The African Zionist Church in East London, Eastern Cape and its response to LGBTQ individuals.
Date
2023-12
Authors
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This project presents research based on a small sample of a Zion Christian Church (ZCC) and its response to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals generally and specifically to its congregation. This research aims to broaden content written and derived from
Africa in the context of troubling heteronormativity and western content published on queerness in Africa - towards a growing trend of support for LGBTQ individuals. Committed members of the ZCC in East London, Eastern Cape, were consulted through qualitative semi-structured interviews to produce
a reliable commentary on the ZCC. Drawing from the interview responses of two church leaders, two older congregants (35 years and older) and six younger congregants (21 – 35 years) ZCC members, thematic analysis was used to organise and formulate frequent topics of conversation on the subject
matter. Bourdieu’s (1984) theory of power, social habitus and social change and Rich’s (1980) theory on compulsory heterosexuality was used as a structural line of argument for the four main themes that were conceptualised from the research findings: ‘Compulsory Patriarchy’, ‘Alarmist Contentions’, ‘Silence and Queer Invisibility’ as well as ‘Heteronormativity’. This critical exploration of the ZCC and its response to LGBTQ individuals presents a utility of decoloniality
that provides a unique explanation of the social formation of African Initiated Churches (AICs) and ethno-spiritual activities that take place in settings such as East London, Eastern Cape and how to think of them within the context of a society that tends to lean on Western features of religious denominations, gender, sexuality and cultural customs. This project argues that the power of
patriarchy and compulsory heterosexuality in the ZCC church, though claiming to be separate from Western insulations or dictatorship, exists not only as an extension of Western culture but as a feature of a culture-specific institutional body that prizes and applies heteronormative traditional socio-cultural norms in its theology.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar.
Description
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2023.