Redemption and restoration
The anti-slavery/trafficking call of Christian missions in South Africa today
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21492698 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Siphiwe I Dube (0000-0001-9080-6128, University of the Humanities, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 77 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2021-02-25 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0259-9422 • E-ISSN: 2072-8050 |
| Publisher | AOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.4102/hts.v77i4.6358 |
| OpenAlex | W3134323868 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
This article engages with the religious dimension of the politics of anti-slavery/trafficking and presents an analysis of select Christian-identified organisations working in anti-slavery/trafficking in South Africa. Using website content of the select organisations as primary material, the article argues that in similar ways to the paternalistic early Christian missionary approach to indigenous religious practices, the politics of paternalism persist to this day in the realm of Christian organisations working in anti-slavery in South Africa. That is, the ‘White Saviour Industrial Complex’ identified by Teju Cole is pervasive in the rhetoric of these Christian organisations. Consequently, and firstly, the article further bolsters the argument that the African continent has frequently been treated as a key site for formulating and testing a variety of models of humanitarian assistance, aid and economic development dating from the colonial era to the present neocolonial one. However, and secondly, the article also highlights that there is ambivalence in the ways in which the Christian anti-slavery/trafficking organisations in South Africa take up a key feminist concept of empowerment as informing how they understand their work. As such, the article proposes that caution be applied in critically engaging the discourse of these organisations. Contribution: This article engages with the religious dimension of the politics of anti-slavery/trafficking and presents an analysis of select Christian-identified organisations working in anti-slavery/trafficking in South Africa. The article illustrates how the intersection of political studies and religion is part of the journal’s focus on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse
Ambivalence · Colonialism · Environmental ethics · Paternalism · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Law · Religion, Society, and Development · Sex work and related issues
Other Dreams of Freedom
Asian and African Studies
Theorizing Conversion
Anti-slavery as development
Religious Organizations as Partners in the Global and Local Fight Against Human Trafficking
Religious NGOs, civil society and the quest for a public sphere in Nigeria
Children in the Global Sex Trade
Christianity and Human Trafficking
It is God's will
Governing with God
| Highly cited | No |
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