Beyond Feminist and Womanist Hermeneutics: Some Critical Remarks on the Bosadi Approach of Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele)

Abstract

For almost thirty years, Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan’a Mphahlele) has advocated the need for a unique African approach for women in biblical studies. Her African-South African hermeneutical approach, called the bosadi approach, includes not only problematising gender, race and class but also addressing colonialism, sexism, apartheid and HIV/AIDS issues, among others. Masenya uses local proverbs from her Northern Sotho context to interpret both grassroots women’s lives and the biblical text and her aim is to regain self-worth and self-identity for African women. This essay evaluates the bosadi approach by first placing it epistemologically within African biblical hermeneutics. Then, it presents some of the criticisms of the bosadi approach in its early reception. The critique involves arguments about the approach as primarily a local approach, about not being critical enough of oppressive elements in African cultures and about not being empirically based. Lastly, the essay highlights the significance of developing a specific African feminist hermeneutical approach and indicates that the bosadi approach can be an inspirational tool for interpretation also in other contexts to confirm and liberate women.