Pentecostalism and Development: Churches, NGOs and Social Change in Africa

by D. Freeman (Editor)

Overview

Development was founded on the belief that religion was not important to development processes. The contributors call this assumption into question and explore the practical impacts of religion by looking at the developmental consequences of Pentecostal Christianity in Africa, and by contrasting Pentecostal and secular models of change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137017246
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	09/03/2012
Series:	Non-Governmental Public Action , #14728
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

JEAN COMAROFF is Bernard E. and Ellen C. Sunny Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, USA

DENA FREEMAN is Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology, University College, London, UK PAIVI HASU is Adjunct Professor at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland

BEN JONES is Lecturer in the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia, UK

DAMARIS PARSITAU is Lecturer in African Christianities at Egerton University, Kenya CHARLES PIOT is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University, USA

JAMES H. SMITH is Associate Professor of Socio-Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, USA

RIJK VAN DIJK is an anthropologist working at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands

Table of Contents

Foreword Norman Long vii

Acknowledgements xi

Notes on Contributors xii

1 The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development Dena Freeman 1

Part I Pentecostalism and the Neoliberal Turn

2 Pentecostalism, Populism and the New Politics of Affect Jean Comaroff 41

3 Prosperity Gospels and Enchanted Worldviews: Two Responses to Socio-economic Transformation in Tanzanian Pentecostal Christianity Päivi Hasu 67

4 Pentecostalism and Post-Development: Exploring Religion as a Developmental Ideology in Ghanaian Migrant Communities Rijk van Dijk 87

Part II Churches and NGOs: Different Routes to Salvation

5 Pentecostal and Development Imaginaries in West Africa Charles Piot 111

6 Saving Development: Secular NGOs, the Pentecostal Revolution and the Search for a Purified Political Space in the Taita Hills, Kenya James H. Smith 134

7 Development and the Rural Entrepreneur: Pentecostals, NGOs and the Market in the Gamo Highlands, Ethiopia Dena Freeman 159

8 Pentecostalism, Development NGOs and Meaning in Eastern Uganda Ben Jones 181

9 Agents of Gendered Change: Empowerment, Salvation and Gendered Transformation in Urban Kenya Damaris Parsitau 203

Index 222

Editorial Reviews

'Scholars have for some time sensed that in many parts of the world development projects and Pentecostal Christianity stand in complex relations of competition and cooperation as programs that similarly promote personal and cultural change. But until now, no single work has sharpened this widespread intuition into a coherent line of argument or a workable research program. This groundbreaking book does both. With a superb introduction that tackles the key issues head on, followed by a group of first-class case studies that cash these issues out empirically, this collection should set the terms of debate about development and religion in Africa and well beyond for a long time to come.' - Joel Robbins, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, USA

'Full of new insights and transcending anthropologists' familiar condemnation of the aid industry, this book suggests a completely new direction for research on the type of change generally called 'development'. It boldly concludes that Pentecostal churches are often more effective agents of change than secular NGOs as they are more successful at emphasizing empowerment as personal transformation, enabling people to embrace change 'from below', and endowing such change with moral legitimacy. Using Weber's key insights, and drawing on a range of nuanced case studies, this fascinating book explores affinities between the 'Pentecostal ethic' and the forms of market-driven development which the aspirant middle class in Africa increasingly finds itself embracing.' - Deborah James, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

From the Publisher