African Pentecostalism in Diaspora
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v9i1.9Keywords:
African Pentecostalism, Diaspora, immigrant ChristianityAbstract
This article is an attempt to survey the field of African immigrant Christianity so as to put the specifically Pentecostal factor in proper perspective. It points to where scholars have been, are and should be going, and who are the chief conversation partners. It examines the various discourses, arguing that reverse flow is broader than a description of Africans doing mission in the northern globe; it is better grasped from a global missiological perspective. African immigrant Christianity is beyond the religious performances of suffering communities in Europe; the discourses on modernity and globalization are useful but harbour internal contradictions; and the profiles of mega churches are not adequate representations. We are confronted with complex matters about religious experiences and expressions catalyzed by the complex patterns of African migration and the changing character of the destinations. The question to be raised is: what is the Pentecostal dimension?
References
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Gornik, Mark. “Word Made Global: African Christianity in New York.” PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008.
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Hagan, Jacqueline and Helen R. Ebaugh. “Calling Upon the Sacred: Migrants’ Use of Religion in the Migration Process.” International Migration Review 37.4 (2003), pp. 1145–62.
Hanciles, Jehu. “Beyond Christendom: African Migrations and Transformations in Global Christianity.” Studies in World Christianity 10.1 (2004), pp. 93–113.
Ibrahim, Fouad. “The Egyptian Coptic Diaspora in Germany: A Study in Local Cultural Vitality.” In Afe Adogame and Cordula Weissköppel (eds), Religion in the Context of African Migration. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies Series, no.75 (2005), pp. 301–16.
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Nelson, Dana K. Mission and Migration: Fifty-two African and Asian Congregations in Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2007.
Nida, Worku. “African Religious Beliefs and Practices in Diaspora: An Ethnographic Observation of Activities at an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Los Angeles.” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 207–28.
Norman, Edward. Secularisation. London: Continuum, 2002.
Nzayabino, Vedaste. “The Role of Refugee Established Churches in the Lives of Forced Migrants: A Case Study of Word of Life Assembly in Yeoville, Johannesburg.” MA thesis, Witwatersrand, 2005.
Okpewho, Isidore, Carole Davies and Ali Mazrui (eds). The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Olupona, J.K. and Regina Gemignani (eds). African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007.
Phan, Peter C. “Where Are We Going?: The Future of Ministry in the United States.” New Theology Review: An American Catholic Journal for Ministry 18.2 (May 2005), pp. 5–15.
Pike, Sarah M. New Age and NeoPagan Religions in America. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Sabar, Galia. “The African Christian Diaspora in the Holy Land.” In Afe Adogame and Cordula Weissköppel (eds), Religion in the Context of African Migration. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies Series, 75, 2005, pp. 155–89.
Safran, William. “Deconstructing and Comparing Diasporas.” In Waltraud Kokot, Khachig Tololyan and Carolin Alfonso (eds), Diaspora, Identity and Religion: New Directions in Theory and Research. London: Routledge, 2004, pp. 9–30.
Schreiter, Robert. “Importing Foreign Clergy: Issues and Prospects.” New Theology Review: An American Catholic Journal for Ministry 18.2 (May 2005), pp. 16–24.
Shepperson, George. “The African Abroad or the African Diaspora.” In Terence O. Ranger (ed.), Emerging Themes of African History. London: Heinemann, 1986, pp. 152–76.
Shuvall, Judith T. “Diaspora Migration: Definitional Ambiguities and a Theoretical Paradigm.” International Migration 38 (2005), pp. 41–57. doi:10.1111/1468-2435.00127
Splindler, M. “The Impossible Quest for a General Theory of the Diaspora.” Exchange 27.1 (1998), pp. 6 -11.
Ter Haar, Gerrie. “Strangers in the Promised Land: African Christians in Europe.” Exchange 24.1(1995), pp. 1–33.
— “The African Diaspora in the Netherlands”. In P.B. Clarke, New Trends and Developments in African Religions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998, pp. 245–62.
— Africans in Europe. Nairobi: Acton Publishers. 2001.
Tettey, Wisdom J. “Transnationalism, Religion, and the African Diaspora in Canada: An Examination of Ghanaians and Ghanaian Churches.” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 229–58.
Van Dijk, Rijk. “From Camp to Encompassment: Discourses of Transubjectivity in Ghanaian Pentecostal Diaspora.” Journal of Religion in Africa 27.2 (May 1997), pp. 135–59.
Walls, Andrew F. The Missionary Movement Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of the Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.
Ward, Kevin. “Ugandan Christian Communities in Britain.” International Review of Missions 89.354 (July 2000), pp. 320–28. doi:10.1111/j.1758-6631.2000.tb00209.x
Zeleza, Paul T. “Contemporary African Migrations in a Global Context.” African Issues 30.1 (2002), pp. 9–14.
Adogame, Afe. “I am married to Jesus! The Feminization of New African Diasporic Religiosity.” Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 143 (juillet-septembre 2008), pp. 129–48.
Adogame, Afe, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock (eds). Christianity in Africa and the Africa Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage. London and New York, NY: Continuum, 2008.
Akoko, Robert Mbe. Ask and you shall be given: Pentecostalism and the Economic Crisis in Cameroon. Leiden: African Studies Centre, University of Leiden, 2007.
Beck, Linda. “West African Muslims in America: When are Muslims not Muslims?” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 182–206.
Berger, Helen A. (ed.). Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.
Bibby, Reginald. Restless God: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada. Toronto: Stoddart, 2002.
Biney, Moses. “Singing the Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land: An Examination of Ghanaians and Ghanaian Churches.” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 259–78.
Bruce, Steve. God is Dead: Secularization in the West. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
Clarke, P.B. New Trends and Developments in African Religions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Coleman, Simon M. “America Loves Sweden: Prosperity Theology and the Cultures of Capitalism.” In Richard H. Roberts (ed.), Religions and the Transformations of Capitalism. London: Routledge, 1995, pp. 161–79. doi:10.4324/9780203210680_chapter_8
Daniels, David D. “African Immigrant Churches in the United States and the Study of Black Church History.” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 47–60.
Davie, Grace. Religion in Modern Europe: A Memory Mutates. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
— “Is Europe an Exceptional Case?” International Review of Missions 95, nos. 378/379 (July/October 2006), pp. 247–58.
Foley, Michael and Dean R. Hoge. Religion and New Immigrants. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Gampiot, A.M. “Kimbanguism as a Migrants’ Religion in Europe.” In Afe Adogame, Roswith Gerloff and Klaus Hock (eds), Christianity in Africa and the Africa Diaspora: The Appropriation of a Scattered Heritage. London and New York, NY: Continuum, 2008, pp. 304–13.
Gerloff, Roswith. “Pentecostals in the African Diaspora.” In Allan H. Anderson and Walter J. Hollenweger (eds), Pentecostals after a Century. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, pp. 67–86.
— “The Significance of the African Diaspora in Europe.” Journal of Religion in Africa 19.1 (1999), pp. 115–20.
Gornik, Mark. “Word Made Global: African Christianity in New York.” PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008.
Greeley, Andrew M. Religion in Europe at the End of the Second Millennium: A Sociological Profile. London: Transaction, 2003.
Hagan, Jacqueline and Helen R. Ebaugh. “Calling Upon the Sacred: Migrants’ Use of Religion in the Migration Process.” International Migration Review 37.4 (2003), pp. 1145–62.
Hanciles, Jehu. “Beyond Christendom: African Migrations and Transformations in Global Christianity.” Studies in World Christianity 10.1 (2004), pp. 93–113.
Ibrahim, Fouad. “The Egyptian Coptic Diaspora in Germany: A Study in Local Cultural Vitality.” In Afe Adogame and Cordula Weissköppel (eds), Religion in the Context of African Migration. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies Series, no.75 (2005), pp. 301–16.
Jensen, Gary. The Path of the Devil: Early Modern Witch Hunts. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006.
Johnson, Paul C. Diaspora Conversions: Black Carib Religion and the Recovery of Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007.
Kalu, Ogbu U. “Church, Mission and Moratorium.” In Ogbu U. Kalu (ed.), The History of Christianity in West Africa. London: Longman, 1980, pp. 365–75.
— “The Andrew Syndrome: Models in Understanding Nigeria Diaspora.” In Jacob K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 61–85.
— African Pentecostalism: An Introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Leach, Mark, Mitchell Berman and Lea Eubanks. “Religious Activities, Religious Orientation and Aggressive Behavior.” Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion 42.2 (June 2008), pp. 311–19. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00409.x
Ludwig, Frieder. “The Proliferation of Cherubim and Seraphim Congregations in Great Britain: Seven Theses.” In Afe Adogame and Cordula Weissköppel (eds), Religion in the Context of African Migration. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies Series, no. 75 (2005), pp. 343–58.
Miller, Donald E. and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007.
Nelson, Dana K. Mission and Migration: Fifty-two African and Asian Congregations in Minnesota. Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2007.
Nida, Worku. “African Religious Beliefs and Practices in Diaspora: An Ethnographic Observation of Activities at an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Los Angeles.” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 207–28.
Norman, Edward. Secularisation. London: Continuum, 2002.
Nzayabino, Vedaste. “The Role of Refugee Established Churches in the Lives of Forced Migrants: A Case Study of Word of Life Assembly in Yeoville, Johannesburg.” MA thesis, Witwatersrand, 2005.
Okpewho, Isidore, Carole Davies and Ali Mazrui (eds). The African Diaspora: African Origins and New World Identities. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Olupona, J.K. and Regina Gemignani (eds). African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007.
Phan, Peter C. “Where Are We Going?: The Future of Ministry in the United States.” New Theology Review: An American Catholic Journal for Ministry 18.2 (May 2005), pp. 5–15.
Pike, Sarah M. New Age and NeoPagan Religions in America. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Sabar, Galia. “The African Christian Diaspora in the Holy Land.” In Afe Adogame and Cordula Weissköppel (eds), Religion in the Context of African Migration. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies Series, 75, 2005, pp. 155–89.
Safran, William. “Deconstructing and Comparing Diasporas.” In Waltraud Kokot, Khachig Tololyan and Carolin Alfonso (eds), Diaspora, Identity and Religion: New Directions in Theory and Research. London: Routledge, 2004, pp. 9–30.
Schreiter, Robert. “Importing Foreign Clergy: Issues and Prospects.” New Theology Review: An American Catholic Journal for Ministry 18.2 (May 2005), pp. 16–24.
Shepperson, George. “The African Abroad or the African Diaspora.” In Terence O. Ranger (ed.), Emerging Themes of African History. London: Heinemann, 1986, pp. 152–76.
Shuvall, Judith T. “Diaspora Migration: Definitional Ambiguities and a Theoretical Paradigm.” International Migration 38 (2005), pp. 41–57. doi:10.1111/1468-2435.00127
Splindler, M. “The Impossible Quest for a General Theory of the Diaspora.” Exchange 27.1 (1998), pp. 6 -11.
Ter Haar, Gerrie. “Strangers in the Promised Land: African Christians in Europe.” Exchange 24.1(1995), pp. 1–33.
— “The African Diaspora in the Netherlands”. In P.B. Clarke, New Trends and Developments in African Religions. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998, pp. 245–62.
— Africans in Europe. Nairobi: Acton Publishers. 2001.
Tettey, Wisdom J. “Transnationalism, Religion, and the African Diaspora in Canada: An Examination of Ghanaians and Ghanaian Churches.” In J.K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (eds), African Immigrant Religions in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2007, pp. 229–58.
Van Dijk, Rijk. “From Camp to Encompassment: Discourses of Transubjectivity in Ghanaian Pentecostal Diaspora.” Journal of Religion in Africa 27.2 (May 1997), pp. 135–59.
Walls, Andrew F. The Missionary Movement Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of the Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.
Ward, Kevin. “Ugandan Christian Communities in Britain.” International Review of Missions 89.354 (July 2000), pp. 320–28. doi:10.1111/j.1758-6631.2000.tb00209.x
Zeleza, Paul T. “Contemporary African Migrations in a Global Context.” African Issues 30.1 (2002), pp. 9–14.
Published
2010-06-04
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Kalu, O. (2010). African Pentecostalism in Diaspora. PentecoStudies, 9(1), 9-34. https://doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v9i1.9
