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Marching for God in the global city: Public space, religion anddiasporic identities in a transnational African church

Garbin, David (2012) Marching for God in the global city: Public space, religion anddiasporic identities in a transnational African church. Culture and Religion, 13 (4). pp. 425-447. ISSN 1475-5610. (doi:10.1080/14755610.2012.728140) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:34561)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2012.728140

Abstract

Taking the London-based brass band of a transnational Congolese church (the Kimbanguist church) as a case study, this article explores how the sonic, visible and embodied experience of religion in the public space is linked to the politics and poetics of diasporic belongings. These public performances enable Kimbanguists to claim a place and a space in the city while ‘emploting’ a particular vision of self and others in the pluralised environment of the diaspora. After discussing the literature on urban religious parades and processions, the article addresses the wider implications of the sacralisation of space and public performance of faith in terms of urban but also post-colonial centre/periphery dialectics. Finally, it reflects on the construction of diasporic and ethnic identities as well as the reinterpretation of Kimbanguist religiosity among second-generation Congolese youth in the British context.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/14755610.2012.728140
Additional information: Special Issue: Believing in the City: Urban Cultures, Religion and (Im)Materiality
Uncontrolled keywords: Congolese diaspora; religion; urban parades; performance;Kimbanguism; London
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Mita Mondal
Date Deposited: 08 Jul 2013 13:30 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:11 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/34561 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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