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The Committee and the Uncommitted : Material Assistance to Members in Need at a Pentecostal Church in Western Kenya.

Title data

Gez, Yonatan N. ; Kroeker, Lena:
The Committee and the Uncommitted : Material Assistance to Members in Need at a Pentecostal Church in Western Kenya.
Bayreuth , 2021 . - 29 p.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15495/EPub_UBT_00005888

Official URL: Volltext

Project information

Project financing: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

Abstract in another language

In Kenya today, churches serve as a central pillar of socio-economic support to people in their hour of need. Drawing on ethnographic research at a small Pentecostal church in Kisumu, Western Kenya, we present four modes of such material support. This classification allows us to examine the provision of church assistance as a subtle balancing act in which leaders and so-called ‘super-members’ seek to bind lay members into greater commitment by projecting institutional dependability while carefully avoiding excessive demands. Rejecting the caricature of the self-enriching charismatic leader, and focused on the intertwinement of religious commitment and class, we offer a fresh examination of churches’ mechanisms of welfare assistance beyond a simple vertical/horizontal (or institutional/congregational) binarism.

Further data

Item Type: Preprint, postprint
Additional notes: accepted for publication in: Africa Today (2023), ISSN 1527-1978
Keywords: Kenya; Social Support; Solidarity; Pentecostalism; Anthropology
Institutions of the University: Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies > Chair Social Anthropology
Research Institutions > Research Centres > Institute of African Studies - IAS > Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies - BAAAS
Faculties
Faculties > Faculty of Cultural Studies
Research Institutions
Research Institutions > Research Centres
Research Institutions > Research Centres > Institute of African Studies - IAS
Research Institutions > Research Units > Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies
Research Institutions > Research Units
Result of work at the UBT: Yes
DDC Subjects: 200 Religion > 200 Religion
300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology
300 Social sciences > 360 Social problems, social services
300 Social sciences > 390 Customs, etiquette, folklore
900 History and geography > 960 History of Africa
Date Deposited: 06 Nov 2021 22:00
Last Modified: 21 Nov 2022 09:50
URI: https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/67701