Performing Power in Nigeria: Identity, Politics, and Pentecostalism

Abimbola A. Adelakun

doi:10.1017/9781009281751

For decades, Pentecostalism has been one of the most powerful socio-cultural and socio-political movements in Africa. Performing Power in Nigeria explores how Nigerian Pentecostals mark their self-distinction as a people of power within a social milieu that affirmed and contested their desires for being. Their faith, and the various performances that inform it, imbue the social matrix with saliences that also facilitate their identity of power. Using extensive archival material, interviews and fieldwork, Abimbola A. Adelakun questions the histories, desires, knowledge, tools, and innate divergences of this form of identity, and its interactions with the other ideological elements that make up the society. Analysing the important developments in contemporary Nigerian Pentecostalism, she demonstrates how the social environment is being transformed by the Pentecostal performance of their identity as the people of power. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘This book is important for two reasons, one is the way it explores identity and performance of power in Nigerian Pentecostalism. Second, in how it traces this power through social and political contexts including the entertainment industry. The book will be a worthwhile read for Pentecostal scholars in African Pentecostalism and Global Pentecostalism and scholars interested in the arts and culture.’

Mookgo Solomon Kgatle Source: Journal of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity

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Contents

Performing Power in Nigeria
pp i-i
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African Identities: Past and Present - Series page
pp ii-ii
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Performing Power in Nigeria - Title page
pp iii-iii
Identity, Politics, and Pentecostalism
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Dedication
pp v-vi
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Contents
pp vii-viii
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Additional material
pp ix-ix
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Acknowledgments
pp x-xii
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Introduction: Power Identity: Politics, Performance, and Nigerian Pentecostalism
pp 1-28
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1 - Demons and Deliverance: Discourses on Pentecostal Power
pp 29-65
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2 - “What Islamic Devils?!”: Power Struggles, Race, and Christian Transnationalism
pp 66-101
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3 - “Touch Not Mine Anointed”: #MeToo, #ChurchToo, and the Power of “See Finish”
pp 102-139
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4 - “Everything Christianity/the Bible Represents Is Being Attacked on the Internet!”: The Internet and Technologies of Religious Engagement
pp 140-175
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5 - “God Too Laughs and We Can Laugh Too”: The Ambivalent Power of Comedy Performances in the Church
pp 176-207
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6 - “The Spirit Names the Child”: Pentecostal Futurity in the Name of Jesus
pp 208-235
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Conclusion: Power Must Change Hands: COVID-19, Power, and the Imperative of Knowledge
pp 236-245
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Select Bibliography
pp 246-279
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Index
pp 280-286
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Performing Power in Nigeria

Identity, Politics, and Pentecostalism

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Contents

Performing Power in Nigeria
pp i-i

African Identities: Past and Present - Series page
pp ii-ii

Performing Power in Nigeria - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Dedication
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

Additional material
pp ix-ix

Acknowledgments
pp x-xii

Introduction: Power Identity: Politics, Performance, and Nigerian Pentecostalism
pp 1-28

1 - Demons and Deliverance: Discourses on Pentecostal Power
pp 29-65

2 - “What Islamic Devils?!”: Power Struggles, Race, and Christian Transnationalism
pp 66-101

3 - “Touch Not Mine Anointed”: #MeToo, #ChurchToo, and the Power of “See Finish”
pp 102-139

4 - “Everything Christianity/the Bible Represents Is Being Attacked on the Internet!”: The Internet and Technologies of Religious Engagement
pp 140-175

5 - “God Too Laughs and We Can Laugh Too”: The Ambivalent Power of Comedy Performances in the Church
pp 176-207

6 - “The Spirit Names the Child”: Pentecostal Futurity in the Name of Jesus
pp 208-235

Conclusion: Power Must Change Hands: COVID-19, Power, and the Imperative of Knowledge
pp 236-245

Select Bibliography
pp 246-279

Index
pp 280-286

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Performing Power in Nigeria

Identity, Politics, and Pentecostalism

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