The Personal is Political:Pentecostal Approaches to Governance and Security

In this essay, I explore Pentecostal approaches to governance and security, taking an anthropological approach. I focus on Pentecostalism as a distinctive way of looking at and being in the world, one that understands the family as central in its approach governance and security. I highlight the paradox between Pentecostalism’s strong orientation towards individual and family moral conduct and practices of female leadership in Pentecostal contexts. I conclude with some broader reflections on the implications for diplomacy and other practitioners of foreign policy

The Information Environment of Teachers of Science Subjects in Public Secondary Schools in Offa Metropolis, Nigeria

Bearing in mind the strategic position of science in the development of society and arising from the need for an investigation into the information environment of Teachers of Science Subjects (TSS) in Offa, the study was carried out to determine their information needs, seeking behavior, sources, perceptions on the state of their school libraries and challenges of accessing information. It adopted survey research method with questionnaire as the tool for data collection, which was administered on all TSS in the affected schools, collected and analysed with descriptive statistics. It was discovered that the information needs of the TSS are mostly on their subject areas and contemporary methods of teaching, developments and inventions in science and technology, medical and health information, information on educational issues and furthers studies as well as on things happening around the world. The online environment - Internet shapes their information seeking behavior and was main avenue through which they access information. Their perception on the poor state of libraries in their schools is an issue of concern, as it acts as a challenge to their access to information. Recommendations were put forward on ways to remedy the situation

Pentecostal intimacies: women and intimate citizenship in the ministry of repentance and holiness in Kenya

This article explores the intersections of gender, sexuality and citizenship in the context of one prominent neo-Pentecostal movement in Kenya, the Ministry of Repentance and Holiness (MRH) led by the charismatic Prophet David Owuor. Employing the concept of intimate citizenship, the article analyses, first, how MRH engages in a contestation of intimate citizenship in the contemporary Kenyan public sphere, especially in relation to women’s bodies. Second, it examines how MRH simultaneously configures, through a range of highly intimate beliefs, practices and techniques, an alternative form of intimate citizenship defined by moral purity and concerned with a political project of moral regeneration. Coining the notion of ‘Pentecostal intimacies’, the article provides insight into the reasons why so many people, especially women, are attracted to MRH, and hence it interrogates the liberal frame in which intimate citizenship is usually conceptualised

Christianity, Sexuality and Citizenship in Africa: Critical Intersections

Citizenship in sub-Saharan Africa has undergone profound changes in recent decades as part of wider social and political dynamics. One notable development is the emergence of Christianity, especially in its Pentecostal-Charismatic forms, as a public religion. Christian actors, beliefs and practices have increasingly come to manifest themselves in the public sphere, actively engage with politics, define narratives of nationhood, and shape notions of citizenship. A second major development is the emergence of sexuality as a critical site of citizenship and nationhood in postcolonial Africa. On the one hand, many political and religious leaders are invested in a popular ideology of the heterosexual family as the basis of nation-building, while on the other hand, LGBT communities are becoming more visible and claim recognition from the state. The contributions to this special issue engage these two contrasting developments, examining the interconnections between Christianity, sexuality and citizenship empirically and theoretically through case studies in various African contexts and from several academic disciplines and critical perspectives

Secularist understandings of Pentecostal healing practices in Amsterdam:Developing an intersectional and post-secularist sociology of religion

The past decades have seen an intensification of debate around migrants, gender and sexuality. For the Netherlands, several authors have pointed out how this has given rise to a form of sexual nationalism whereby the idea of being a modern, progressive country is strongly linked to a program of liberal sexual values and offset against a presumably 'backward' migrant who is 'still' religious and traditional. In this article, the author analyses how these dynamics played out in the controversy around HIV-healings or homo healings supposedly taking place in Pentecostal churches in Amsterdam. Media attention highlighted the theme of homosexuality while forgetting the interests of women. This article shows that the sexual nationalism scheme was also operative here, and proposes further developing existing approaches as intersectional 'post-secularist' sociological perspectives aimed at unearthing the ways narratives of modernity, secularization and sexual nationalism structure attitudes towards migrant and religious actors both in social scientific research agendas and among societal actors

Being as substance in philosophy

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The place of irony, paradox and fallacy in philosophy

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