Rev. Mensa Otabil, the founder of the International Central Gospel Church in Accra, is considered an influential representative of a new Pentecostal-inspired Pan-Africanist ideology. His book ... Show moreRev. Mensa Otabil, the founder of the International Central Gospel Church in Accra, is considered an influential representative of a new Pentecostal-inspired Pan-Africanist ideology. His book 'Beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia' lays the foundations of a Pentecostal Liberation Theology that proclaims a Christianized sequel to Pan-Africanism. Operating from Ghana, his ideas for Africa and for 'black consciousness' have spread to Ghanaian migrant communities worldwide. While Otabil has been successful in transforming ownership of the intellectualist production of Pan-Africanism by tailoring it to the needs of the ordinary Pentecostal believer, it has not been adopted so extensively among all Ghanaian migrant communities in the West. By exploring Ghanaian migrant communities and their Pentecostal churches in the Netherlands, where the staunch identity politics of the Dutch government leave little room for the assertive proclamation of 'Africanness', this chapter demonstrates that Otabil's ideas do not act as a main source of inspiration everywhere in the Ghanaian diaspora. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Book abstract] Show less
Among the many immigrant groups that have settled in the Netherlands, migrants recently arrived from Ghana have been perceived by the Dutch State as especially problematic. Explicit measures have... Show moreAmong the many immigrant groups that have settled in the Netherlands, migrants recently arrived from Ghana have been perceived by the Dutch State as especially problematic. Explicit measures have been taken to investigate marriages of Ghanaians, as these appeared to be an avenue by which many acquired access to the Dutch welfare State. While the Dutch government tightened its immigration policies, many Ghanaian Pentecostal churches were emerging in the Ghanaian immigrant communities. An important function of these churches is to officiate over marriages; marriages that are perceived as lawful and righteous in the eyes of the migrant community but nonetheless do not have any legal basis as far as the Dutch State is concerned. This contribution explores why the Ghanaian community attributes great moral significance to the marriages that are taking place within their Pentecostal churches. It investigates the changing meaning of the functions of Pentecostal churches in Ghana and in the Netherlands by distinguishing civil morality from civic responsibility. It seeks to explore how, in both contexts, legitimacy is created as well as contested in the face of prevailing State-civil society relations. This exploration indicates why, in both situations, Pentecostalism is unlikely to develop into a civic religion in the full sense of the term. [Journal abstract] Show less
This chapter demonstrates how Ghanaian migrants in the Netherlands look to the Pentecostal Church for the deconstruction of Ghanaian traditions in favour of international mobility. The Pentecostal... Show moreThis chapter demonstrates how Ghanaian migrants in the Netherlands look to the Pentecostal Church for the deconstruction of Ghanaian traditions in favour of international mobility. The Pentecostal Church strongly identifies and propagates notions of individualism and the nuclear family. In this way traditional matrilineal social organization is displaced by more Western-style conjugality mediated by Pentecostalist beliefs. The author argues that the appeal of Pentecostalism is based on the opportunities it provides for bringing kinship obligations under the supervision of its individual members. Pentecostalism reformulates the hierarchical and obligatory gift-giving system upon which kinship relations are based. It subjects reciprocity to moral supervision while making it thoroughly multilocal. his is of particular significance in the diaspora where many migrants see themselves faced with the obligation to send money to relatives living n Ghana and elsewhere. Show less
Although Ghanaians have formed a substantial immigrant community in the Netherlands for decades, the relationship between the Dutch State and the Ghanaian community remains tense. Not only is... Show moreAlthough Ghanaians have formed a substantial immigrant community in the Netherlands for decades, the relationship between the Dutch State and the Ghanaian community remains tense. Not only is Ghanaian life in the Netherlands generally marked by a high level of suspicion with regard to the Dutch State, but the community itself has long taken over certain functions that are otherwise provided by the State. This chapter explores the dimensions of this tense relationship. It pays specific attention to the many Ghanaian churches that have emerged in the Netherlands and the role they play in the creation of a notion of self-reliance and self-esteem. There is some evidence to suggest that religious structures in Ghana have a history of antagonism with regard to State policies. This feature seems to have been carried over into the Netherlands. The Ghanaian churches do not take part in the formal contacts between the government and Ghanaian interest groups, and hardly take part in the formal structures of Dutch religious life. The moral authority they represent within the Ghanaian community is a distinctive one. The chapter first examines aspects of Ghanaian immigration, before focusing on the position of Ghanaian churches in the migrant community. Bibliogr Show less
Bruijn, M.E. de; Dijk, J.W.M. van; Dijk, R.A. van 2001
In the literature on population mobility, mobility has generally been seen as a temporary phenomenon. However, in many instances, mobility rather than sedentarity is the norm. This is illustrated... Show moreIn the literature on population mobility, mobility has generally been seen as a temporary phenomenon. However, in many instances, mobility rather than sedentarity is the norm. This is illustrated in the present chapter by two case studies of so-called 'cultures of travel'. The first case concerns the Fulbe, a nomadic cattle-rearing people, in the Hayre area of central Mali. The Fulbe case demonstrates how mobility has been embedded historically in Sahelian cultures under conditions that are marginal, both from an ecological and an economic perspective. It illustrates how people develop economic and cultural strategies marked by a high degree of opportunism. It shows that Fulbe society is, in fact, organized around mobility. The second case, that of Pentecostalism in Ghana, demonstrates how a specific form of culture acts to bring about a particular form of mobility. In this case, it is not a whole culture that is on the move, but individuals who are mobile for personal reasons. Mobility among Ghanaian Pentecostalists is not yet part and parcel of daily life, but presents an example of how people construct cultural forms and means for dealing with everyday problems of mobility. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum Show less
During the Fourth Republic in Ghana there has been an unprecedented growth in Pentecostalism. The chief message of Pentecostalism is the contestation of tradition. It encourages members to abandon... Show moreDuring the Fourth Republic in Ghana there has been an unprecedented growth in Pentecostalism. The chief message of Pentecostalism is the contestation of tradition. It encourages members to abandon the past and traditions and to adopt a completely new way of life, unemcumbered by the sins of the ancestors. Their rejection of their heritage has erupted into violence in Accra, largely as the result of their transgressing of the ban on drumming and silence during the Homowo Festival. This is an ancient Ga ritual which requires silence and tranquility for more than a month after the ritual planting of the crops. Music, mostly adapted Western music, is essential to Pentecostal services but their pursuit of it during the period of ritual silence led to a violent attack on one of their chapels. On the basis of fieldwork carried out in Accra and among a diaspora community in The Hague, the author draws some conclusions about a number of dialogues which are going on at different levels, more numerous and more complicated than what would appear to have been a fairly simple dispute about the transgressing of ritual silence. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
The paradigm of the enchanted global economy and the moral perils of involvement with foreign commodities suggests that anxieties about the generally immoral powers believed to exist within... Show moreThe paradigm of the enchanted global economy and the moral perils of involvement with foreign commodities suggests that anxieties about the generally immoral powers believed to exist within foreign objects result from an imperfect understanding of the global marketplace. However, urban Pentecostalists in Accra, Ghana, who are deeply engaged in the global economy, do not fear the moral dangers of commodities as such and do not lack an understanding of modern global capitalism. Ambiguities do arise when commodities are turned into gifts. Gifts carry sentiments, messages and intentions, and the obligation to give or to receive them may contain dangers. In dealing with this dilemma, Pentecostalism creates a space where free gifts can be given without material reciprocity, where commodities can be personalized without invoking evil powers, where its members can be delivered from the powers that emanate from the 'fie', the "house" or "shrine" of an ancestral deity, conveyed by gifts that cannot be refused, and where gifts may signal the purity of the giver's heart and soul. This multilayered gift-ideology and gift-economy enables Ghanaian Pentecostalism to occupy a pivotal position between the global economy and its own transational and transcultural relations, on the one hand, and local cultural structures dominated by gifts and reciprocal relations, on the other. Show less
This article explores the role of religion in identity formation in situations where individuals are engaged in intercontinental diasporic movement, starting from R.P. Werbner's notion that... Show moreThis article explores the role of religion in identity formation in situations where individuals are engaged in intercontinental diasporic movement, starting from R.P. Werbner's notion that religion and strangerhood transform together. In particular, the author examines the diaspora of Ghanaians in the Netherlands and the role Ghanaian Pentecostalism appears to play in the forming of their identity as strangers in Dutch society. The author uses the term 'transsubjectivity' to indicate those processes by which religion deals with strangerhood as shaped by the power of the modern African and Western nation-State. He distinguishes two discourses in present-day Ghanaian Pentecostalism. The first, which he calls 'sending' discourse, involves so-called prayer camps in Ghana, to which (prospective) migrants may turn for spiritual help and protection in their transnational travel. The second, or 'receiving', discourse relates to the figure of the Pentecostal leader in the diaspora who represents the "abusua panyin", the family head. These two discourses 'inject' the migrant differently into transnational interconnectedness, and they deal differently with the body personal and the ways in which techniques of the self are employed in constructing the subjectivity of the Ghanaian as migrant and stranger. Bibliogr., notes Show less
