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Interview with Dr Hassan Ndzovu, Moi University

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The start and planning of the SERENE project has been greatly affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have had to postpone the first project workshop, that was supposed to take place in May 2020, and we don’t know when we will be able to reschedule it. An important part of the first workshop was for project partners to meet, get to know each other, and learn about each other’s work. As an alternative way to address that aim, we have planned a series of short interviews. This is the fifth interview, with Dr Hassan Ndzovu from Moi University, Kenya.

 

Could you please briefly introduce yourself and your work?

My name is Hassan Ndzovu, a Senior Lecturer of Religious Studies at Moi University Kenya. I have a PhD in Religious Studies that was awarded to me in 2009 by the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa in collaboration with the University of Bayreuth Germany.  Following my PhD, I was blessed with opportunity for two postdoctoral positions at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany (2013-2014) and at Northwestern University, USA (2010-2011) to undertake research. During the Freie Universität Berlin postdoctoral fellowship, I worked on a research project, "Mediated Sermons: Production, Women and Popular Themes of Muslim Preachers in Kenya". This study explored how Muslim women preachers in Kenya through various media tools have succeeded to make themselves and their sermons visible in the Muslim public sphere. And for the duration of the postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University, I worked on book project that culminated to the publishing of the book, Muslims in Kenyan Politics: Political Involvement, Marginalization, and Minority Status (Northwestern University Press, 2014).

My research interests are broadly focused on Islam in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, and they revolve around religion and politics/law, Islamist movements, religious based conflict, religious authority within the Islamic tradition, and religion and sexuality. However, I am aware that there are many areas within sub-Saharan Africa that needs to be researched, and I am always open to expand my research agenda to explore other themes. Based on my research interests, I have conducted previous studies related with the Muslim community of Kenya.

I am currently (since 2019-) part of the research team, "Toward an Islamic Cultural Archive (ICA): Building a Collaborative Database of Islamic Learning in Africa", which is being coordinated by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence of the University of Bayreuth. Within this larger project, I am working on "Women,  Education and Mediatized Sermons: The Changing Nature of Religious Authority and Transmission of Islamic Knowledge among Kenyan Muslims". This study seeks to examine the phenomenon of ‘women-led’ and ‘women-only’ established educational institutions (chuo or duski and madrassa) and the mediatisation of female preachers’ sermons as a form of transmission of Islamic knowledge.

How do your work and interests relate do the focus of SERENE on engaging religious leaders on issues of LGBTI inclusion in East Africa?

The significance of religion in society is what I like to investigate in my various research projects. One of my research interests as indicated earlier is on the interplay of religion and sexuality, where I have been fascinated in understanding the role of religion with regard to the phenomena of homosexuality. Because of my academic background, the goal has always been to understand how Islam influences this particular aspect of human life in the context of Africa. Generally speaking, although existing scholarship on religion and sexuality frequently focuses on the negative character of religion in supporting homophobia tendencies in Africa, Islam seems to play ambivalent roles in setting up agendas for sexual inclusive narratives on the continent.

Islam seems to play ambivalent roles in setting up agendas for sexual inclusive narratives on the continent.

This ambivalence is rooted in the intersectional nature of Islam’s involvement in the delivery of both spiritual and social goods. The intersectional environment in which Islam operate in Kenya reveal complexities and paradoxes not deeply and critical studied in the debate about victimhood and the victimisation of sexual identities in the country. Thus, In Kenya, the role of religion, particularly contemporary theo-Islamic perspectives is scant in understanding either homophobia or accommodation of sexual diversity among Muslim communities. It is because of this conviction that I have always been interested in exploring the discourse on sexual rights, identities and practices through the lens of Islamic belief systems and values, which I believe relates to the work SERENE seeks to accomplish.

How have you and your organisation been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and how do you try to continue your work?

Following the presidential directive that all learning institutions to be closed as part of the management on the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), Moi University, where I work, suspended all its service on March 16, 2020. Since then, I have been working from the house with occasional rush to the stores to replenish much needed basic commodities for my family. To a certain extent, this arrangement of working from the house due to the corona pandemic has been a “blessing” in disguise because it has given me the opportunity to spend more time my family, and also ample time to meet certain deadlines for my academic work. I have so far submitted two research proposals, and I am currently working on three chapters whose deadlines are approaching.

As a Muslim, I have also been observing this year Ramadhan that began on April 25. With the coronavirus pandemic keeping most of us at home, (i.e. the 7pm-5am curfew; cessation in the counties of Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Mandera and Nairobi; and recent lockdown of two virus hotspots, Eastleigh in Nairobi and Old Town in Mombasa), this Ramadhan has been much quieter with more isolated (individual) spiritual experience. The lesson that I have picked in this year’s Ramadhan is the need for Muslims to re-think about the rigid ritualist forms of devotion and embrace alternative interpretations and practices.

Muslims need to re-think the rigid ritualist forms of devotion and embrace alternative interpretations and practices.

What do you hope to get out of the SERENE project, once this pandemic is over?

I am hoping to actively participate and engage in the SERENE project activities since it avails me the opportunity to learn more on this subject of LGBTQI people. As a result, I hope to be part of a team that seeks in making a significant contribution in facilitating reconciliation between religious leaders and sexual orientation diversity in Africa, which is crucial in creating a sustainable continent.