Interview with Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Mercy Amba Oduyoye in Her Own Words

Abstract

Interview with Mercy Amba Oduyoye: Mercy Amba Oduyoye in Her Own Words Oluwatomisin Oredein (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Oluwatomisin Oredein Click for larger view View full resolution Mercy Amba Oduyoye Mercy Amba Oduyoye is considered one of the leading African theologians and foremost scholars of African religious thought today.1 This reputation has emerged from her constant emphasis on equality in African theology, thus bringing Africa’s women’s voices to the same prominence as its men. [End Page 153] Born in the middle of the harvest year in October 1933 on her grandfather’s cocoa farm near Asamankese, Ghana, Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye is the daughter of Methodist minister Charles Kwaw Yamoah and strong-willed mother Mercy Yaa Dakwaa Yamoah.2 Her Methodist upbringing contributed to her interest in the inner workings of the Christian faith; her tenacity to ask the question, “What about the women?” comes from her mother’s strength and self-assurance. Author of numerous books and articles and coauthor and editor of many others, including but not limited to With Passion and Compassion, Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa, Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy, and Beads and Strands: Reflections of an African Woman on Christianity in Africa, Oduyoye’s work lives at the intersection of Christian theology and African culture from an African woman’s perspective. She addresses harmful factors that affect African women such as patriarchal cultural customs and its subsequent consequences and weds them to constructive and forward-thinking Christian theological reflection. She thoughtfully explicates the significance of Christian doctrine in light of the placement and conditions of African women. Her theology is informed by her location and position as a woman within the West African context and its Christian church.3 Throughout her life, Oduyoye has served in countless ecumenical organizations, including positions such as youth education secretary in the Christian Education and Youth Department of the World Council of Churches, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches, youth secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), president of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT), and cofounder of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.4 She is currently director of the Institute of Women in Religion and Culture at Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana. In each respective organization, the heart of her commitment has been toward holding African churches accountable to the full inclusion of its women in their functioning and life. Her work, whether local or international, aims to give voice to African women as valued contributors in Christian theological discourse. Through identifying how the contours of culture affect African women, Oduyoye’s work has opened up a much needed dialectic in African theological thought today. Culture, a defining aspect for many African peoples, can serve [End Page 154] as a “tool for domination” against women.5 Her work addresses the challenge of how an antipatriarchal theological outlook can be cultivated in the African Christian church and in the church universal. THE INTERVIEW “Mercy Amba Oduyoye in Her Own Words” Oluwatomisin: Can you speak a little bit about your childhood formation? I know that your matrilineal culture was very important in your formation. Can you explain how your upbringing, your matrilineal culture, influenced your understanding of your place in society as well as your theological voice? Mercy: I did not consciously reflect on my childhood formation in a matrilineal system until I got married and moved into a patrilineal culture—a culture that was not only patrilineal but also patriarchal. Although our matrilineal system is embedded in a patriarchal culture, it allows women to grow up with a sense of self-esteem, with a sense of importance in their family. The status of the people in the family depends on who your mother is. I was also the firstborn in my family. If you’re firstborn, then it’s taken for granted that the responsibilities in the family are yours. Moreover, if the firstborn is a girl, then everyone is assured that the family will continue. My parents treated all of us alike, boys and girls. No discrimination. There was none of this business of the...