Mutale Malenga Kaunda
| Mutale Malenga Kaunda | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| 💼 Occupation | Academic, researcher, theologian, author |
Mutale Mulenga Kaunda is a Zambian scholar, theologian, and researcher whose work focuses on the intersections of gender, religion, culture, and African feminist thought. Her scholarship examines African women’s agency within religious traditions, indigenous knowledge systems, and cultural practices. She currently serves as a Research Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, where she contributes to research training and scholarship on gender, religion, and decolonial theology.[1]
Education
Kaunda holds a PhD in Gender and Religion from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.[2] Her doctoral research explored African women’s religious experiences, cultural rituals, and feminist theological frameworks within African Christianity and indigenous religious traditions.[3]
Career
Kaunda has held several academic and research positions across institutions in Africa and internationally. Between 2015 and 2019, she worked as a research mentor and writing coach in the School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she supported postgraduate researchers and contributed to academic training.[1]
She later worked as a doctoral researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and subsequently served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape.[1] In September 2024, Kaunda joined the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies as a Research Tutor, where her work focuses on research supervision, theology, gender justice, and decolonial scholarship.[1] She has also served as an adjunct scholar and researcher at the United Church of Zambia University.[2]
Research and Scholarship
Kaunda’s research focuses on several interconnected areas, including African feminist theology, gender and religion in Africa, indigenous cultural knowledge systems, sexuality, spirituality, and African Christianity.[1][2]
Her work frequently examines how African women negotiate cultural and religious expectations within social institutions, including families, communities, and workplaces. A major theme in her scholarship is the study of Imbusa.[4] This traditional Bemba marriage-preparation knowledge system uses symbolic objects and ritual teachings to transmit social and cultural knowledge to women.[4]
Kaunda has participated in international conferences and ecumenical gatherings focusing on theology, gender justice, and religion.
- Delivering a keynote address at the 2018 Commission on World Mission and Evangelism conference in Arusha, Tanzania, organized by the World Council of Churches.[1]
- Speaking at a Lutheran World Federation event in Addis Ababa in 2019, where she addressed Pentecostal perspectives on the Holy Spirit.[1]
- She has also participated in dialogues on gender-based violence and women’s rights within religious spaces.
Kaunda is associated with several academic and ecumenical networks, including:
- Pan-African Women of Faith Network (PAWEEN)
Selected works
- “Absent Fathers and Child Maintenance Rights in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia: The Dilemma of a Postcolonial Bemba Matrilineal Practice.” Zambia Social Science Journal (2022).
- “Beads of Agency: Bemba Women’s Imbusa and Indigenous Marital Communication.” HTS Theological Studies (2023).
- “Mother Earth, Mother Africa and African Women’s Role in Indigenous Religions.” African Journal of Gender and Religion (2021).
- Kaunda, Mutale M. & Kaunda, Chammah J. “Gender and Sexual Desire Justice in African Christianity.” Feminist Theology (2021)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Dr Mutale Mulenga Kaunda". Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "MUTALE MULENGA KAUNDAL". CWM DARE. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- ↑ "Mutale Mulenga Kaunda". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Google Search". www.google.co.ke. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
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