Masiiwa Ragies Gunda’s research while affiliated with University of Bamberg and other places

The world is reeling from the direct and indirect effects of racist political and economic ideologies that have been central to the reckless plunder of the earth and creation, resulting in the climate crisis that is being felt the world over. The racist ideology of white supremacism and its culture of whiteness that accompanied European colonisation of the world were also central in driving the economic racist-capitalist system that saw the wants and needs of people of European heritage, especially of central and western European heritage, as of primary concern, leading to the economic exploitation of other lands’ resources. The racist ideology and culture led to widespread racial discrimination of Africans, Asians and Indigenous people. Using discourse analysis, this chapter analyses the meaning and effect of white supremacism and whiteness before doing the same with Ubuntu. What do we know about the discourses around these concepts and what do we need to unlearn and unbecome as well as what we need to learn and become? This chapter contends that white supremacism and whiteness were and remain divisive perspectives on humanity, choosing to divide humanity into classes and categories to justify the exploitation of one by the other. On the contrary, Ubuntu, without being perfect, offers the best escape from the implications of white supremacism and whiteness because of its communal focus, seeking to see the one only as an integral part of the whole.

European colonisation of Africa was manifest in the political, economic, cultural and religious domination and exploitation of Africans by Europeans. This domination and exploitation were operationalised by force and coercion through the use of military power but also through epistemicide, in which education was used to impart colonial thinking while exterminating indigenous systems of knowledge and ways of knowing. Through a discourse and document analysis, this chapter assesses how the Bible was used in order to support the colonisation of Africa. Further, it also assesses the responses that emerged from Africans in their attempt to resist and undo colonisation, beginning with the emergence of African Initiated Churches. Generations of African readers of the Bible have, in one way or another, with success and sometimes failure, read the Bible to unlearn and undo colonisation. This chapter avers that a renewed focus on decolonisation in Biblical studies must focus on the text of the Bible, colonial interpretations, indigenous interpretations and usage of the Bible, as well as promoting the development of age-appropriate decolonial readings of the Bible for the creation of an African critical decolonised mass of Christians for the overall development of Africa.

Africa continues to be a continent inflicted by conflicts—armed conflicts, economic plunder by both local and foreign looters, and contested elections and loyalties to different global players and powers. Globally, there are moves towards holistic approaches to solving challenges because there is an acknowledgement of the intersectionalities that exist in our lives. Considering that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are supposed to be realised by 2030, it is apparent that SDG 16 is far from being realised in Africa. This chapter interrogates the intersectionalities between the colonial and evangelisation legacies and contemporary conflicts in Africa and their impact and demands on peacebuilding and development in Africa. Using a historical and racial justice analytical approach, this chapter argues there is an interface between the white supremacist ideology and conflicts in Africa. Further, this chapter proposes that Christian churches ought to develop systems that dismantle white supremacism because they helped entrench this ideology in Africa and peacebuilding depends on this.

The Exodus played an explicit and implicit role in sustaining the policy and practice of apartheid in South Africa and in various other places that went through the pains of colonization. Interestingly, the same Exodus also played a central part in the resistance to and the subsequent dismantling of the apartheid policy and practice in South Africa. That readers on both sides of the divide found solace in the Exodus was put down to the common assumption that guided both parties. The assumption of historicity caused the Exodus to be read as if it were a photographic record of what happened and the experience of oppression and discrimination by the readers assigned the Exodus a historical status for speaking to a historical situation. The assumption of historicity was central in the destructive uses of the Exodus thereby creating a cycle of oppressed–oppressors across the African continent, as groups took turns to seek out their own advantage. An assumption of justice was proposed as an alternative guiding principle through which justice for all, in line with pivotal events of the Old Testament, can be realized in the world.