Abstract
There is increasing research on the inclusion and exclusion of people with disabilities in African spaces, which are perpetuated by religious and cultural fear. Decision to shun or embrace people is defined by the politics of the body and influenced by the religion and culture of fear. In politics of the body, women are discriminated against because their bodies are often controlled and put under surveillance. Women with disabilities experience this discrimination more than their able-bodied counterparts and men with disabilities. Written from the perspective of the ethic of ubuntu, this article examines the fear of disability among the Ndebele of Matetsi in Zimbabwe, as well as how the politics of the body are used by women with disabilities to denounce this fear. These women described how they used (in childhood) and (adulthood) and still use their bodies to call for inclusion in their communities. The article employs findings from the politics of the body emerging from the narratives of women with disabilities to propose an African women’s theology of disability. Contribution: The article problematises fear of disability as a cause of discrimination and exclusion of differently abled people particularly women with. It therefore proposes an African women’s theology of disability that is informed by the interdisciplinary approach of Ubuntu promoting the inclusion of all people including women with disabilities into the web of life.
Highlights
Everyone is born with a disability or is disabled in one way or another
Feminist theologians of disability such as Eiesland (2004) and Kamba (2013) argue that ability is temporary for the human body and that all human bodies have a disability whether apparent or not
Chisale (2018a:48) refers to this as ‘disability phobia’. This phobia develops due to various different perceptions of disability, that are constructed and informed by naive religious and cultural hermeneutics, and negative perceptions of disability
Summary
Everyone is born with a disability or is disabled in one way or another. Through society’s teachings, individuals develop the ability to use their body parts in the best way that they can for full participation in society. African women’s theology of disability reimagines humanity from God’s image, from which all are made Participants confirm this in their efforts to resist fear, as they use their body to fight for inclusion and develop a liberative narrative of disability. Oneness means likeness and equality, which promotes the inclusion of all people according to the value of human dignity It emerges from the participants in this study, that fear of disability is perpetuated by naive hermeneutics, of the Hebrew Bible on disability, and the ambiguity of African spirituality on the connection of ancestors with disability. Participants negotiated their inclusion through challenging ableist constructions; that is, it is only an able body that can swim, dance, be sexually attractive, falls in love, has sex and give birth They defied the normative of sex and motherhood by speaking directly to the concerns of the African women’s theology of disability. The African women’s theology of disability embraces this inclusive love of Christ on the Cross, as a prospect of breaking barriers of exclusion due to different body shapes or forms
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