Spirit on the Move

Spirit on the Move

Black Women and Pentecostalism in Africa and the Diaspora

Pentecostalism is currently the fastest-growing Christian movement, with hundreds of millions of followers. This growth overwhelmingly takes place outside of the West, and women make up 75 percent of the membership. The contributors to Spirit on the Move examine Pentecostalism's appeal to black women worldwide and the ways it provides them with a source of community and access to power. Exploring a range of topics, from Neo-Pentecostal churches in Ghana that help women challenge gender norms to evangelical gospel musicians in Brazil, the contributors show how Pentecostalism helps black women draw attention to and seek remediation from the violence and injustices brought on by civil war, capitalist exploitation, racism, and the failures of the state. In fleshing out the experiences, theologies, and innovations of black women Pentecostals, the contributors show how Pentecostal belief and its various practices reflect the movement's complexity, reach, and adaptability to specific cultural and political formations.

Contributors. Paula Aymer, John Burdick, Judith Casselberry, Deidre Helen Crumbley, Elizabeth McAlister, Laura Premack, Elizabeth A. Pritchard, Jane Soothill, Linda van de Kamp
  • Cover
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Saving Race
    • 1 — Voices of God: Blackness and Gender in a Brazilian Black Gospel Music Scene
    • 2 — Race, Gender, and Christian Diaspora: New Pentecostal Intersectionalities and Haiti
  • Part II: Scrutinizing and Sanctifying the Body
    • 3 — Women and the Afro-Brazilian Pentecostal War in Mozambique
    • 4 — “Dressed as Becometh Holiness”: Gender, Race, and the Body in a Storefront Sanctified Church
  • Part III: Sonic Power
    • 5 — West African and Caribbean Women Evangelists: The Wailing Women Worldwide Intercessors
    • 6 — “The Kingdom in the Midst”: Sounding Bodies, Aesthetic Labor, and the End Times
  • Part IV: Modeling the State
    • 7 — A Critical Approach to Concepts of “Power” and “Agency” in Ghana’s Charismatic (or Neo-Pentecostal) Churches
    • 8 — Bless Us with Children: Pregnancy, Prosperity, and Pragmatism in Nigeria’s Christ Apostolic Church
  • References
  • Contributors
  • Index
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
    • G
    • H
    • I
    • J
    • K
    • L
    • M
    • N
    • O
    • P
    • R
    • S
    • T
    • U
    • V
    • W
    • Y

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