. Van Der Merwe Theoretical Guide: What was the pre-colonial situation in Namibia politically, culturally and religiously? When and how was Namibia and Southern Africa colonized and missionized? Which countries, churches, mission societies, were involved? What was the impact of the missionaries? What was the role of the churches during colonialism, Apartheid and during the liberation struggle? Readings will be given a week prior to the start of class Role of the Lutheran Church Talk by Bishop Brandt In this unit we shall discuss the impact of German Colonization, including the impact of the Lutheran Church and the lasting imprint that it has made on society. Topic for in-depth analysis: Discussion of positive and negative impacts of the Lutheran Church in Namibia. Assignment Due: Discuss what role if any, does the church have with regards to reconciliation? Contributions of Minority Religions to Social Change in Namibia Location: Windhoek Synagogue ,Zvi Gorelick, and Quba Masjid Theoretical Guide: Consider the minority religions in Namibian society. What are the relationships between Christianity and minority religions in Namibia? What are the minority religions in Namibian society? Both historically and presently, what roles have these religions played in this country? We will plan to visit the Windhoek Synagogue and the Windhoek Islamic Centre. Readings will be given a week prior to the start of class 6 Unit VII African Traditional religions Theoretical Guide: Brainstorm: