Religion, emotions and social transformation along migratory processes. The cases of African church leaders in Spain and South Africa

Abstract

Speeches developed by pastors on Pentecostal churches can commonly move closer a subjective emotional approach and a practical everyday life stories reshaping and incorporating actions and interpretations adapted to the needs of a glocalized religious community where global features are adapted to local needs (Robertson, 1995). For this purpose, ritualities work with a high capacity for socializing key emotions on integration and social cohesion processes, mainly related to self-esteem, interpersonal trust and loyalty. According to Barbalet (1996), these three social emotions are necessary on social construction of agency, cooperation and organization, respectively. This proposal aims to (1) shed light on the relationship between everyday practices, idiosyncrasies and religious experience; (2) to examine the role of migrant church leaders and their abilities on providing social-cognitive tools towards an emotional construction of a de-territorialised socio-religious community; and (3) to see how these issues are shaped by specific social-cultural contexts. In sum, it is proposed to seek for an understanding of inter-subjective religious experience and its re-socialising role in coping with migrants lives across south-north (Bilbao) and south-south (Johannesburg) migration routes. These facts seem to be of great importance in building world views and socialities that invigorate and shape migratory processes (collective and individual memory, migratory journey, settlement, racism, xenophobia) and social cohesion.