Kenya

Abstract

In much of the work on Pentecostalism and development to date, Pentecostals have been considered as individual, adult converts adopting new (in contrast to traditional) socioeconomic approaches. These are seen by some authors as having transformative results for personal wellbeing and economic success as they are no longer subject to the restrictions of state, nation and society; others present opposite conclusions. As an alternative point of departure, this article considers that Charismatic, Pentecostal Christianity has been of great importance in the creation and evolution of Kenya as a state and nation. This understanding is used to illuminate the themes that dominated the country’s general election of 2013 and its developmental ramifications. It is suggested that exploring Pentecostalism at the level of nation and state, whilst continuing to allow for the importance of conceptions of personal responsibility, offers an additional and complimentary approach for exploring Pentecostalism and development.

Citizenship of Love: The Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics of Sexual Citizenship in a Kenyan Gay Music Video

“…Ruto, a self-declared 'born-again Christian', subscribes to a discourse used by many Christian actors within Kenya and beyond. His notion of Kenya as 'God-fearing' echoes a popular religiopolitical imagination of Kenya as 'a nation born again' that has emerged in recent decades, especially under the influence of Pentecostal forms of Christianity (Deacon 2015). Indeed, Pentecostalism has heavily contributed to the politicisation of homosexuality in Africa because it has made issues of gender and sexuality, particularly homosexuality, key sites for the realisation of its political project of building 'Christian nations' and producing model Christian citizens (van Klinken 2014).…”

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

“…Not only that, this cult also exemplifies the latest trend in Pentecostalism, where the pastor, in the words of Ebenezer Obadare, has become 'a sexual object' (Obadare 2017). As mentioned above, Owuor has further actively contributed to the invention of a neo-Pentecostal political narrative of Kenya as a nation born-again (Deacon 2015b).…”