RUI: A Multi-Sited Ethnography of Global Pentecostal Networks: The View from Fiji

Union College, Schenectady NY

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Karen Brison (Union College) will undertake research on international social and cultural networks outside the United States and Europe that may exhibit features of autonomous global systems independent of economic and political forces. The focus on the research will be international religious connections, one of the most significant areas of international connections, although not one much studied by social scientists. In particular, the researcher will focus her investigation on Fijian Pentecostals, and collect information on ties between Fijian Pentecostals and Pentecostals from other non-Western nations. Data collection will focus on two populations: (1) missionaries from an independent Fijian Pentecostal church who work in Tanzania and Kenya, as well as with diasporic communities in the United States and the United Kingdom; and (2) missionaries from African and Korean independent churches work in Fiji. She also will examine the interaction among Pentecostals from around the world who attend conferences in Fiji. The researcher and two American undergraduate students will conduct interviews and collect life history narratives. They also will analyze the content of sermons, testimonies, conversion narratives, prayer meetings and weekly cell group meetings. The goals of the research are: i) to delineate the extent and influence of a particular area of international cultural flows -- the transnational Pentecostal community; and ii) to examine the visions of personal, cultural, and global identity that emerge in this community and the extent to which these visions influence or are influenced by world religious, political, or economic forces. The research also will further the National Science Foundation's goal of integrating research and education by giving undergraduate students opportunities to participate in the research.