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Life Outside: Pentecostalism, Poverty, and Excess in Haiti

Life Outside: Pentecostalism, Poverty, and Excess in Haiti Based on ethnographic research with a community of independent Pentecostals known in Haiti as “The Heavenly Army,” this article examines the practices and perspectives of these self-proclaimed spiritual warriors against the backdrop of their extreme material poverty. As articulated by Claudette the prophetess, her constant concern about afflicting spirits is specific to her life conditions, a way of living that she describes as “outside.” I first describe the “outsidedness” of Claudette’s and her community’s lives as an experience of marginality, vulnerability, and isolation from power. Then, drawing inspiration from Robert Orsi’s examination of “presence” and Georges Bataille’s notion of “excess,” I propose an approach that takes seriously Claudette’s claims without resorting to models of deprivation and compensation. Instead, I examine poverty not only as an experience of lack but also as one of material and social excess as well as unwelcomed presence. Foregrounding this aspect of poverty illuminates the way that global racialized capitalism and its excesses serve as a compelling meta-context for the study of global Pentecostalism. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the American Academy of Religion Oxford University Press

Life Outside: Pentecostalism, Poverty, and Excess in Haiti

Journal of the American Academy of Religion , Volume 90 (3): 18 – Apr 12, 2023

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References (19)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Religion. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
ISSN
0002-7189
eISSN
1477-4585
DOI
10.1093/jaarel/lfac075
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research with a community of independent Pentecostals known in Haiti as “The Heavenly Army,” this article examines the practices and perspectives of these self-proclaimed spiritual warriors against the backdrop of their extreme material poverty. As articulated by Claudette the prophetess, her constant concern about afflicting spirits is specific to her life conditions, a way of living that she describes as “outside.” I first describe the “outsidedness” of Claudette’s and her community’s lives as an experience of marginality, vulnerability, and isolation from power. Then, drawing inspiration from Robert Orsi’s examination of “presence” and Georges Bataille’s notion of “excess,” I propose an approach that takes seriously Claudette’s claims without resorting to models of deprivation and compensation. Instead, I examine poverty not only as an experience of lack but also as one of material and social excess as well as unwelcomed presence. Foregrounding this aspect of poverty illuminates the way that global racialized capitalism and its excesses serve as a compelling meta-context for the study of global Pentecostalism.

Journal

Journal of the American Academy of ReligionOxford University Press

Published: Apr 12, 2023

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