‘Assistance but not support’: Pentecostalism and the reconfiguring of relatedness between Kenya and the United Kingdom COMPAS Communications

Introduction

This chapter examines the role of Pentecostalism in migrant Kenyans’ efforts to navigate the changing nature of relatedness between the United Kingdom and Kenya. More specifically, it considers how Pentecostal ideas and discourse help them disentangle the moral from the material aspects of kin relations, without jeopardizing their own moral standing.  Viewed within the wider context of migrants’ lives in London, the chapter suggests that maintaining, rather than breaking, kinship relations can be seen as a mark of success in a situation where the chance of failing is much higher. It is thus possible to see how migrant Kenyans draw on Pentecostalism both to create and limit affective circuits, thereby managing their engagement in multiple contexts.

Citation

Fesenmyer, L. (2016) ‘”Assistance but not support”: Pentecostalism and the reconfiguring of relatedness between Kenya and the United Kingdom’, in Coles, J. and Groes-Green, C. (eds.) Affective Circuits: African Journeys to Europe and the Pursuit of Social Regeneration, Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Topics

Religion

Regions

AfricaEurope