Current Institutional Affiliation
Humanities, Humanities Graduate Centre, University of the Witwatersrand

Award Information

Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa: Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Fellowship 2015
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Social Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand
Fear of Violence and the Pentecostalisation of everyday life among migrants in Johannesburg.

In this research I address the question of religion and urban violence. The question I wish to pursue in my research is why migrants turn to religion in a period of rising urban violence. I use the example of Pentecostalism to explore this question. I will employ an ethnographic approach to ensure I reveal the questions on which the thesis will be based. I triangulate four methods ranging from participant observation, in-depth interviews, life histories and informal converstaions in order to get a better understanding of the questions the project seeks to address. I argue that in the time of uncertainty fear and/or violence and the absence of state or in the context of fragmented security responses, religion becomes the alternative.

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