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Social Imagination, African Politics and the African Theological Network Press
This World Book Day we're sharing another ATNP update from Dr Angus Crichton, SPCK's Global Advocacy Manager. The African Theological Network Press (ATNP) is one of SPCK's charitable programmes, an ecumenical venture, committed to serving the church in Africa and the Diaspora.
ATNP Update II: Social Imagination, African Politics and the African Theological Network Press
We clapped on our streets, hearts bursting with pride,
As they went off to war, while we stayed inside.
They struggled at first, as they searched for supplies,
But they stared down the virus, in the whites of its eyes.
They leaped from the trenches and didn't think twice,
Some never came back, the ultimate price.
So tired, so weary, yet still they fought on,
As the virus was beaten and the battle was won.
The many of us, owe so much to so few,
The brave and the bold, our heroes in blue.
So let's line the streets and remember our debt,
We love you, our heroes, lest we forget.
This is part of a poem written by Matt Kelly, a local council employee in Wigan to honour his partner Jill Scully and her fellow healthcare workers. And if you really want a tear brought to your eye, listen to Christopher Eccleston read it here.
The poem mobilises Britain’s social imagination from past military conflicts for the current battle against COVID-19. A few words conjure past heroic struggles – the Quebec Heights, the Flanders trenches, the Battle of Britain – to produce a deep emotional response to the sacrifice of healthcare workers in the present. That is how social imagination works, past events in a nation’s life shape our engagement with the present.
When African countries feature in global media, it is often because of their political regimes: the length of time leaders remain in power (Paul Biya of Cameron is six years shy of half a century in power), the misappropriation of public funds, contested elections. These are human, not just African, political problems. Remember Bush, Gore and chads down in Florida or the floating duck house purchased on parliamentary expenses? But why is politics in many African countries more a source of lamentation rather than celebration, despite notable exceptions?
The Ugandan theologian Emmanuel Katongole states the answer lies in the social imagination of many African countries. Katongole, along with many others, observes that the political system in many African countries actually works very well. They benefit the elite few at the expense of the rest of the population. So in the capital of one country, the ministry of health has ensured its staff have access to over 100 vehicles in its pool, while its 1.5 million residents makes do with two ambulances. Yet one political commentator in the same country had the honesty to observe that most citizens do not get as angry as they should when government officials misappropriate funds because they have a sneaking suspicion they would do the same thing if they were in that position.
Katongole argues that entire countries think in this way because the past has shaped the present. European colonial governments ran their African colonies to extract resources to make the colony pay its way in the name of developing ‘backward people’. Their post-colonial successors continued the approach, changing the rhetoric to ‘national development’, but with the same goal of benefiting the elite few. African church leaders then rush in with their Christian political fire-fighting equipment, without asking why the blaze burns so fiercely and persistently. Like all of us, they are attracted by the allure of a seat at the centre with the few, rather than walking dusty roads with the many.
Katongole then demonstrates an alternative social imagination, that of leaders rooted in the Christian gospel of extravagant love for and service to the many: Bishop Paride Taban of South Sudan, Angelina Atyam of Uganda and Maggy Barankitse of Burundi. Paride founded a peace village in war-torn Southern Sudan. Angelina literally went after the Lord’s Resistance Army to plead for the return of her daughter and countless other young people abducted from Northern Uganda. Maggy, compelled by love, built a wonderous home for Burundian orphans. These are stories that will move you to tears and demonstrate that Christ in the hearts of these ordinary men and women creates an extraordinary, alternative social reality for the least whose Africa’s political elites overlook – unless there is an election around the corner.
Until now Emmanuel Katongole’s book could only be purchased in North America or Europe and had not been published back on the continent where its contents are most relevant. In the last few months this has now changed, as the African Theological Network Press has published the title in both Kenya and Ghana, as described in an earlier post. 
The Eerdmans and ATNP covers side by side. What do each communicate about politics in Africa?
Africa has the fastest growing Christian population, but this population is currently unable to publish their own, uniquely African, vision of Christianity.The African Theological Network Press can change this. It is an ecumenical venture, committed to serving the church in Africa and the Diaspora by strengthening its life and witness through high quality scholarly publications that address contextual mission concerns and are accessible and affordable across the continent, as well as globally. Find out how you can help make the voice of African Christianity heard here >>
