One notable result of the societal crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has been the expansion of NGOs during the last few decades, including, especially since the 1990s, Muslim ones. Most regional Muslim... Show moreOne notable result of the societal crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has been the expansion of NGOs during the last few decades, including, especially since the 1990s, Muslim ones. Most regional Muslim NGOs often supported by transnational NGOs, and, as one also has to stress, by foreign Muslim governments, particularly the Gulf States and Libya. Tracing such links, the author argues that while these connections are essential to their activities, the dependency on external actors simultaneously limits their effectiveness. Show less
Pentecostalism in Africa has developed a special relationship with the night as a time for conducting specific religious activities. Of these, the night vigil is the best known, with its underlying... Show morePentecostalism in Africa has developed a special relationship with the night as a time for conducting specific religious activities. Of these, the night vigil is the best known, with its underlying notions concerning darkness, invisible powers, faith and community. Ghanaian Pentecostals view the night as a kind of landscape where certain spaces and places become important to test the strength of one's personal faith and convictions, because the time after dark produces ambiguities of the good and the bad, or the superior and the inferior, of the spiritual powers that manifest themselves. Participation in Pentecostal night-time activities signals a modernity of Pentecostal beliefs and identities which, by confronting the powers of darkness, bring about a strengthening of the faith that churches and leaders aim to establish in interaction with their following. This contribution focuses on the Ghanaian community in The Hague, The Netherlands. It ventures to sensitize anthropology to the modernity of these forms of Christianity and the way they are becoming active producers of social and spiritual environments - defined here as Pentecostal nightscaping - as testing grounds for the efficacy of their faith. [Journal abstract] Show less
