{"product_id":"9798216278078","title":"Gender, Agency, and Spirituality in a Congolese Rebel Movement Gods, Guns, and Girls","description":"\u003ch1\u003eGender, Agency, and Spirituality in a Congolese Rebel Movement\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch2\u003eGods, Guns, and Girls\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eGeorgette I. Mulunda Ledgister\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eReligion \/ Religion, Politics \u0026amp; State\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book explores how women warriors transcended normative gender dynamics and wielded Indigenous Luba religion during the Democratic Republic of Congo's Five Year War (1997-2002).\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAccounts of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Five Year War depict members of the Luba Mai-Mai as a violent and self-serving rebel group. Georgette I. Mulunda Ledgister complicates these conceptions of the Mai-Mai by introducing their voices to the narrative. Across five chapters, Ledgister recounts the story of Chatty (Charlotte) Masangu wa Nkulu, a Luba woman who enlisted in the Mai-Mai in the hope that her active involvement in the rebellion would help her escape her stigma as a divorcée and a woman unable to have children. Tracing Chatty's ascent in the Mai-Mai military ranks to the second-in-command of her father's forces in the southeastern provinces of the DRC, Ledgister invites readers into a phenomenological and gender-transcending encounter with Luba religion and ancestral power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough Chatty's story, Ledgister studies African women's reception, interpretation, and practices of spirituality, revealing how these women interrogate, embrace, shift, and reimagine religion in the public sphere. Focusing on the least likely source of military power for physically vulnerable\u003cbr\u003epopulations-Indigenous spirituality-this book presents ordinary Congolese civilians, and women in particular, as agentive subjects in scholarly discourses on the role of gender and religion in war. Therefore, this book equips scholars of religion, gender and violent conflict to perceive practices of agency, gender freedom, and hope amidst war in the African continent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eGeorgette I. Mulunda Ledgister \u003c\/b\u003eis the Global Vice President of Diversity, Equity Inclusion \u0026amp; Belonging and People Experience at DoubleVerify, USA and received a Ph.D. from Emory University, USA.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e04 February 2027\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9798216278078\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e208\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e16.0\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51522029453452,"sku":"9798216278078","price":103.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_c7384f79-8565-42de-b186-90c8d3ccb9b3.jpg?v=1784753946","url":"https:\/\/fh90cf-fv.myshopify.com\/products\/9798216278078","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}