Being Pentecostal in Kampala, Uganda

Transforming Futures? Being Pentecostal in Kampala, Uganda Sophie Elizabeth Bremner A thesis submitted to the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of East Anglia School of International Development February 2013 Word count: 82,415 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. ABSTRACT Pentecostal Christianity has gained many followers in the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite a corpus of anthropological scholarship on the impact of following Pentecostalism on identities and social change, less has been written from the perspective of the believer, and little from within the field of development studies. In this thesis, which is based on 14months of research in Kampala, Uganda, I explore how followers of this religion appropriate a discourse of prosperity and blessings, and how they utilise certain religious practices and relationships that are forged from the Pentecostal community in their efforts to mediate their futures and ‘move on up’ from a state of poverty. In particular, I discuss whether these practices and relationships can be seen as engendering transformative agency for these individuals. In doing so, I explore three themes that were prevalent in my data analysis: an everyday non-ecstatic speech act which is called ‘positive confessions’, ways of understanding poverty and dealing with situations of injustice, and patronage relationships between more wealthy and poorer members of the Pentecostal community. I suggest that despite readily apparent displays of agency, in effect these religious practices and relationships do little to enable positive transformations in the lives of these believers, and instead, might actually uphold existing issues of disenfranchisement, through an emphasis on the individual as a force for change, a reorientation in ideas of time, and a prohibition of doubt and questioning. In addition, a more limited exploration of a group of non-Pentecostals sheds light on the potential for Pentecostal Christianity to be influential on the wider religious milieu than may have originally be thought, and hints at the need for a re- fashioning of our research methods when understanding the lives of those who are ‘Pentecostal’, in Uganda at least. 2 CONTENTS Page List of plates 7 Acknowledgements 8 1. Introduction 9 Pentecostalism: an established and emerging social 12 phenomenon in the Global South The Prosperity Gospel movement 14 Religion and development 15 Situating the research: Pentecostalism and issues of poverty 18 Pentecostalism as a force for change? 19 Discourses of poverty and wealth in Pentecostal churches 20 Research Questions 23 2. Conceptual Framework 28 Transformation and the limits of agency 28 Thinking again about agency 32 ‘Agency’ and ‘capabilities’ 34 3. Research Design and Methodology 37 Research Design 37 Epistemological concerns and introduction 37 Why a case studies method? 39 Reflexivity 40 Methodology 42 Triangulation 44 Conclusion 44 3 4. Living and Believing in Kampala 46 Kiweranga: life in an urban slum in Kampala 46 Being born-again in Kampala: an introduction to the Pentecostal 55 church scene in the city Mega-cathedrals, papyrus churches, and the wireless: 57 ‘places’ of worship in Kampala Kiweranga Life Fellowship and Alpha Tabernacle 60 Church rhetoric: situating Alpha Tabernacle and 65 Kiweranga Life Fellowship 5. Difficult definitions and innumerable identities: a note on 71 ‘Pentecostalism’ and being ‘Pentecostal’ in the Ugandan context ‘Pentecostal’, ‘Evangelical’, or ‘Born-again’ in Kampala? 71 Definitions and terms Pentecostalism and continuity / discontinuity 73 Shifting identities in Kiweranga 75 Being Catholic and born-again: a case study 77 6. ‘Positive’ Confessions?: Future-building through Pentecostal 88 speech The meaning of ‘positive confession’: everyday and ritual speech 90 Judith and her thanks for the future 93 Future thinking: the dearth of doubt, the rhetoric of rights 98 Situating the rhetoric of rights 101 Possessing the future 102 Confession: moving from the sins of the past to the glories 104 of the future Doing it yourself: positive confession and self-prophecy 105 Words doing things, words creating futures? 106 Dissent and doubt: the limits of appropriation 111 Public positive confessions, transformations, and the issue of 115 agency Learned discourse, authorship, and audience, of positive 117 confessions 4 “Confession is possession”: the performances of positive 118 confessions 7. “Let the poor say they are rich; let the sick say they are well”: 125 Dealing with poverty and disenfranchisement Ideas of wealth and poverty 128 Having the correct ‘mind-set’: work and fiscal sensibilities 130 “I don’t believe in poverty” 132 ‘Worldly riches’, danger, and morality 136 It’s more blessed to give than receive? Ideas about a 140 Christian spiritual economy and how to receive ‘God’s Blessings’ Rights and sureties: the fallibility of ‘man’ and the 142 infallibility of God Dealing with inequality, domination and misfortune 146 Discussion 153 8. Career Christians and Spiritual Services: moving on up the 154 Pentecostal patronage pyramid ‘A miracle and a photocopier’: (Pastor) Fahad’s blessings 158 Fahad: from groundsman to man of God 160 Matthew: an aspirational client 168 Career Christians: payments, exchange and the place on the 171 pyramid Martha and her ministry: dyadic and dependent patron-client 174 relationships The sound of silence and the absence of client power 179 Discussion 183 9. Conclusion 192 Politics, patronage, and power 196 Returning to the issue of agency 199 Religion and development 202 Pentecostal Christianity and a globalising discourse 203 5 Appendix A: Methods and Ethics 206 Methods 206 Research site 206 Ethnographic observation 207 Longitudinal biographical-narrative interviews 213 Sampling of Pentecostal interviewees 213 Interviews with non-Pentecostals: reasons and sampling 214 Interview methods 215 Transcription and data analysis 217 Interview locations 218 Research assistance 219 Ethics 220 Informed consent 220 Recording 223 Gifts and payments 224 Appendix B: Interviews 226 1. Main group of Pentecostal interviewees 226 2. ‘Non-Pentecostal’ interviewees 227 3. Interviews with other Pentecostals 228 Appendix C: Church services 231 1. Alpha Tabernacle 231 2. Kiweranga Life Fellowship 232 3. Other Pentecostal services attended in Kampala 233 Appendix D: Glossary 234 Reference List 235 6 LIST OF PLATES Page 1. Typical one-roomed dwellings in Kiweranga. 51 2. A drainage canal leads down through Kiweranga to the 52 wetlands. 3. Worshippers pray collectively in woods on the ‘Prayer 58 Mountain’. 4. Born-again Christian poster in the home of Phoebe. 83 5. Anglican calendar in the home of Phoebe. 84 6. Born-again poster displayed on the wall of an informant. 127 7. Hand-written message on a public minibus in downtown 136 Kampala. 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my two supervisors, Professor Cecile Jackson and Professor Janet Seeley, who have given me invaluable support and guidance through the years, from my Master’s degree through to this thesis. They have been a great support and shown truly amazing patience! I also thank the Economic and Social Research Council who kindly awarded me a scholarship to carry out this research, without which I would not have been able to pursue this degree. My family also need to be thanked, and in particular my husband Robert Salewon, who I met in Kampala and whose knowledge of African Christianity has led to many fruitful discussions. His support during the final stages of writing-up in the U.K. has been invaluable. My mother, Jill McKenna, should also be thanked as her excellent proof-reading at short notice has been most helpful! On a personal note, Maren Duvendack and Monika Nielsen, two great friends from these PhD years, have been fantastic sources of help, both in Norwich and Kampala. Finally, I would like to thank a host of people in Kampala. Key to the success of my fieldwork was the hard-work, and friendship, of my research assistant, Mable Male. I doubt a more honest, thorough, and reliable research assistant could be found. In addition, my Luganda teacher, primary transcriber, and great friend, Angella Wassajja, along with Betty Nakkazi and Winnie Babirye, helped tremendously. But finally, and perhaps more importantly, I would like to thank the members of Kiweranga Life Fellowship and Alpha Tabernacle churches, and the people of Kiweranga, many of whom became friends, and in particular, Teddy Mukooli, who first helped me find my feet. I was welcomed so warmly into their places of worship and their homes, and without their willingness to open their lives and histories to me, this thesis would not have been possible, and I would not have learnt so much. 8 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION “I want you to open your mouth; open your mouth and worship the Lord. With words of your own mouth, thank your Lord: ‘You are great; there is no one like You; You are the beginning and the end; You are worthy; You are so glorious’. Open your mouth and speak of His goodness, because in the presence of the Lord, there is deliverance, there is freedom, there is healing. Someone is being healed today; there are issues that are breaking loose today - the sickness of debts that you do not even know what to do about it. Know that there is a God; today God takes out that debt. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” [From prayers spoken by a preacher in a sermon on Thursday 18th October 2008, ‘Alpha Tabernacle’ ‘downtown’ lunchtime service.]1 It was when sitting near the back of an old cinema in Kampala one Thursday afternoon that I heard the words of this ‘born-again’ (or Pentecostal) Christian prayer, as quoted above.

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