University of Malawi

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Dr. Dorothy Tembo

SENIOR LECTURER
Theology and Religious Studies

Research Areas

19th-century Christian mission movements, Gender, Colonialism, Identity, Ethnicity,

Profile

Dorothy Tembo earned her Ph.D. in Religions from SOAS, University of London in 2018. Her research focuses on the interplay between colonialism and Christianity, specifically investigating the dynamics of missionary efforts and African agency in the context of colonial Malawi. Employing historiographical methodologies, Tembo critically examines how mission work influenced the formation of ethnic identities, gender roles, African marriage practices, and indigenous religions within colonial Malawi. Her analysis delineates the contributions of both European and African voices, particularly in sources that often present a Eurocentric bias. By utilizing frameworks of gender, religion, and identity, she aims to recover and amplify African perspectives that have been obscured in both missionary records and colonial narratives. Her primary archival research is conducted within the missionary archives of the Free Church of Scotland and the Dutch Reformed Church Missions based in Cape Town, South Africa.

Publications