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Accepted Paper:

The anchor, the plough, images and the Bible: uses of material objects in religions of 19th century South Africa  
Johan Strijdom (University of South Africa)

Paper short abstract:

This paper uses debates in material religion and political theology to analyze ways in which the anchor, the plough, images and the Bible embodied and mediated changing political, economic and cultural relations in encounters between Christian and African indigenous religions of 19th century South Africa.

Paper long abstract:

The encounters between Christian and African indigenous religions in 19th century South Africa may be productively analyzed in terms of the changing political, economic and cultural functions of material objects, not only in the religious practices, but also in the comparative study of religions of the time. Taking as point of departure David Chidester's perceptive analysis of the anchor, the plough, images and the Bible within this colonial context in Savage systems: Colonialism and comparative religion in southern Africa (1996), I will consider ways in which his contribution may be read, problematized and taken further in the light of key debates in contemporary religious studies on postcolonial theory, material religion, political theology and development studies. In which ways, I will ask, did these concrete objects embody and mediate struggles over colonial invasion, land expropriation and cultivation, cultural and economic exchange, and the written and printed text? What impact have these issues since had on the comparative study of religions? Importantly, how might this analysis affect the often implicit moral judgments in our academic discourses and practices?

Panel P02
The materiality of religion in Africa during the European expansion
  Session 1 Thursday 18 July, 2013, -