AASR Bulletin 35 - The African Association for the Study of Religions

AASR BULLETIN 35 (NOVEMBER 2011)
www.a-asr.org
FROM THE CHAIR
Elias K. Bongmba
AASR President
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CELEBRATING WOMEN
We send this issue of AASR Bulletin as a celebration of Women whose significant
achievements have contributed to a climate of tolerance.
First, we celebrate the life and work of Professor Wangari Muta Matthai, the founder
of the Green Belt Movement, dedicated to environmental justice and causes which
improved the lives of women, who died on September 25th, 2011. Wangari won the
Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 2004. Wangari also worked tirelessly on HIV and
AIDS, animals and wild life, climate change, culture, democracy and civil society, development,
peace and reconciliation, and women’s rights. Wangari said in an interview
that heaven is green. She has published articles, and made speeches calling attention to
the spiritual dimension and the human stewardship for our planet. Wangari served her
country, Kenya, as a legislator in Kenya’ Ninth Parliament during which she served as
Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources. Wangari published four
books, and several scientific papers, and received honorary doctorates from several
universities around the world as well as numerous distinguished awards for her work
and service. In a critique of religious leadership, Wangari stated:
‘A genuine priesthood stands between a community and its God, who chooses that priesthood
for itself so that it can stand between it and its people to interpret the will of their God to them.
A genuine priesthood nurtures the community, identifies with its aspirations and concerns, and
guides it toward their God and their destiny. Such a priesthood cannot be imposed from
above; it cannot exist in the absence of culture’.
While our discipline focuses on the academic study of religion, we agree with her that
religious leadership works best when it is democratic and serves the interests of the
people.
Second, we also celebrate this year Nobel Peace Laureates, two African women, Liberian
President Ellen Johnson Serlif, Leymah Roberta Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman
who worked in a ‘non-violent struggle for safety of women and for women’s rights to
full participation in peace-building’ in Yemen.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the first woman to be elected President of an African
country. Johnson-Sirleaf assumed leadership in a country that faced many challenges
following years of misrule and civil war. She studied economics and returned to
Liberia where she served for a short time as finance minister. During her time in exile,
she served different financial institutions around the world and served as Director of the
United Nations Development Program Bureau in Africa. She first returned to Liberia to
run for the senate, but found herself in jail when she criticized the military dictator,
Samuel Doe. In 1997 ran for the presidency but lost to Charles Taylor. She was elected
President in 2005 in a country facing enormous challenges in nearly all sectors of the