Religion, Disability, and Sustainable Development in Africa
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The importance of meeting the needs of people with disabilities is highlighted specifically in several Sustainable Development Goals, as well as being emphasised as a cross-cutting issue across all the goals. Over 1 billion people are estimated to be living with disabilities, and 80% of this population live in the Global South, many within Africa. This book argues that within this context, religion must be considered, as people with disabilities often turn to religion for solace in confronting the daily struggles and pains that they face. Drawing on multiple disciplinary lenses, this book reflects on how traditional/indigenous, Abrahamic, and other African minority religions and philosophies interact with disability, and how this relates to the Sustainable Development Goals. The book demonstrates how religions in Africa conceptualise, imagine, or re-imagine disability in the context of key themes such as gender, ecological justice, health, poverty, education, employment, entrepreneurship, and migration.
Overall, the book invites researchers from across the social sciences to consider how African religious, theological, and philosophical ideas can help towards the inclusion of people with disabilities in the 2030 development agenda in Africa.
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Dr Chioma Ohajunwa is Senior Lecturer at the Africa Centre for Inclusive Health Management, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and also worked at the Division of Disability and Rehabilitation Studies, Global Health, Stellenbosch University. Her work is in the areas of disability, spirituality, Indigenous knowledge, wellbeing, decoloniality, and, more recently, how these inform an inclusive framework for health and wellbeing within the African context. She is published locally and internationally.
Kudakwashe ‘AK’ Dube is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Africa Disability Alliance and has over 30 years of experience designing, managing, evaluating, and monitoring development and disability programmes with international and grassroots movements. He is also chair of trustees of ADD International, which fights for independence, equality, and opportunities for disabled people living in poverty, alongside organisations of disabled people.
Ezra Chitando serves as Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also Extraordinary Professor, the Desmond Tutu Centre for Social Justice, University of the Western Cape, South Africa.
