Inventing the New Dispensation in Zimbabwe: The Religious Dimensions

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

How does a regime, whose members have been actively involved in the previous one, appropriate and deploy religious ideas and rhetoric to cast itself as born-again and resplendent This book examines the invention of Zimbabwes New Dispensation, the regime of Emmerson D. Mnangagwa, which has aimed to separate itself from the previous regime of Robert G. Mugabe. Utilizing the concept of invention contributors reflect on how Mnangagwa and his publicists deploy religious ideas, concepts and rhetoric in the quest for legitimacy in a heavily contested political field. Chapters in the volume examine the use of time, theological ideas and religious practices to separate Mnangagwas regime from Mugabes. In this regard, contributors explore how religious ideas and ideals that are already in circulation within the religious marketplace become building blocks and material for minting a New Dispensation.

Author Bio

Ezra Chitando is Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe and Theology Consultant on HIV and AIDS for the World Council of Churches. Lovemore Togarasei is Professor of Religious Studies at Zimbabwe Open University, Zimbabwe. Joram Tarusarira is Assistant Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.