Paper short abstract:

The paper proposes a theoretical discussion of the mega-city as a new super-diverse social space where young minority migrants employ various strategies in order to negotiate their marginal position and find new forms of centrality and purpose for themselves through the religious choices they make.

Paper long abstract:

The dynamics of social life in the world's mega-cities (metropolitan areas with more than 10 million residents) has recently become the focus of scholarly scrutiny as anthropologists have sought to understand processes of urbanisation, social transformation and intergroup interaction in some of the largest metropolises on the planet. It appears that the cultural, demographic, ethnic, religious etc. diversity of mega-cities surpasses any previous level of complexity urban environments might have experienced, thus transforming them into new types of super-diverse (cf. Vertovec 2007) metropolises where new power struggles, new contestations and new social inequalities emerge. The paper discusses some of the characteristic dimensions of this new super-diversity in the mega-city of New Delhi, and explores the role of Christianity, as a minority religion, in shaping the identity constructions of young Christian migrants from the Northeastern states of Nagaland and Manipur in New Delhi. The paper studies the various strategies and aspirations that inform the religious choices of young Naga migrants on the apparently rich spiritual market of the mega-city; the ways in which this is intertwined with young people's participation in urban (and transnational) social networks; and the ways in which religious choices inform young Nagas' negotiations of everyday precarity as they navigate life in the potentially dangerous mega-city, which often remains hostile to religious and ethnic minorities.

Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates the changing religious practice of nurses from Kerala in Germany, tracing their religious transformations and self understanding in retrospective to the migration process and life course, reflecting on the practice in Kerala then and in Germany now within urban settings.

Paper long abstract:

In the 1960s in the aftermath of Vatican II and through the help of their local priests young Christian women from Kerala were recruited and prepared to go to Germany to be trained as nurses and brought to new rural an urban settings there. Their whole life, religious practice and self-understanding changed in the adaptation process to the host culture and religion. Through the training process some of them got to know their German partners and some went back to Kerala to get married by their parents in an arranged marriage and then started their families.

Following biographical accounts of nurses from Kerala in Germany the paper investigates the changing face of religion on the move, focusing on the individual religious developments and religious meaning-making of some of those nurses through the course of their life and in relation to their job and the urban setting. The migration and adaption process to the German culture is retrospectively addressed by them, thinking about experiences of racism and changing values of family and partnership and the pressure of being accepted within the diaspora community, rooted in a common bond to the (imagined) homeland Kerala and the shared religious practice. The mediating role of the church and the priests, helping to integrate them into the new urban and cultural context builds another layer of analysis in this ethnographic account. The paper will contextualize those narratives within the framework of postcolonial and migration studies.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I first map the Muslim migrants' discourse on freedom in Denmark, drawing from ethnographic data and a media content analysis. Secondly, I illustrate the ways in which, mediated by Muslim institutions, they contest and transform the hegemonic Danish public discourse on freedom.

Paper long abstract:

During the 2017 local elections in Denmark, the upcoming party Nye Borgerlige campaigned with a poster depicting a woman in niqab with the heading: "Freedom, also for Muslim women". Since the Muhammad cartoons crisis, and even more so after some recent scandals, the Muslim minority has been consistently resisting, challenging, and negotiating the meaning and uses of the term 'freedom' in the Danish public discourse. Its shallow use in politics and media, posits one of Denmark's most prominent imams, must be deepened by a spiritual understanding of "real freedom". In this paper, I first map the Muslim discourse on freedom in Denmark, drawing from my own ethnographic data (interviews and participant observation) and material collected from a wide range of sources (from sermons to social media). Secondly, with this material, I illustrate the specific ways the Muslim discourse on freedom is used and reproduced, and in which Danish Muslim slowly contest and work towards the transformation of the hegemonic Danish discourse on freedom. The data will also show the crucial role Muslim institutions play in mediating the negotiation of values between the host population and migrant minorities.

Paper short abstract:

Our paper ethnographically explores a particular form of urban religiosity by focusing on how individuals, who identify themselves as belonging to a certain religious or spiritual tradition, negotiate their religious identities while working in urban secular spaces.

Paper long abstract:

Philosophical anthropologist Charles Taylor famously argued that both scientific rationality and religious expressiveness are part of the symbolic architecture of the modern self. Yet the divide between these two modes of perception is increasingly pronounced in the modern globalized world, particularly in Northern Europe. On the one hand, secular polities and state structures restrict religious experiences to a highly personalized space. Such modern institutions as courts, parliaments, corporations, hospitals, universities, and schools operate as prime sites of secular scientific rationality. On the other hand, New Age movements, urban religious and spirituality groups, as well as migrants' religiosity are pushing religion back into the highly visible domain of urban spaces. However, there is still little understanding of how this divide affects people's daily lives. Attempting to increase our understanding of a particular form of urban religiosity, our paper ethnographically explores how individuals, who identify themselves as belonging to a certain religious or spiritual tradition, negotiate their religious identities and faith, as well as position themselves while working (or studying) in secular spaces such as universities and health clinics. Our argument draws on long-term multi-sited ethnography, including interviews with health practitioners, researchers and students from Lutheran, Orthodox, Muslim and anthroposophy backgrounds. Most our interlocutors reside in a large urban center, where they settled in as result of international or internal migration. Combining insights from anthropology of religion, science studies, neoinstitutionalist approach in sociology of religion, and transnational anthropology, the paper investigates various strategies that boundary individuals use to negotiate the science-religion interface.

Paper short abstract:

Roma migrants live in conditions of strong urban marginality and are subject to public stigmatization. In the Pentecostal churches relations between Roma and non-Roma followers are redefined, ethnic boundaries lose relevance and transnational relations with the countries of departure also change.

Paper long abstract:

Several studies on migration and religion in urban contexts have adopted an ethnic lens and have analysed how the national belonging of migrants is reinforced in migratory contexts within ethnic churches. This perspective has made it difficult to understand how, thanks to religious affiliation, new identities are created that are not based on ethnic belonging and go beyond established divisions. In this paper I analyse the link between urban marginality, discrimination and the role that religion has in the paths of social inclusion and in the construction of new community ties. The analysis focuses on the case of the transnational migration of Romanian Roma in Italy. This group receives strongly hostile representations by the majority of population and in Italian cities often lives in conditions of high marginality, shantytowns and nomad camps created in the suburbs. Romanian non-Roma migrants strongly distance themselves in the public space from their Roma ethnic compatriots. In the Pentecostal churches created both within the camps and in the centre of the cities, the followers overcome these differences, present a new narrative and negotiate a different image of themselves even towards the autochthonous population. These forms of religious belonging prove to be important also at a transnational level and have an impact on the relations between Roma and non-Roma even in the sending communities.

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the way religiosity is used by African migrants to participate in their European host-society. By assuming a status of Christian-citizens Ghanaian Pentecostals aim to contribute to their hosts, challenging discourses of non-citizenship and migrants' exclusion in Europe.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I explore a case study of Ghanaian migrants in Rome, Italy, who in addition to the political-economic aspirations bringing them to Europe, believe that their role is to bring Christianity to their European host-society. These migrants experience a paradox of two conflicting statuses that originate from their positions, first, as "immigrants" who come to better their lives economically, and second, as "missionaries" a status that originates in their religious life. I show that the tension between these statuses is strongly portrayed when examining Rome's urban space; in the migrants eyes the city itself becomes a space for potential missionary work, while the geographical spread of their churches throughout the capital speaks of their marginality as immigrants. I argue that Pentecostal migrants navigate this terrain by assuming a status of "Christian citizens." Despite (or perhaps because) of their status as non-citizens in Italy, assuming a status of Christian-citizens, enables them to offer an alternative manner for contributing and participating in Italian social life. Moreover, as Christian-citizens, they come to see their moral conduct as a counterweight, balancing the immorality of their Italian hosts by contributing their "good citizenship." This paper shows that the concept of citizenship, which is often interpreted in relation to the nation-state, - that is a form of belonging to and participating in the state, is linked by the migrants to their religiosity instead, challenging their non-citizenship and countering the hegemonic narratives of exclusion of African migrants in Italian society.

Paper short abstract:

I look at Pentecostal churches that cater for Brazilians in Bristol. My findings suggest that these churches help migrants in practical ways and become a "home" for them. However, church membership hinders integration of migrants as there is no incentive to learn English or to meet non Brazilians.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I argue that religion plays an important part in the process of migrating and settling in a new country. I look at three Pentecostal Churches in Bristol, UK and analyse how church membership supports newly arrived Brazilian migrants to the city. Following Tweed (2006) I argue that the churches recreate a familiar space, a "home" for these migrants. By helping in practical ways, the community of believers becomes like a family and thus they assist each other settle in the UK. In these communities Portuguese is spoken and a collective identity, as Brazilian migrants in the UK, is reinforced. In return, members of these faith communities remain loyal to them, an important issue as the three churches compete for attention and for financial support from Brazilians in the city. However, even if church membership smooths out the transition from the country of origin to the new country it hinders the integration of immigrants to the new environment as there is not an incentive to learn the language or to meet non Brazilians.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how African migrant religiosity shapes urban spaces in the city of The Hague, while challenging the ways in migrant religiosity is understood by local government as a (potential) source of problems on the intersections of religion, secularity, gender and sexuality.

Paper long abstract:

In the city of The Hague, The Netherlands, migrant religiosity seems to be made visible (and manageable) primarily through the problem angle. Over the past decade the interactions between migrants and the local government have centered on particular concerns are such as the integration in Dutch society, the position of women and the management of (potential) health problems. Yet, the ways in which people from African origin position themselves in the city through establishing international churches with the mission to occupy pivotal spiritual and social leadership roles, suggests they understand themselves quite differently from these frames. Certain spatial practices -such as the church that holds its Sunday worship meetings in an expensive city center hotel- are illustrative of this. This paper will explore these differences in positioning and self-understanding informed by ethnographic fieldwork in the city of The Hague. It will reflect on the consequences of how cultural difference is negotiated on the intersections of religion, secularity, gender and sexuality.