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Who Are My People? explores the complex relationship between identity, violence, and Christianity in Africa.
In Who Are My People?, Emmanuel Katongole examines what it means to be both an African and a Christian in a continent that is often riddled with violence. The driving assumption behind the investigation is that the recurring forms of violence in Africa reflect an ongoing crisis of belonging. Katongole traces the crisis through three key markers of identity: ethnicity, religion, and land. He highlights the unique modernity of the crisis of belonging and reveals that its manifestations of ethnic, religious, and ecological violence are not three separate forms of violence but rather modalities of the same crisis. This investigation shows that Christianity can generate and nurture alternative forms of community, nonviolent agency, and ecological possibilities.
The book is divided into two parts. Part One deals with the philosophical and theological issues related to the question of African identity. Part Two includes three chapters, each of which engages a form of violence, locating it within the broader story of modern sub-Saharan Africa. Each chapter includes stories of Christian individuals and communities who not only resist violence but are determined to heal its wounds and the burden of history shaped by Africa’s unique modernity. In doing so, they invent new forms of identity, new communities, and a new relationship with the land. This engaging, interdisciplinary study, combining philosophical analysis and theological exploration, along with theoretical argument and practical resources, will interest scholars and students of theology, peace studies, and African studies.
“Emmanuel Katongole is quietly but beautifully introducing a new methodology for doing theology in Africa.” —Stan Chu Ilo, author of A Poor and Merciful Church
"Katongole compellingly demonstrates that African theologians and the church must revisit the conversation on identity and the contours of Christian conversion to reimagine solutions to the continent’s perennial ecological and political challenges." —Reading Religion
"This book...could also be used in courses on community development, politics, or environmental issues, specifically to demonstrate the integration of the Christian faith with those topics. Time spent reading Katongole is never wasted, as he continues to think carefully and deeply about the future of the African continent and envision concrete ways that her future can be bright." —African Christian Theology
Emmanuel Katongole is professor of theology and peace studies at the Kroc Institute, Keough School of Global Affairs, and Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and Extraordinary Professor of Theology and Ecclesiology at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He is author of several books, including The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa and Born from Lament: The Theology and Politics of Hope in Africa.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: Who Are My People? Philosophical and Theological Reflections
1. On Being African
2. On Being an African Christian
Part Two: Love’s Invention in the Midst of Africa’s Violent Modernity
3. Ethnic Violence and the Reinvention of Identity:
4. Religious Violence and the Reinvention of Politics:
5. Ecological Violence and the Reinvention of Land
Conclusion
Afterword: On Being Some Sort of Catholic: A Sermon
Reference Notes
Bibliography