
LEOCADIE WABO LUSHOMBO, it.
172 Foster Street, Brighton, Massachusetts (or MA) 02135
Home: +1 (617) 254-4343 – Cell: (617) 368-0364
E-mail addresses: lushombo@bc.edu ; leolushombo@gmail.com
Ph.D Candidate/Dissertation Proposal
Imagining an Ethics of Women’s Political Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa in Dialogue with Catholic Social Teaching – A Sophialogical Hermeneutics/To be defended in 2020.
Education
- Ph.D. Candidate in Moral Theology/ Theological Ethics/ Boston College – Brighton, Massachusetts, USA/2019.
- Candidate/Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) – Boston College/School of Theology and Ministry, USA/2019.
- Master of Arts: Moral Theology; Major: Ethics. Catholic Theological Union (CTU)-Chicago, IL, USA.
- Master in Sustainable Development: “Desarrollo Sostenible.” Universidad Pontificio Comillas de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Master in Economics & Management. “Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale” (Catholic University of Central Africa) – Yaoundé/Cameroon.
- Undergraduate Program: Business Studies and Computer Sciences. “Institut Supérieur de Commerce” (Institute of Commerce) – Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
- Consultant/Researcher in political participation, governance, and gender, TROCAIRE (Irish), CORDAID (Dutch), Justice and Peace Episcopal Commissions (DRC).
Accomplishments
Graduate Work
Promoting Justice and Positive Social Change in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through Political Participation: The Role for Parish-Based Justice and Peace Commissions. Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago/Master of Arts in Theology (August 2014).
Teaching Experience
- Teaching Fellow and Teaching Assistant in the Theology Department/academic year 2018-2019 and (2016-2017).
- Guest lecturer for professors:
- Lauren Honig’s Class, Natural Resources Politics, on “Conflicts Mineral – Resource War,” Fall 2019
- Lisa Cahill’s Majors Seminar, Violence: Cross, War, Race, Gender at Boston College, on “Gender and Gender-Based Violence,” Fall 2019.
- Laurie Johnston’s Class, Ethics, Religion and International Politics on “Justice after war? Grass-roots resistance to justice and reconciliation” and “Peacebuilding and jus post bellum,” Spring 2018 and Spring 2019.
- Stephen Pope, Reconciliation and Forgiveness, on “The Challenges of the Rwandan Genocide,” Fall 2016
Published Book Chapter
- “Deforestation in the Congo Basin and Global Climate Change: An Ethic of Environmental Responsibility based on African Spirituality” in Nature and the Environment in Contemporary Religious Contexts, Muhammad Shafiq, ed., (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018).
Published Papers
- “Rape-Weapon of War: A Crime of War and A Crime Against Humanity Contemporary Challenges to Peace and Justice in Rwanda and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),” Journal for Peace and Justice Studies 28, no. 2 (July 2019), 40-59
- “Rectifying Political Leadership through a Just Peace Ethic.” Journal of Moral Theology Virtues, Politics and Economics, 8, no. 2 (June 2019).. Co-authored with Eli McCarthy (Georgetown University).
- “‘Education as the Practice of Freedom’ to Address Educational Poverty in Sub-Sahara Africa.” Asian Horizons 12, no. 1 (March 2018). 52-65.
- “The Feminization of Poverty. How Traditional Gender Bias and Sexual Violence Keep Women in Poverty in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Congo-Afrique, no. 513 (March 2017).
- “Christological Foundations for Political Participation: Women in the Global South Building Agency as Risen Beings.” Political Theology, vol. 18 no.5 (June, 2016). 399-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2016.1195592
- “The Contribution of Jacques Maritain on Political Participation of the Christians in the Temporal World.” Telema/Congo, Jesuit Journal, 1, no. 16 (January-June 2016), 2-22.
- “La déforestation en République Démocratique du Congo et ses effets sur le changement climatique : Une analyse éthique à la lumière de Laudato Si’. Congo-Afrique, no. 509 (Novembre 2016), 841-859.
- “Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and climate change.” Asian Horizons 9, no. 4 (December 2015), 724-740. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107140
- “L’enseignement social de l’Eglise catholique et la lutte contre la pauvreté des femmes.” Congo-Afrique no. 496 (Juin, Juillet, Août 2015). 499-513 http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:107141
- “The Land of Gold and Blood: Congo suffers from the paradox of mineral wealth and human poverty,” SOJOURNERS. Faith in Action for Social Justice. (Sept-Oct 2015). Pages/Sojo.net, https://sojo.net/magazine/septemberoctober-2015/land-gold-and-blood
Published Book Review
“The Church We Want: African Catholics Look to Vatican III. Ed. Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator. New York: Orbis, 2016. Pp. Xxxi + 272.” Theological Studies 79, no. 1 (March 2018): 222-223. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040563917746277.
Book Chapters Under Contract: Forthcoming Publications
- “Just peace virtue based approach and challenges to proportionality and just punishment of the just war theory. Lessons from the rape with extreme violence (REV) in the DRC.” The contract with Georgetown Press for this publication has been concluded.
- “Luke-Acts on the primacy of faith over evil civil/political commands: Relevance for the post-genocidal context of Rwanda;” book project for 2020 promoted for the 25 years anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.
- “Theopolitics of Dialogue, Reconciliation, and Just Peace in fostering good governance in the DRC’s context – An interdisciplinary Approach;” book project for 2020 promoted by Jesuits in Africa.
Work experience, Monitoring, evaluation, and research in social justice (2000-2014)
- Computerization and Management of projects and programs with the National Office of Transportation/Congo, the Teresian Association, and the International Non-Governmental Organizations, such as the Catholic Organization for Development and Aid (Cordaid – Nederland) and Trocaire (Ireland), 2000-2008.
- Evaluation of the projects of development on “Access to and improvement of education in primary and secondary schools for marginalized neighborhoods of Kinshasa/DRC.” Funded by the “Junta de Andalucia,” Spain. (2011).
- Baseline Studies in Governance and Gender assessing the basic level of knowledge and actions of citizens regarding political and civil rights/RDC. Funded by Trocaire. Baseline conducted in 2010 and 2012.
- Monitoring and evaluating an advocacy program on social housing in Lima (Peru) in 2010, Marrakesh (MOROCCO) and Kinshasa (DRC) in 2008-2009.
- Research and writing of a manual for citizens’ participation “Les bonnes pratiques de la participation citoyenne” unpublished, Cordaid, The Hague, 2009.
Research in Gender Politics and Security (unpublished work)
- Study evaluating the effective participation of women in the DRC and particularly in the Demobilization, Disarmament and Reinsertion (DDR) program in accordance with the Resolution 1325 of the Security Council of the United Nations/North and South Kivu/DRC, March-July 2010.
- Participation in “Genre Politique” (Gender Politics), conducted with NGOs in collaboration with Professor Philippe de Leener from ENDA Intermonde/Belgique.
Career Plan
- Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 teaching position in the US; Spring 2021 semester teaching position in Africa.
- Researching and writing on the question of political participation, good governance, and justice and peace in Sub-Saharan Africa from a theological perspective, with a focus on gender-based violence and just peace initiatives. Researching in this area will provide interdisciplinary resources to stakeholders, such as churches, the academic, governmental, and non-governmental institutions, international agencies and all those who might be interested in bolstering gender justice, political participation, and constitutional democracy.
Referees from the Present Theology Department faculty at Boston College
• Lisa Sowle Cahill, lisa.cahill@bc.edu, dissertation advisor.
• James Keenan, james.keenan.2@bc.edu, dissertation reader.
• Kenneth Himes, kenneth.himes@bc.edu, dissertation reader.
• Steve Pope, stephen.pope@bc.edu, teaching mentor.