Geographies of Conversion
Focusing on the Spatial Practices of Nigerian Pentecostalism
Keywords:
transnationalism, spatial practices, Nigerian Pentecostalism, Europe, globalisationAbstract
This article describes transnational Nigerian-initiated Pentecostal churches based on multisited fieldwork. Religion is often described as deterritorialized, due to processes of globalization. In this article, the author argues that territories, localities and places are in fact very important to transnational Nigerian Pentecostalism, and that African Pentecostal churches in general constitute territories and places as well as add new dynamics to cities. Attention to spatial practices of Pentecostals as well as the ways in which these interact with the spatial practices of other social actors can bring into view the ways in which Pentecostalism is, or tries to be, a social force on the local level, transnationally and globally.
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