Francophone African Pentecostal
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
© COPYRIGHT by Rose Wishall Ediger 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FENDING FOR ONESELF BY CONNECTING WITH OTHERS: FRANCOPHONE AFRICAN PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANS IN WASHINGTON, DC By Rose Wishall Ediger ABSTRACT Most of the research done on new immigrant religion has concentrated on religious structures, the systematized relationships between people and between groups within which religious practices are embedded. While this work is important, it has tended not to foreground religious meaning, the ideas that people hold about the world that include concerns about non-empirical forces and that make their experiences logical and understandable. In this dissertation, I address this limitation by taking a holistic approach to studying immigrant religious participation. I address both structure and meaning, domains that can be conceptually separated but in practice are integrated. This dissertation looks at religious structure and meaning through a qualitative study of a Catholic congregation made up of French-speaking Africans and Haitians in Washington, DC conducted from 2003-2007. My primary methods were participant-observation and interviews. Congregation participants created a community with significance for them. People adjusted to some of the expectations of their new context while also bringing to bear ii continuities such as a familiar mode of interpersonal interaction, ideas about Catholicism, and French language. These immigrants organized religiously by negotiating space for themselves within the Catholic Church, and they created and used social capital in various ways. Through their organizing, they created voice in the Church hierarchy and increased participants’ access to practical resources. By looking at religious meaning, I also discovered that participants brought in Pentecostal-Charismatic Catholic specialists from around the world to guide them in understanding their experiences and to heal them spiritually. By emphasizing African causes and the maintenance of participants’ connections to the people of Africa—through family ties, practical support of organizations, and prayer—the congregation valorized people who were devalued in the broader social setting. I argue that through their participation in Pentecostal-Charismatic Catholicism, immigrants took up and acted on their desire to change their limited positioning in the wider opportunity structure. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The work put into this dissertation depended on and encompassed many others. My partner David Ediger encouraged and supported me. My children understood that my work took time. Other family members, especially Beth Wishall, provided much needed practical support at key points. Dolores Koenig gave me solid advice and ongoing support. I hope she sees that her persistence paid off. Geoff Burkhart was also very supportive, and he continued to be a key advisor even after he was no longer my official advisor. Sabiyha Prince has been supportive throughout my graduate career and came on board the dissertation committee ready to help me move to the next stage. Also, I thank my classmates and other colleagues for their listening ears and ongoing encouragement. None of this would have been possible without the willingness of those involved in the congregation that is at the center of this dissertation. I appreciate the time that you spent with me, filling me in on details of your lives. Thank you for including me in congregation rituals and events. Thank you for making me a part of your community and many of your lives. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... viii LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1. AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS AND PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY..................................................................................................... 1 The Importance of Religion for Immigrants ............................................... 8 Catholicism in Africa ................................................................................ 13 New Forms of Christianity........................................................................ 19 Research Questions ................................................................................... 34 Outline of Chapters ................................................................................... 35 2. THEORIZING RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE AND MEANING ...................... 38 Religion ..................................................................................................... 38 Structure .................................................................................................... 39 Meaning .................................................................................................... 52 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 60 3. WASHINGTON, DC, A NEW IMMIGRANT HUB ....................................... 64 New Immigrants in Washington, DC........................................................ 65 Opportunity Structure ............................................................................... 69 v Ethnography .............................................................................................. 73 Positionality .............................................................................................. 79 Analysis..................................................................................................... 82 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 84 4. RELIGION IN THE KONGO KINGDOM ...................................................... 86 Kongo ........................................................................................................ 89 Trade with Europeans: 1483 – Early 1700s ............................................ 100 States Expand and Decline: Early 1700s – About 1885 ........................ 122 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 135 5. COLONIAL RULE, “CONVERSION,” AND INDEPENDENCE ............... 140 Colonizing Africa: 1885 – About 1960 .................................................. 141 Independent African States: About 1960 – Present ................................ 174 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 204 6. NEW CONNECTIONS IN A NEW CONTEXT ........................................... 210 Francophone Africans in the Nation’s Capital ........................................ 211 Mary Our Mother .................................................................................... 230 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 235 7. NEGOTIATING STRUCTURES ................................................................... 237 The Relationship between US Religious and Political Fields ................ 239 Negotiating Voice in the Catholic Hierarchy.......................................... 246 Developing Social Ties and Accessing Resources through Mary Our Mother ..................................................................................................... 258 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 297 8. HUMILITY, SIN, AND HEALING ............................................................... 302 vi Faith-filled............................................................................................... 303 Good and Evil ......................................................................................... 311 Healing .................................................................................................... 334 Continuity and Change ........................................................................... 346 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 358 9. UNDERSTANDING AND ACTING ON THE WORLD THROUGH PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC CATHOLICISM ....................................... 360 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 380 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1. Major Savanna States South of the Congo River in the 16 th Century. Source: Lemarchand (1993). .............................................................................................. 90 2. Colonial Africa, 1919. Excerpted from Kwamena-Poh, Tosh, Waller, and Tidy (1982:57) ............................................................................................................. 146 viii LIST OF ACRONYMS AIC African Initiated Church CCR Catholic Charismatic Renewal DOS US Department of State DRC Democratic Republic of Congo ECZ Church of Christ in Zaire EJCSK Church of Jesus Christ on the Earth by the Prophet Simon Kimbangu IMF International Monetary Fund IRCA Immigration Reform and Control Act ix CHAPTER 1 AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS AND PENTECOSTAL- CHARISMATIC CHRISTIANITY Immigrants coming to the US bring religious practices with them, and they encounter