Abstract
The introduction begins with a critical reading of data on religious affiliation from the 2009 Kenyan national census. I note how quantitative data on religion often fails to take into account how categories of religious identification often overlap and how degrees of de facto commitment may vary. I further note that the census’ use of categories such as “other Christian,” “no religion,” “other religions,” and “don’t know” raise at least as many questions as they answer. Formal religious categories are challenged by the “messiness” of de facto religious identities, as demonstrated by the brief introduction of five interviewees. The introduction then summarizes the religious repertoire model (fully developed in Chapter 2), before discussing the baggage and connotations that make everyday religious terms such as conversion and even religion challenging and potentially problematic. The section concludes with a presentation of my research methodology.
It is fine going to maybe five churches, but it is too much going to twenty.
(Judy)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Throughout this work, and in line with my interviewee’s common parlance, the term “Catholic” refers exclusively to the Roman Catholic Church .
- 2.
According to these statistics, Christians form about 82.6% of the general population. Other estimates might be a bit lower or higher and range between 80 and 85%. For instance, John Lonsdale refers to “educated ‘guesstimates’” by which Kenyans are about 80% Christians, 7.3% Muslims , and 11.55% “traditionalists” (Lonsdale 2009, 63).
- 3.
According to the 2009 census, Kenya’s Somali population amounted to nearly 2.5 million people—many of whom escaping their country’s prolonged civil war. However, “the explosion of the Somali population caused tension” that led to contestation over these figures and to the partial cancelation of census data related to the North Eastern region where a large portion of the Somali population resides (Wafula, 31 March 2018).
- 4.
Interestingly, there has been an attempt to propose tentative statistics concerning multiple religious affiliations in Kenya. According to David Barrett, George Kurian, and Todd Johnson (2001, vol. III, 426), the percentage of Kenyan Christians with affiliation with more than one Christian denomination is rapidly growing, standing at over 4% in the mid-2000s and predicted to rise to over 9% by 2025. It goes without saying that such statistics—and in particular, such predictions—should be taken with more than a grain of salt.
- 5.
In their reader on syncretism in religion, Anita Maria Leopold and Jeppe Sinding Jensen (2004) have collected a number of articles, suggesting that the historical origins of some of the world’s most well-established religions are perhaps more syncretistic than is usually recognized.
- 6.
Five more case studies are discussed in greater detail toward the end of this work, in Chapter 8, in which I apply the observations and theoretical tools developed throughout this study.
- 7.
The importance of tithing as an indication of membership is considered in Chapter 6.
- 8.
The same story is broached by my interviewee Rose in Chapter 5.
- 9.
A technical, universal term for the energetic musical performance section of a church service , often involving the audience. However, Steve seems to employ the term more broadly.
- 10.
The use of the term “system” in no way intends to posit a mechanical, deterministic scheme. Rather, my use of the term should be understood simply as recognition of the interconnectedness and coming together of the constitutive parts that comprise religious identity , as explored in Chapter 7.
- 11.
The decision to employ the term religious forms rather than the term religious denomination , to which it roughly corresponds, is explained in Chapter 3.
- 12.
Orwell continues by rejecting this view, saying that “[o]f course a tramp is not a nomadic atavism – one might as well say that a commercial traveler is an atavism” (Orwell 2001 [1933], 203–204).
- 13.
I recall one vivid illustration of such a gap when I showed a recently published academic article on Christianity in Nairobi, written by a Western scholar, to one of my interlocutors from Kibera . I recall my interlocutor’s puzzlement at the way in which religious behavior in his very community had been portrayed and by the reasoning that the scholar attributed to practitioners’ behavior. My companion then went on to put forward an alternative explanation, which in his view was much more intuitive and which was not raised by the scholar.
- 14.
Nairobi Pentecostal Church is also known as CITAM, but this latter name is less commonly used. It is sometimes referred to as an Evangelical church, but the distinction between this category and Pentecostalism manages to confuse even the Kenyan religious specialists to whom I spoke.
- 15.
Thus, Meyer (2004) speaks of “Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches” or PCC in short.
- 16.
Out of this total, seventy-two interviews were conducted in Nairobi and fifteen in Kisumu. In fact, I conducted about a hundred such interviews in total, but several were dropped due to various reasons, including lack of mutual trust and poor English skills on the part of the interviewee.
- 17.
According to the CIA World Factbook (CIA 2017), Kenyans’ median age stands at 19.5 years (19.6 for females and 19.4 for males), making Kenyan population among the youngest in the world.
- 18.
Two interviewees refused to be recorded.
- 19.
The guide and the categories for analysis for the interview data were all elaborated jointly with the Project StAR team. About half of my interviewees were analyzed using NVivo QSR software and were then digitally compared to findings from the project’s other sites; the rest were analyzed by hand.
- 20.
Linda van de Kamp (2011) recounts a very different experience in Mozambique, where she attributes interviewees’ suspicion toward her questioning to the country’s long-lasting civil war.
- 21.
Dissertations were gathered in August-September 2012 from libraries at: the University of Nairobi ; the Catholic University of East Africa (including both the main campus as well as a constituent institute, Hekima College); Kenyatta University ; IFRA; and the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology . During that period, I also visited the central library at Strathmore University, where I found no relevant material.
- 22.
The Nairobi Urban Integration Research Project was a wide-scale collaborative research project between the University of Nairobi and IFRA that ran in the early 2000s. Its main purpose was “to measure the medium- or long-term effects of the macroeconomic changes (e.g., in economic policy, in legislation, etc.) on integration of individuals into the city” (Bocquier et al. 2009, 17).
- 23.
Also consider the special issue of Études Littéraires Africaines, whose six articles were all dedicated to the theme of “Nairobi: urbanité contemporaine” (Journo 2011).
- 24.
I thank Hervé Maupeu for having proposed this idea to me and for providing me with some titles.
- 25.
For about half a year, between mid-2012 and early 2013, I systematically combed all issues in these two newspapers search for references to religion, which I then analyzed using NVivo QSR—an exercise that was then replaced by more loose and targeted search around particular topics. Also, for a short while, I tried collecting Christian newspapers, many of which are sold by streets hawkers. However, as I noted that these newspapers’ dogmatic tone makes them of little interest to the study of lived religion, I did not pursue this strand this for long (cf. Séraphin 2003).
References
Adam, Michel. 2010. L’Afrique indienne: les minorités d’origine indo-pakistanaise en Afrique orientale. Paris: Karthala.
Afrobarometer. 2005. Round 3 Afrobarometer: Survey in Kenya. Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi & Wilkes Agencies, Ltd., Uganda.
Afrobarometer. 2008. Round 4 Afrobarometer: Survey in Kenya. Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi & Michigan State University (MSU).
Afrobarometer. 2011. Round 5 Afrobarometer: Survey in Kenya. Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi & Michigan State University (MSU).
Anderson, Allan. 2010. “Varieties, Taxonomies, and Definitions.” In Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods, edited by Allan Anderson, Michael Bergunder, Andre Droogers, and Cornelis van der Leer, 13–29. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Asad, Talal. 1993. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Barrett, David B., George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson. 2001. World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, vol. III. New York: Oxford University Press.
Berk, Gerald, and Denis Galvan. 2009. “How People Experience and Change Institutions: A Field Guide to Creative Syncretism.” Theory and Society 38 (6): 543–580.
Bocquier, Philippe, Alfred T.A. Otieno, Anne A. Khasakhala, and Samuel Owuor. 2009. Urban Integration in Africa: A Socio-demographic Survey of Nairobi. Dakar: CODESRIA.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1971. “Genèse et structure du champ religieux.” Revue française de sociologie XII: 295–334.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chanson, Philippe. 2011. Variations métisses: Dix métaphores pour penser le métissage. Louvain-la-Neuve: Editions Academia.
Chelule, Esther. 2012. “Pentecostalism and Being Born-Again: A Case Study of Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) / Christ Is The Answer Ministries (CITAM) Buruburu, Nairobi.” Mobilité Religieuse en Afrique de l’Est / Religious Mobility in Eastern Africa, CUEA, Nairobi, April 24–26.
Chepkirui, Catherine K. 2008. “A Survey on Members’ Perception of Faith Cathedral Church on Muslim Evangelism and Its Implications for Mission.” MA dissertation, Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology.
CIA. 2017. “Africa: Kenya.” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ke.html. Accessed 2 February.
Droz, Yvan. 2002. “Esquisse d’une anthropologie de la conversion. Pratiques religieuses et organisation sociale en pays kikuyu.” In Convocations thérapeutiques du sacré, edited by Raymond Massé and Jean Benoist, 81–103. Paris: Karthala.
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Gez, Yonatan N., and Yvan Droz. 2017. “The Sheep-Stealing Dilemma: The Ambiguities of Church Visits in Kenya.” Journal of Religion in Africa 47: 163–189.
Gez, Yonatan N., Yvan Droz, Edio Soares, and Jeanne Rey. 2017. “From Converts to Itinerants: Religious Butinage as Dynamic Identity.” Current Anthropology 58 (2): 141–159.
Gichuhi Mwangi, Stephen. Undated. How to Identify and Break Curses. Nairobi: Stephen Gichuhi Ministries International.
Gifford, Paul. 2004. Ghana’s New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Gooren, Henri. 2010. Religious Conversion and Disaffiliation: Tracing Patterns of Change in Faith Practices. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hake, Andrew. 1977. African Metropolis; Nairobi’s Self-Help City. London: Sussex University Press.
Hall, David D., ed. 1997. Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Headland, Thomas N., Kenneth L. Pike, and Marvin Harris, eds. 1990. Emics and Etics: The Insider/Outsider Debate. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Herzig, Pascale. 2006. South Asians in Kenya: Gender, Generation and Changing Identities in Diaspora, Kultur, Gesellschaft, Umwelt Band 8. Münster: LIT.
Journo, Aurélie, ed. 2011. Nairobi, Urbanités contemporaines. Edited by Études littéraires africaines, vol. 31. Metz: Association pour l'étude des littératures africaines.
Kenya’s Minister of State for Planning National Development and Vision 2030. 2010. 2009 Population & Pousing Census Results.
Kurtz, Roger J. 1998. Urban Obsessions, Urban Fears: The Postcolonial Kenyan Novel. Oxford and Trenton, NJ: James Curry and Africa World Press.
Leopold, Anita Maria, and Jeppe Sinding Jensen, eds. 2004. Syncretism in Religion: A Reader. London: Equinox.
Lofland, John, and Norman Skonovd. 1981. “Conversion Motifs.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 20 (4): 373–385.
Lonsdale, John. 2009. “Compromised Critics: Religion in Kenya’s Politics.” In Religion and Politics in Kenya: Essays in Honor of a Meddlesome Priest, edited by Ben Knighton, 57–94. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mauss, Marcel. 1968 [1906]. “Les fonctions sociales du sacré.” In Oeuvres. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
McGuire, Meredith B. 2008. Lived Religion: Faith and Practice in Everyday Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Merton, Robert K. 1968. Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.
Meyer, Birgit. 2004. “Christianity in Africa: From African Independent to Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches.” Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 447–474.
Mutamba, Evans K. 2007. “The Role of Miracles in the Process of Conversion of Muslims from Islam to Christianity: A Case Study in Voi.” MA dissertation, Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology.
Orsi, Robert A. 2002. The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Orwell, George. 2001 [1933]. Down and Out in Paris and London. London: Penguin Modern Classics.
Pew Research Center. 2006. Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals. Washington, DC: The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Polanyi, Karl. 1983. La grande transformation. Aux origines politiques et économiques de notre temps. Paris: Gallimard.
Robbins, Joel. 2007. “Continuity Thinking and the Problem of Christian Culture: Belief, Time, and the Anthropology of Christianity.” Current Anthropology 48 (1): 5–38.
Roof, Wade Clark. 2001. Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rushdie, Salman. 1992. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991. New York: Penguin Books.
Schneiders, Sandra M. 2003. “Religion vs. Spirituality: A Contemporary Conundrum.” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 3 (2): 163–185.
Séraphin, Gilles. 2003. “La presse chrétienne de Nairobi: Des combats politiques et idéologiques dévoilés.” In Annuaire de l’Afrique orientale 2003, edited by Hervé Maupeu, 131–165. Paris and Nairobi: Karthala and IFRA.
Shorter, Aylward, and Edwin Onyancha. 1997. Secularism in Africa, a Case Study: Nairobi City. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Skinner, Burrhus Frederic. 1956. “A Case History in Scientific Method.” American Psychologist 11 (5): 221–233.
Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. 1962. The Meaning and End of Religion. New York: Macmillan.
Soares, Edio. 2009. Le butinage religieux: pratiques et pratiquants au Brésil. Genève; Paris: Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement; Karthala.
Soares, Edio, Yvan Droz, and Yonatan N. Gez. 2012. “Butinagem religiosa: a importância da metáfora para pensar o religioso.” In A religião no espaço publico, edited by Ari Pedro Oro, 111–137. São Leopoldo, RS: Editora Oikos.
Spronk, Rachel. 2009. “Sex, Sexuality and Negotiating Africanness in Nairobi.” Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 79 (4): 500–519.
Stewart, Charles. 1999. “Syncretism and Its Synonyms: Reflections on Cultural Mixture.” Diacritics 29 (3): 40–62.
Stoll, David. 1993. “Introduction: Rethinking Protestantism in Latin America.” In Rethinking Protestantism in Latin America, edited by Virginia Garrard-Burnett and David Stoll. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Swidler, Ann. 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.” American Sociological Review 51 (2): 273–286.
Swidler, Ann. 2001. Talk of Love: How Culture Matters. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Van de Kamp, Linda. 2011. “Violent Conversion: Brazilian Pentecostalism and the Urban Pioneering of Women in Mozambique.” PhD, University of Amsterdam.
Vincett, G., and L. Woodhead. 2009. “Spirituality.” In Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, edited by L. Woodhead, H. Kawanami, and C. Partridge, 319–338. New York: Routledge.
Wa Mûngai, Mbûgua. 2004. “Identity Politics in Nairobi Matatu Folklore.” PhD dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Wafula, Elizabeth Were. 2003. “Inter-denominational Mobility of the Faithful among Churches in Nairobi.” MA dissertation, University of Nairobi.
Wafula, Paul. 31 March 2018. “Population Numbers: Somalis Race to Join Big Four.” Standard Digital. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001275101/population-numbers-somalis-race-to-join-big-four.
Wahinya, Robert K. 2008. “Understanding Teenagers’ Church Participation in Mugoiri Location of Murang’a District in Kenya.” MA dissertation, Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology.
Waweru, Peter M. 1990. Judy the Nun. Nairobi: Longhorn Publishers.
Wijsen, Frans. 2007. Seeds of Conflict in a Haven of Peace: From Religious Studies to Interreligious Studies in Africa. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gez, Y.N. (2018). Introduction. In: Traditional Churches, Born Again Christianity, and Pentecostalism. Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90641-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90641-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90640-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90641-6
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)