Political Spiritualities: The Pentecostal Revolution in Nigeria
About: This article is published in Pneuma.The article was published on 2011-01-01. It has received 65 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Spiritualities.
Citations
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TL;DR: The authors argue that the development of an analytical perspective that considers the production of neoliberalism at a global scale must take into account the trajectories of a variety of states, including Africa.
Abstract: Recent years have been marked by a proliferation of studies on neoliberalism. A considerable variety of topics has been investigated: health, education, labour, prisons, corporations, finance, history, cultural production and so on. But in spite of its diversity, most of this research bears in one way or another on the issue of the state in a neoliberal age. Some authors suggest that neoliberalism is characterised by the reduction of the state (Clarke and Newman 1997; Prassad 2006; Haque 2008), whereas others argue that neoliberalism is characterised by its redeployment (Hildyard 1997; Ong 1999; Peck 2003; Ong 2006; Bayart 2007; Laval 2007; Lee and McBride 2007; Cerny 2008; Dardot and Laval 2009; Wacquant 2009a; Plant 2009). The latter trend is clearly dominant today, although epistemological and theoretical approaches to transformations of the state vary. Overall, conceptions of the state in the neoliberal age are deeply shaped by the specificities of the states that they study. In an area dominated by an increasing number of Western-centred theories, Africa provides an excellent occasion to decentre the analysis. Like many global theories that have neglected Africa or considered it a ‘black hole’ (Castells 2010), and that are often articulated around a vision of ‘worldwide convergence’ (Ferguson 2006: 25–9), studies of neoliberalism seem sometimes to consider the Western neoliberal trajectory as the neoliberal trajectory per se. It is not surprising to observe that numerous global analyses of neoliberalism simply do not mention Africa at all (Campbell and Pedersen 2001; Soederberg et al. 2005 quoted in Harrison 2010). In this paper I will argue that the development of an analytical perspective that considers the production of neoliberalism ‘at a global scale’ – as suggests Wacquant in this volume – must take into account the trajectories of a variety of states. In order to identify both similarities and differences in neoliberal implementation, I will discuss three theses developed by Wacquant in this debate section of Social Anthropology, which aim to sustain a historical anthropology of neoliberalism: (i) neoliberalism is a political project that entails the reengineering of the state; (ii) neoliberalism entails a rightward tilting of the bureaucratic field and gives rise to a Centaur-state; (iii) the growth and glorification of the penal wing of the state is an integral component of the neoliberal state. To facilitate the discussion, I propose, as others have done, a distinction between theoretical and practical neoliberalism (Harvey 2007; Ferguson 2010; Harrison 2010). Of course, theory and practice often mix; nevertheless this distinction is important to clarify the debate. Indeed, could we imagine discussing socialism without reading Marx? Conversely, could we understand the socialist period in Cuba, China, Russia or
131 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how migrants draw from their religious resources to carve out spaces of livelihood in three global cities (Kuala Lumpur, Kajang, Johannesburg and London) and examine the spatial regimes through which the state and its apparatuses seek to manage the migrants' presence and visibility or invisibility within these urban spaces.
Abstract: In this article, we explore comparatively how migrant minorities draw from their religious resources to carve out spaces of livelihood in three global cities – Kuala Lumpur, which includes Kajang, Johannesburg and London. We also examine the spatial regimes through which the state and its apparatuses seek to manage the migrants' presence and visibility or invisibility within these urban spaces. In particular, we focus on three of the most salient dimensions of migrants' religious place making – embodied performance, the spatial management of difference and belonging, and multiple embedding across networked spaces. Although these three dimensions intersect in dynamic, often tensile ways to constitute the fabric of the life world of migrant minorities, we separate them for heuristic purposes to highlight the richness and texture of religious place making.
82 citations
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the development of the anthropology of Christianity and considered the new questions and approaches introduced by the articles in this special issue of Current Anthropology and suggested that there is intellectual value in seeing it as largely a development of a new century.
Abstract: This article reviews the development of the anthropology of Christianity and considers the new questions and approaches introduced by the articles in this special issue of Current Anthropology. The article first addresses the contested history of the anthropology of Christianity, suggesting that there is intellectual value in seeing it as largely a development of the new century. It goes on to locate the rise of the anthropology of Christianity in relation to a number of important changes both in the place of religion in the world and in the academic study of religion that also occurred during this period. It then considers the foci of the articles collected here. These include such relatively novel topics as the nature of Christian social institutions, social processes, space-making practices, and constructions of gender, as well as questions concerning the boundaries of Christianity. Several articles also focus on considerations of recent developments in the study of long-standing topics in the anthropo...
52 citations
Cites background from "Political Spiritualities: The Pente..."
...…state this as explicitly, it is also worth noting that she has carried out extensive fieldwork among Nigerian Pentecostals and has, on the basis of this research, profoundly challenged the ways social scientists, including anthropologists, have thought about Pentecostal politics (Marshall 2009)....
[...]
Dissertation•
01 Nov 2014
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between legal discourse and the exercise of power in the Gospel of Matthew and the letters of Paul and argued that relations of power are instrumental in forming law as an object of discourse in these two sets of texts.
Abstract: This dissertation examines the relationship between legal discourse and the exercise of power in the Gospel of Matthew and the letters of Paul. Drawing from Michel Foucault’s understanding of power, I argue that relations of power are instrumental in forming law as an object of discourse in these two sets of texts. This approach differs from the current approaches to studying law in Matthew and Paul in that it raises the question of why law emerges as an object of discourse. Previous studies have, conversely, tended to focus on what the two writers’ views of law are and where these views situate them vis-à-vis their contemporaries in first century C.E. Judaism. The main problem with this approach is that the evidence in Matthew and Paul is inconclusive regarding whether the two writers are inside or outside of Judaism; and scholarship in both fields has reached a stalemate over this issue. By raising a more fundamental question—why law?—my dissertation invites an analysis of law that moves beyond the Jewish/Christian cultural context, and probes the issue of why law emerges as an object in a variety of cultural settings. I examine the ancestral customs of people groups in the Roman legal world, and also indigenous rules and customs in Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Hawaii, as outlined in ethnographic studies from the field of the anthropology of law. I identify two levels of power relations in each context: macro, inter-group relations; and micro, intra-group
48 citations
DOI•
01 Jan 2015
46 citations
Cites background from "Political Spiritualities: The Pente..."
...Ruth Marshall (2009) identifies Nigeria as “the site of the Pentecostal explosion.”...
[...]
References
More filters
TL;DR: The authors argue that the development of an analytical perspective that considers the production of neoliberalism at a global scale must take into account the trajectories of a variety of states, including Africa.
Abstract: Recent years have been marked by a proliferation of studies on neoliberalism. A considerable variety of topics has been investigated: health, education, labour, prisons, corporations, finance, history, cultural production and so on. But in spite of its diversity, most of this research bears in one way or another on the issue of the state in a neoliberal age. Some authors suggest that neoliberalism is characterised by the reduction of the state (Clarke and Newman 1997; Prassad 2006; Haque 2008), whereas others argue that neoliberalism is characterised by its redeployment (Hildyard 1997; Ong 1999; Peck 2003; Ong 2006; Bayart 2007; Laval 2007; Lee and McBride 2007; Cerny 2008; Dardot and Laval 2009; Wacquant 2009a; Plant 2009). The latter trend is clearly dominant today, although epistemological and theoretical approaches to transformations of the state vary. Overall, conceptions of the state in the neoliberal age are deeply shaped by the specificities of the states that they study. In an area dominated by an increasing number of Western-centred theories, Africa provides an excellent occasion to decentre the analysis. Like many global theories that have neglected Africa or considered it a ‘black hole’ (Castells 2010), and that are often articulated around a vision of ‘worldwide convergence’ (Ferguson 2006: 25–9), studies of neoliberalism seem sometimes to consider the Western neoliberal trajectory as the neoliberal trajectory per se. It is not surprising to observe that numerous global analyses of neoliberalism simply do not mention Africa at all (Campbell and Pedersen 2001; Soederberg et al. 2005 quoted in Harrison 2010). In this paper I will argue that the development of an analytical perspective that considers the production of neoliberalism ‘at a global scale’ – as suggests Wacquant in this volume – must take into account the trajectories of a variety of states. In order to identify both similarities and differences in neoliberal implementation, I will discuss three theses developed by Wacquant in this debate section of Social Anthropology, which aim to sustain a historical anthropology of neoliberalism: (i) neoliberalism is a political project that entails the reengineering of the state; (ii) neoliberalism entails a rightward tilting of the bureaucratic field and gives rise to a Centaur-state; (iii) the growth and glorification of the penal wing of the state is an integral component of the neoliberal state. To facilitate the discussion, I propose, as others have done, a distinction between theoretical and practical neoliberalism (Harvey 2007; Ferguson 2010; Harrison 2010). Of course, theory and practice often mix; nevertheless this distinction is important to clarify the debate. Indeed, could we imagine discussing socialism without reading Marx? Conversely, could we understand the socialist period in Cuba, China, Russia or
131 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore how migrants draw from their religious resources to carve out spaces of livelihood in three global cities (Kuala Lumpur, Kajang, Johannesburg and London) and examine the spatial regimes through which the state and its apparatuses seek to manage the migrants' presence and visibility or invisibility within these urban spaces.
Abstract: In this article, we explore comparatively how migrant minorities draw from their religious resources to carve out spaces of livelihood in three global cities – Kuala Lumpur, which includes Kajang, Johannesburg and London. We also examine the spatial regimes through which the state and its apparatuses seek to manage the migrants' presence and visibility or invisibility within these urban spaces. In particular, we focus on three of the most salient dimensions of migrants' religious place making – embodied performance, the spatial management of difference and belonging, and multiple embedding across networked spaces. Although these three dimensions intersect in dynamic, often tensile ways to constitute the fabric of the life world of migrant minorities, we separate them for heuristic purposes to highlight the richness and texture of religious place making.
82 citations
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the development of the anthropology of Christianity and considered the new questions and approaches introduced by the articles in this special issue of Current Anthropology and suggested that there is intellectual value in seeing it as largely a development of a new century.
Abstract: This article reviews the development of the anthropology of Christianity and considers the new questions and approaches introduced by the articles in this special issue of Current Anthropology. The article first addresses the contested history of the anthropology of Christianity, suggesting that there is intellectual value in seeing it as largely a development of the new century. It goes on to locate the rise of the anthropology of Christianity in relation to a number of important changes both in the place of religion in the world and in the academic study of religion that also occurred during this period. It then considers the foci of the articles collected here. These include such relatively novel topics as the nature of Christian social institutions, social processes, space-making practices, and constructions of gender, as well as questions concerning the boundaries of Christianity. Several articles also focus on considerations of recent developments in the study of long-standing topics in the anthropo...
52 citations
Dissertation•
01 Nov 2014
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between legal discourse and the exercise of power in the Gospel of Matthew and the letters of Paul and argued that relations of power are instrumental in forming law as an object of discourse in these two sets of texts.
Abstract: This dissertation examines the relationship between legal discourse and the exercise of power in the Gospel of Matthew and the letters of Paul. Drawing from Michel Foucault’s understanding of power, I argue that relations of power are instrumental in forming law as an object of discourse in these two sets of texts. This approach differs from the current approaches to studying law in Matthew and Paul in that it raises the question of why law emerges as an object of discourse. Previous studies have, conversely, tended to focus on what the two writers’ views of law are and where these views situate them vis-à-vis their contemporaries in first century C.E. Judaism. The main problem with this approach is that the evidence in Matthew and Paul is inconclusive regarding whether the two writers are inside or outside of Judaism; and scholarship in both fields has reached a stalemate over this issue. By raising a more fundamental question—why law?—my dissertation invites an analysis of law that moves beyond the Jewish/Christian cultural context, and probes the issue of why law emerges as an object in a variety of cultural settings. I examine the ancestral customs of people groups in the Roman legal world, and also indigenous rules and customs in Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Hawaii, as outlined in ethnographic studies from the field of the anthropology of law. I identify two levels of power relations in each context: macro, inter-group relations; and micro, intra-group
48 citations