Performing Power in Nigeria - Identity, Politics, and Pentecostalism

Uses extensive archival material, interviews and fieldwork to explore how Nigerian Pentecostals mark their self-distinction as a people of power.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. Demons and Deliverance: Discourses on Pentecostal Character; 2. 'What Islamic devils?!': Power Struggles, Race, and Christian Trans-nationalism; 3. 'Touch not Mine Anointed': #MeToo, #ChurchToo, and the Power of 'See Finish'; 4. 'Everything Christianity/the Bible Represents is being Attacked on the Internet!': The Internet and Technologies of Religious Engagement; 5. 'God too laughs and we can laugh too': The Ambivalent Power of Comedy Performances in the Church; 6. 'The Spirit Names the Child': Pentecostal Futurity in the Name of Jesus; Conclusion: Power Must Change Hands: COVID 19, Power, and the Imperative of Knowledge.

About the author

Abimbola A. Adelakun is Assistant Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin where her research focuses on the politics and performances of Pentecostalism. She is the author of articles in journals including the Journal of Women and Religion, Jenda: Journal of Culture and African Women Studies and co-editor of Art, Creativity, and Politics in Africa and the Diaspora (2018).

Summary

A fresh and inter-disciplinary study of faith and social culture in Nigeria, this uses extensive archival material, interviews and fieldwork to explore how Nigerian Pentecostals use performance to mark their self-distinction as a people of power.

Additional text

'Performing Power in Nigeria is an excellent study of religion and Pentecostalism in contemporary Nigeria. Drawing from her brilliant scholarship on performance and creative expressions of culture and power, Abimbola Adelakun provides a splendid analysis of the spectacular display of Pentecostal spiritual power and identity.' Annalisa Butticci, Georgetown University

Product details

• Authors: Abimbola A. Adelakun, Abimbola A. (University of Texas Adelakun
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2021
• EAN: 9781108831079
• ISBN: 978-1-108-83107-9
• No. of pages: 290
• Series: African Identities: Past and P; African Identities: Past and Present
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology of Religion, RELIGION / Religion, Politics & State, HISTORY / Africa / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Politics & government, Religion & politics, Politics and government, Social and cultural anthropology, African History, Religion and Politics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Religion, Politics & State