Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Looking Within and Between: Women and Religious Transformations in Mozambique

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Graduate student Christy Schuetze, supervised by Dr. Sandra Barnes, will undertake research on the relationship between the rise of religious participation and political and economic life in Mozambique. Pentecostal-Charismatic churches have grown and spread throughout much of the third world. In Mozambique, they have done so in parallel with the rise of non-Christian spirit-mediumship. This project will conduct research across these two contrasting contexts, unified by a focus on women who are the most prominent and numerous participants. This permits a natural experiment to investigate the causes and consequences of the spread of religiosity, and the relationship between different religious movements. The research will include a 150-household survey to understand differences between the groups who practice different religions. This will be followed by in-depth interviews with 20 women in each of the two traditions. The researcher also will consult archives and experts at a nearby university. As the relevance of religion to current political, economic, and social life grows, it is becoming more imperative to explore how religious transformations are entangled with the contexts in which they are found. This research will offer a different angle from which to approach turbulent social contexts shaped by global economic and political transformations. It will give insight into how women may be differentially affected by current aspects of economic globalization.