Religion and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Africa

This book explores the role of religion in Southern Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the challenges and opportunities presented by religious actors in response to the health crisis. It draws on case studies from African indigenous knowledge systems, Islam, Rastafari, and various forms of Christianity to provide insights into the ways in which religion can contribute to crisis response.

Format: Hardback
Length: 260 pages
Publication date: 25 February 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book investigates the role of religion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa.

Building on a diverse range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches, the book reflects on how religion, politics and health have interfaced in Southern African contexts, when faced with the sudden public health emergency caused by the pandemic. Religious actors have played a key role on the frontline throughout the pandemic, sometimes posing roadblocks to public health messaging, but more often deploying their resources to help provide effective and timely responses. Drawing on case studies from African indigenous knowledge systems, Islam, Rastafari and various forms of Christianity, this book provides important reflections on the role of religion in crisis response.

This book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of African Studies, Health, Politics and Religious Studies.

The Open Access version of this book, available at

http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032147833