Decolonizing religion and the practice of peace: Two case studies from the postcolonial world
Based on extensive field work focused on interreligious peacebuilding practices in Kenya and the Philippines, this article argues that decolonial accounts of peacebuilding, in line with decolonial interventions in the study of religion, remain captive to the task of epistemological undoing and thus...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage
2020
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In: |
Critical research on religion
Year: 2020, Volume: 8, Issue: 3, Pages: 273-296 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Kenya
/ Philippines
/ Postcolonialism
/ Religion
/ Peace work
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RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy KBM Asia KBN Sub-Saharan Africa ZC Politics in general |
Further subjects: | B
Religion and international relations
B Coloniality B religion and violence B religion and peacebuilding B Decoloniality |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Based on extensive field work focused on interreligious peacebuilding practices in Kenya and the Philippines, this article argues that decolonial accounts of peacebuilding, in line with decolonial interventions in the study of religion, remain captive to the task of epistemological undoing and thus insufficiently relevant to the precarious lives of many invisibalized people in the global South. The question is whether decolonial thinking in the study of religion and theology should concern itself with such pertinence. I first examine the colonial legacy of “peace” and key features of decolonial interventions in the modernist, civilizational, and developmentalist discourses within which “peace” is embedded. Next, I analyze how interreligious peacebuilding practices both entrench coloniality while improving the lives of people who engage in such practices and how such practices rely on thin or “sticky notes” religiosity, deeply inconsistent with decolonial theologies and religiosity. Finally, I show how, on the ground, mere existence and overcoming hate reside along a spectrum of decolonial politics. |
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ISSN: | 2050-3040 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Critical research on religion
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/2050303220924111 |