Drawing on research from Ghana, this book examines the experiences of women liberated from indigenous ritual servitude in Africa, and the spatial diaconia of parachurches - which function outside of institutionalized churches - in offering survivors a lived space as they seek restoration and integration into wider society.
This book explores the kinds of Christian service or diaconia that develop in non-institutionalized practices for supporting survivors of indigenous ritual servitude or Trokosi in Africa. Drawing on empirical research from Ghana, it examines the possibilities of freedom, equality, and dignity for liberated Trokosi and the manner in which these womens experiences constitute a repudiation of dominant patriarchal family systems. With close attention to the work of indigenous parachurches which function outside of institutionalized churches in challenging the contemporary practice of ritual slavery and offering its survivors a lived space in which they need not remain hidden as they seek restoration and integration into wider society, Ritual Servitudes and Christian Social Practices in Ghana will appeal to scholars of sociology, theology, and religion with interests in gender, contemporary ministries and African religion.
Drawing on research from Ghana, this book examines the experiences of women liberated from indigenous ritual servitude in Africa, and the spatial diaconia of parachurches - which function outside of institutionalized churches - in offering survivors a lived space as they seek restoration and integration into wider society.
List of Figures
The Preamble
Introduction
PART I
Framework, Religion, and Theology
1 The Construction
2 Religion, Space, and Slavery in Context
3 History and Theology of Christian Social Ministry in Context
PART 2
Methods and Empirical Data
4 Diaconal Methodology: Entry and In-Field Research Experience
5 Narratives by Liberators, Gatekeepers, and Survivors of Ritual Servitudes
PART 3
Theories and Interpretations
6 The Theory of Heterotopia and the Trokosi Shrines as Sacred Spaces
7 Trokosi Womens Body-Spaces as Heterotopia: Spatial Deconstruction and
Reconstruction
8 Liberating Heterotopic Diakonia: A Contextual Approach to Christian Social
Practice
9 Free Indeed! Ritual Servitude and Christian Social Practice as Religion and
Development Praxis
Index
David Stiles-Ocran is an affiliated researcher in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo, Norway.