Ambivalent Belonging: Born-Again Christians between Africa and Europe

Historically entangled with nation, race, and religion, questions of belonging are pressing and affective ones in Africa and Europe. Against the backdrop of anti-migrant hostility, globalization, and autochthonous claims, I consider how born-again Christians in London negotiate belonging between Ken...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion in Africa
Main Author: Fesenmyer, Leslie (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2022
In: Journal of religion in Africa
Year: 2022, Volume: 52, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 119-145
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Great Britain / Pentecostal churches / Kenianer / Immigrants / Sense of home / Identity development
RelBib Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
AF Geography of religion
CB Christian life; spirituality
KBF British Isles
KBN Sub-Saharan Africa
KDG Free church
Further subjects:B Pentecostalism
B Born-again Christianity
B Belonging
B United Kingdom
B Scale
B Kenya
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Description
Summary:Historically entangled with nation, race, and religion, questions of belonging are pressing and affective ones in Africa and Europe. Against the backdrop of anti-migrant hostility, globalization, and autochthonous claims, I consider how born-again Christians in London negotiate belonging between Kenya, their country of origin, and the United Kingdom, their country of residence. As ‘migrants’ and ‘diasporans’, they are seen as not belonging in either national context. Adopting a scalar approach, I argue that their identification as born-again Christians and claim to membership in a global Christian community allows them to ‘scale-jump’ and offers a morally and emotionally meaningful sense of belonging. At the same time, their encounters with various racial and religious Others locally, nationally, and transnationally mediate where they feel at ‘home’. In the face of contradictions and ambivalence, Pentecostalism helps them to navigate competing symbolic, material, and affective concerns as they seek belonging across multiple sociospatial scales.
ISSN:1570-0666
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion in Africa
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700666-12340221