The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South - (Bloomsbury Handbooks) by Yonah Hisbon Matemba & Bruce A Collet (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South presents new comparative perspectives on Religious Education (RE) across the Global South. Including 23 chapters written by scholars from the Global North and South, this is the first authoritative reference work on the subject. The handbook is thematically organised into seven sections. The first three sections deal with provision, response to changes in contemporary society, and decolonizing RE. The next four sections explore young people and RE, perspectives on teachers, RE in higher education, and finally, challenges and opportunities for RE. The term 'Global South' is used here primarily to signify the deep economic divide with the Global North, but the concept is also examined in historical, geographical, political, social and cultural terms, including the indelible influence of religion in all four broadly defined regions. Exploring RE from local, cross-national as well as regional and sub-regional perspectives, the handbook examines RE from its diverse past, present realities, and envisioned future revealing not only tensions, contestations, injustices and inequalities of power, but importantly, how inclusive forms of RE can help solve these problems.

Review Quotes

Editors Matemba and Collet focus needed attention to a long neglected topic in their new handbook-religious education (RE) in the Global South. Explicating the political, cultural, and demographic millieu, contributors illuminate the challenges and opportunities for RE in this economically underdeveloped area with a billion people living in poverty.

Michael D. Waggoner, Professor of Education, University of Northern Iowa, USA

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religious Education in the Global South is a work of incalculable current-day importance. In an era when decolonising the curriculum is very much to the fore, this authoritative collection provides an expert guide to the literature and lived experience of religious education in the southern hemisphere.

Liam Francis Gearon, Senior Research Fellow, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, UK

This book gives a comprehensive picture of Religion and Education in specific regions of the Global South. The discourses on religious/religion education critiquing and questioning policies and teaching strategies should appeal to researchers to explore the complexities of the GS multilayered societies.
Cornelia Roux, Emeritus Professor of Education, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

About the Author

Yonah Hisbon Matemba is Senior Lecturer in the Division of Education, School of Education and Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, UK. He is the co-author of Religious Education in Malawi and Ghana: Perspectives on Religious Misrepresentation and Misclusion (2021).

Bruce A. Collet is Professor in the School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy in the College of Education and Human Development at Bowling Green State University, USA. He is the author of Migration, Religion, and Schooling in Liberal Democratic States (2018).