African Pentecostalism from African Perspectives Volume 1: Methods

Although African scholars have made a significant contribution to the study of African Pentecostalism, very few studies have reflected on their output. Most of the contemporary publications on the widespread phenomenon of African Pentecostalism create the impression that only scholars from the Global North have contributed to the field. This volume addresses the lacuna in the available scholarship by undertaking detailed analyses of how African scholars from diverse academic disciplines and African/Diasporan context have helped to shape the field. The included chapters provid fresh data on new themes and perspectives in the field.

1: Introduction: African Scholars and the Study of African Pentecostalism.- 2: Interpreting Pentecostalism and the Changing Religious Landscape in Africa.- 3: African Pentecostalism: A Preliminary Study of Approaches and Key Issues.- 4: Encountering African Pentecostalism: methodologies and evolving tendencies.- 5: From Face-to-Face to Online: Changing Spaces and Voices in African Pentecostalism.- 6: Investigating African Pentecostalism: The Problems, Prospects and Rewards of a Multi-sited Ethnography.- 7: Studying African Pentecostalism: One Woman Scholar’s Journey.- 8: “Are you Pentecostal?” Personal experiences in the study of African Pentecostalism.- 9: Tracing a personal journey towards Women in African Pentecostalism.- 10: Pentecostal Scholarship in Uganda: Trends, Trajectories and Challenges.- 11: The Study of Zambian Pentecostalism by Zambian Scholars: A Review.- 12: African Scholarship on African Pentecostalism in Diasporic Contexts: An Overview.- 13: A Review of African Scholarship on African Pentecostalism and the Natural Environment.

Ezra Chitando is a Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion  at the University of Zimbabwe, and World Council of Churches Theology Consultant on HIV and AIDS in Africa. 

Lovemore Togarasei is a Professor of Religious Studies at the Zimbabwe Open University, Zimbabwe.

Loreen Maseno is a Senior Lecturer at Maseno University, Kenya