Journal of Religion in Africa 

About: Journal of Religion in Africa is an academic journal published by Brill. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): History of religions & African studies. It has an ISSN identifier of 0022-4200. Over the lifetime, 1100 publications have been published receiving 19234 citations. The journal is also known as: Religion en Afrique.

'Make a Complete Break With the Past.' Memory and Post-Colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostalist Discourse'

Abstract: L'A. montre comment le discours des pentecotistes dans le contexte de la politique du Ghana amene a un rejet de la politique gouvernementale. L'article explore le lien du pentecotisme a la memoire et a la modernite et montre comment la conversion pentecotiste implique une rupture avec le passe et la tradition et implique une acceptation de la modernite sans soumission.

'Delivered from the spirit of poverty?' : Pentecostalism, prosperity and modernity in Zimbabwe

Abstract: L'article etudie les rapports du pentecotisme a la modernite et au progres economique en Afrique au Zimbabwe. L'A. montre comment les pentecotistes du Zimbabwe ont faconne leur propre version de la prosperite evangelique pour transformer la societe. Les pentecotistes deviennent autonomes en accomplissant une rupture avec le passe et la tradition impliquant un changement social.

Modernity and Its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa

Abstract: What role does ritual play in the everyday lives of modern Africans? How are so-called "traditional" cultural forms deployed by people seeking empowerment in a world where "modernity" has failed to deliver on its promises? Some of the essays in "Modernity and Its Malcontents" address familiar anthropological issues but treat them in fresh ways, situating them amidst the polyphonies of contemporary Africa. Others explore distinctly non-traditional subjects - among them the Nigerian popular press and soul-eating in Niger - in such a way as to confront the conceptual limits of Western social science. Addressing challenges posed by contemporary African realities, the authors subject such concepts as modernity, ritual, power and history to renewed critical scrutiny. They are united by a wish to preserve the diversity and historical specificity of local signs and practices, voices and perspectives. The contributors, all from the Africanist circle at the University of Chicago, are Adeline Masquelier, Deborah Kaspin, J. Lorand Matory, Ralph A. Austen, Andrew Apter, Misty L. Bastian, Mark Auslander and Pamela G. Schmoll.

Globalization and Identity. Dialectics of Flow and Closure.

Abstract: Introduction. (Birgit Meyer and Peter Geshiere). Nationalism and Transnationalism. Cirassian Encounters: The Self as Other and the Production of the Homeland in the North Caucasus. (Seteney Shami). Transnationalism in the Era of Nation--States: China, 1900--1945. (Prasenjit Duara). The French Colonial Policy of Assimilation and the Civility of the Originaires of the Four Communes (Senegal): A Nineteenth Century Globalization Project. (Mamadou Diouf). Enforcing the Human Rights of Citizens and Non--Citizens in the Era of Maastricht: Some Reflections on the Importance of States. (Jacqueline Bhabha). Commodities and Fantasies. Small Product, Big Issues: Value Contestations and Cultural Identities in Cross--Border Commodity Networks. Commodities and the Power of Prayer: Pentecostalist Attitudes Towards Consumption in Contemporary Ghana. (Birgit Meyer). Domesticating Diamonds and Dollars: Identity, Expenditure and Sharing in Southwestern Zaire (1984--1997). (Filip De Boeck). Globalization and the Power of Indeterminate Meaning: Witchcraft and Spirit Cults in Africa and East Asia. (Peter Geschiere). Theoretical Reflections. Time and the Global: Against the Homogeneous, Empty Communities in Contemporary Social Theory. John D. Kelly. Globalization and Virtuality: Analytical Problems Posed by the Contemporary Transformation of African Societies. (Wim van Binsbergen). Dead Certainty: Ethnic Violence in the Era of Globalization. (Arjun Appadurai). Epilogue: On Some Reports from a Free Space. (Ulf Hannerz). Notes on Contributors. Index