Conference Presentations by Davide Casciano
Joint conference of the Anthropology of Crime and Criminalisation (AnthroCrime) and the Anthropol... more Joint conference of the Anthropology of Crime and Criminalisation (AnthroCrime) and the Anthropology of Security (ASN) EASA networks.
17-19 May 2022
University of Bologna, Department of History and Cultures (DISCI)
This paper, based on my doctoral fieldwork in Port Harcourt, aims to show the role of Neo-Penteco... more This paper, based on my doctoral fieldwork in Port Harcourt, aims to show the role of Neo-Pentecostal Christianity in the conversion of the so-called ‘secret cultists’ or ‘militants’ by transforming and freeing them from threats, including them in a new ‘family’ of ‘born-agains’ and controlling their rebel bodies. Port Harcourt is the principle oil city of the crude exporting region of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. This area became a ‘red zone’ after kidnapping increased in 2009. For unemployed youth, cultism and armed militancy became a fast way to obtain a denied wealth, even at the cost of widespread fear and insecurity for both the victims and perpetrators hounded by law enforcement and rival cultists. Second worldwide in terms of adherents, Neo-Pentecostalism in Nigeria has a long history in opposing the ‘Realm of Darkness’, synonym for secret cults and militancy for many people in the Niger Delta. In fact, as I will show, in concurrence with the State’s security concerns, Neo-Pentecostalism proposes a ‘miraculous alternative’ to search well-being, converting youth’s grievances from those of violence to faith, leading them away from brutalities and giving them a peaceful collective identity, a safe new ‘family’ for the generation ‘arrested by God’.
Associazione per gli Studi Africani in Italia - IV Conferenza ASAI Catania, IT. "Africa in fermen... more Associazione per gli Studi Africani in Italia - IV Conferenza ASAI Catania, IT. "Africa in fermento: conflitti, modernità, religioni", Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche e Sociali – Università di Catania, Panel su "Il pentecostalismo in Africa. Il linguaggio religioso tra neoliberismo, conflitti e nuove diseguaglianze".
Date: 22-24.09.2016.
<<Questo contributo vuole analizzare lo spazio del neo-pentecostalismo nel rielaborare il dissenso e l’esperienza delle diseguaglianze nella città petrolifera di Port Harcourt, in Nigeria. Dopo una devastante guerra civile, l'espansione del mercato petrolifero negli anni '70 fu in Nigeria una "benedizione" che fece "rinascere" la nazione in un nuovo benessere ed in uno spettacolo della "prosperità". Tuttavia le crescenti diseguaglianze e le infrastrutture carenti crearono lo spazio di una lotta, spesso armata, contro multinazionali e Stato. Le chiese neo-pentecostali, come mostrerò, pur criticando in parte alcuni iniziative statali si posero generalmente al suo fianco. Infatti, offrirono una soluzione popolare ad un benessere non più percepito come consequenziale ai frutti del proprio lavoro, una "economia dei miracoli" e provarono a calmierare la lotta armata plasmando, tramite dispositivi narrativi e rituali, soggettività adattabili a condizioni lavorative instabili.>>
Il mio contributo vuole mostrare come le chiese cristiane Aladura prima, e le Pentecostali oggi, ... more Il mio contributo vuole mostrare come le chiese cristiane Aladura prima, e le Pentecostali oggi, svolgano in Nigeria un importante ruolo nel definire il senso delle malattie e quindi, il modo di affrontarle. Gli esempi su cui mi baserò emergono da dati d'archivio e dalla mia ricerca sul campo ad Ibadan, capitale dello stato di Oyo in Nigeria, durante il 2011.
Dall’influenza spagnola del 1918 queste chiese hanno ricavato il loro spazio nel campo terapeutico in reazione ai fallimenti della bio-medicina e demonizzando le pratiche locali. Ad entrambe hanno opposto, come superiore, lo "spiritual power in the name of Jesus". Mostrerò come le chiese creano uno spazio di senso per i loro membri all'interno di un flusso globale di eventi e di problematiche moderne, percepite spesso come frustranti: ciò, attraverso un'agency, una lotta, espressa anche tramite tecniche del corpo durante le funzioni rituali. Infine, mostrerò come le chiese ricavino una posizione socio-politica sempre più riconosciuta anche a livello nazionale, divenendo parte, dal 2000, di programmi contro l'HIV; la cui partecipazione, non scevra da ambiguità, sarà analizzata mostrandone gli aspetti e le possibilità.
The topic that I will explore regards the transformation that Pentecostal churches are experienci... more The topic that I will explore regards the transformation that Pentecostal churches are experiencing in Nigeria, their involvement in policies for dealing with AIDS as faith-based organisations (FBO) and their translation of the Yoruba concept of ‘àjé’ as a malevolent force that can cause, amongst other things, AIDS. Furthermore, I will show the consequences, right up to a national level, of this conceptualization and the role of Pentecostal churches when facing pandemics. My examples and data come from my fieldwork, carried out in the city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, Nigeria, during 2011. Historically, this city was founded and populated by Yoruba speaking people.
The spread of HIV/AIDS began in Nigeria in 1985, and by 2009, 3,6% of adults were living with AID... more The spread of HIV/AIDS began in Nigeria in 1985, and by 2009, 3,6% of adults were living with AIDS, according to UNAIDS. National bio-politics regarding AIDS, which are partially dictated by international donors (such as the USA), are aimed towards more economical neo-liberal models of risk management, that give the highest priority to prevention and individual responsibility. Rather than following these models, some local interpretations view the disease as being the result of social relations damaged by the growing domination of money in current society. By apportioning blame to other conflicting entities, these concepts join with local aspects of witchcraft. Independent Christian churches follow the moral model "ABC" ("Abstinence, faithfulness, condom use"), which imputes moral responsibility to the individual through "faithfulness" while ignoring important practical issues.
My paper, which suggests that any disease must be interpreted by people, shows how this process occurs in Ibadan (Nigeria) through multiple social agents. These agents struggle for exclusive control of the healthcare field and for the right to impose their discourse about the nature and causes of HIV/AIDS. I will explore these different discourses and how they legitimise one social agent rather than another. I will analyse the consequences of different interpretations of risk, the consequences of stigma and local narrative; the social construction of the experience of illness, and lastly, the numerous therapeutic pathways available. By suggesting policies which are based more on everyday life, I will draw attention to "culturally oriented" approaches adopted by some NGOs, which if not clearly thought through, paradoxically may contribute to pragmatically harmful therapeutic choices for people living with HIV.
Papers by Davide Casciano
Political and legal anthropology review, Nov 25, 2019
Journal of Extreme Anthropology, Jan 21, 2022
Journal of Extreme Anthropology, Apr 3, 2020
Canadian Journal of African Studies, Oct 31, 2021
Since the early 1990s, the Niger Delta has been the scene of armed struggles between militants an... more Since the early 1990s, the Niger Delta has been the scene of armed struggles between militants and other armed groups aimed at controlling natural resource revenues in Nigeria. After nearly a decade of violence, the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP) was successful in disarming and co-opting the militant groups. This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Port Harcourt during 2016 with one Pentecostal group instrumental to the PAP’s success. The former militants in this group, now born-again, use Christian language and concepts to discuss the reasons for their agreement with and adherence to the PAP. However, while collaborating with the government on some important tasks, they also use the language of religion to criticize some of its actions. I argue that it is precisely through these ambiguous negotiations that sovereignty, articulated through diverse authorities, is constructed as a representation, replacing trust in government with faith in God’s plan.
L’obiettivo di questa tesi è di indagare, storicamente ed etnograficamente, il ruolo dei discorsi... more L’obiettivo di questa tesi è di indagare, storicamente ed etnograficamente, il ruolo dei discorsi e delle pratiche pentecostali così come vengono agiti dagli individui nel contesto della violenta crisi petrolifera del Delta del Niger, a partire dal caso della città di Port Harcourt, Nigeria. La tesi ha voluto mostrare, fra le altre cose, come, grazie all’etnografia, sia possibile narrare i conflitti dovuti all’economia del petrolio nigeriana da una prospettiva più vicina a quella della popolazione, per gran parte della quale il petrolio costituisce al contempo una maledizione e una possibile benedizione, a patto, però, di trasformare la nazione in senso pentecostale
Access to consumption, especially to objects that are challenging to obtain, is one of the featur... more Access to consumption, especially to objects that are challenging to obtain, is one of the features contributing to the successful spread of Pentecostalism in West Africa. Pentecostal pastors have become central public figures, ‘consumer stars,’ whose display of wealth and luxury is key to their social legitimacy as preachers of the Prosperity Gospel. Moreover, their extensive and flexible social networks allow them and other bornagain Christians to be part of patronage networks internally perceived as moral. However, while their conspicuous consumption has inspired ecstatic supporters, it has also attracted criticism and accusations of fakery and corruption. This article aims to explore the relationships between consumption, especially conspicuous consumption, and discourses about the corruption of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. Accusations against Pentecostal pastors and their fraud schemes or corrupt practices seem to identify the moral limits between what is considered a righteous a...
Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, 2021
Since the early 1990s, the Niger Delta has been the scene of armed struggles between militants an... more Since the early 1990s, the Niger Delta has been the scene of armed struggles between militants and other armed groups aimed at controlling natural resource revenues in Nigeria. After nearly a decade of violence, the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP) was successful in disarming and co-opting the militant groups. This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Port Harcourt during 2016 with one Pentecostal group instrumental to the PAP’s success. The former militants in this group, now born-again, use Christian language and concepts to discuss the reasons for their agreement with and adherence to the PAP. However, while collaborating with the government on some important tasks, they also use the language of religion to criticize some of its actions. I argue that it is precisely through these ambiguous negotiations that sovereignty, articulated through diverse authorities, is constructed as a representation, replacing trust in government with faith in God’s plan.
Journal of Extreme Anthropology, 2022
Access to consumption, especially to objects that are challenging to obtain, is one of the featur... more Access to consumption, especially to objects that are challenging to obtain, is one of the features contributing to the successful spread of Pentecostalism in West Africa. Pentecostal pastors have become central public figures, ‘consumer stars,’ whose display of wealth and luxury is key to their social legitimacy as preachers of the Prosperity Gospel. Moreover, their extensive and flexible social networks allow them and other born-again Christians to be part of patronage networks internally perceived as moral. However, while their conspicuous consumption has inspired ecstatic supporters, it has also attracted criticism and accusations of fakery and corruption. This article aims to explore the relationships between consumption, especially conspicuous consumption, and discourses about the corruption of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. Accusations against Pentecostal pastors and their fraud schemes or corrupt practices seem to identify the moral limits between what is considered a righteous ...
Journal of Extreme Anthropology, 2022
Access to consumption, especially to objects that are challenging to obtain, is one of the featur... more Access to consumption, especially to objects that are challenging to obtain, is one of the features contributing to the successful spread of Pentecostalism in West Africa. Pentecostal pastors have become central public figures,‘consumer stars,’whose display of wealth and luxury is key to their social legitimacy as preachers of the Prosperity Gospel. Moreover, their extensive and flexible social networks allow them and other born-again Christians to be part of patronage networks internally perceived as moral. However, while their conspicuous consumption has inspired ecstatic supporters, it has also attracted criticism and accusations of fakery and corruption. This article aims to explore the relationships between consumption, especially conspicuous consumption, and discourses about the corruption of Pentecostalism in Nigeria. Accusations against Pentecostal pastors and their fraud schemes or corrupt practices seem to identify the moral limits between what is considered a righteous and an immoral consumption, describing the potential perils of purely individualistic hyper-consumerism. These popular tales of ‘fake pastors’, willing to do anything to enjoy a luxury life, allow us to understand how the born-again public is scrutinizing the opaque neoliberal entanglements between consumerism and corruption that characterize emerging elite’s actions in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, 2021
Since the early 1990s, the Niger Delta has been the scene of armed struggles between militants an... more Since the early 1990s, the Niger Delta has been the scene of armed struggles between militants and other armed groups aimed at controlling natural resource revenues in Nigeria. After nearly a decade of violence, the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP) was successful in disarming and co-opting the militant groups. This article is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Port Harcourt during 2016 with one Pentecostal group instrumental to the PAP’s success. The former militants in this group, now born-again, use Christian language and concepts to discuss the reasons for their agreement with and adherence to the PAP. However, while collaborating with the government on some important tasks, they also use the language of religion to criticize some of its actions. I argue that it is precisely through these ambiguous negotiations that sovereignty, articulated through diverse authorities, is constructed as a representation, replacing trust in government with faith in God’s plan.
Journal of Extreme Anthropology, Apr 3, 2020
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review
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Conference Presentations by Davide Casciano
17-19 May 2022
University of Bologna, Department of History and Cultures (DISCI)
Date: 22-24.09.2016.
<<Questo contributo vuole analizzare lo spazio del neo-pentecostalismo nel rielaborare il dissenso e l’esperienza delle diseguaglianze nella città petrolifera di Port Harcourt, in Nigeria. Dopo una devastante guerra civile, l'espansione del mercato petrolifero negli anni '70 fu in Nigeria una "benedizione" che fece "rinascere" la nazione in un nuovo benessere ed in uno spettacolo della "prosperità". Tuttavia le crescenti diseguaglianze e le infrastrutture carenti crearono lo spazio di una lotta, spesso armata, contro multinazionali e Stato. Le chiese neo-pentecostali, come mostrerò, pur criticando in parte alcuni iniziative statali si posero generalmente al suo fianco. Infatti, offrirono una soluzione popolare ad un benessere non più percepito come consequenziale ai frutti del proprio lavoro, una "economia dei miracoli" e provarono a calmierare la lotta armata plasmando, tramite dispositivi narrativi e rituali, soggettività adattabili a condizioni lavorative instabili.>>
Dall’influenza spagnola del 1918 queste chiese hanno ricavato il loro spazio nel campo terapeutico in reazione ai fallimenti della bio-medicina e demonizzando le pratiche locali. Ad entrambe hanno opposto, come superiore, lo "spiritual power in the name of Jesus". Mostrerò come le chiese creano uno spazio di senso per i loro membri all'interno di un flusso globale di eventi e di problematiche moderne, percepite spesso come frustranti: ciò, attraverso un'agency, una lotta, espressa anche tramite tecniche del corpo durante le funzioni rituali. Infine, mostrerò come le chiese ricavino una posizione socio-politica sempre più riconosciuta anche a livello nazionale, divenendo parte, dal 2000, di programmi contro l'HIV; la cui partecipazione, non scevra da ambiguità, sarà analizzata mostrandone gli aspetti e le possibilità.
My paper, which suggests that any disease must be interpreted by people, shows how this process occurs in Ibadan (Nigeria) through multiple social agents. These agents struggle for exclusive control of the healthcare field and for the right to impose their discourse about the nature and causes of HIV/AIDS. I will explore these different discourses and how they legitimise one social agent rather than another. I will analyse the consequences of different interpretations of risk, the consequences of stigma and local narrative; the social construction of the experience of illness, and lastly, the numerous therapeutic pathways available. By suggesting policies which are based more on everyday life, I will draw attention to "culturally oriented" approaches adopted by some NGOs, which if not clearly thought through, paradoxically may contribute to pragmatically harmful therapeutic choices for people living with HIV.
Papers by Davide Casciano
17-19 May 2022
University of Bologna, Department of History and Cultures (DISCI)
Date: 22-24.09.2016.
<<Questo contributo vuole analizzare lo spazio del neo-pentecostalismo nel rielaborare il dissenso e l’esperienza delle diseguaglianze nella città petrolifera di Port Harcourt, in Nigeria. Dopo una devastante guerra civile, l'espansione del mercato petrolifero negli anni '70 fu in Nigeria una "benedizione" che fece "rinascere" la nazione in un nuovo benessere ed in uno spettacolo della "prosperità". Tuttavia le crescenti diseguaglianze e le infrastrutture carenti crearono lo spazio di una lotta, spesso armata, contro multinazionali e Stato. Le chiese neo-pentecostali, come mostrerò, pur criticando in parte alcuni iniziative statali si posero generalmente al suo fianco. Infatti, offrirono una soluzione popolare ad un benessere non più percepito come consequenziale ai frutti del proprio lavoro, una "economia dei miracoli" e provarono a calmierare la lotta armata plasmando, tramite dispositivi narrativi e rituali, soggettività adattabili a condizioni lavorative instabili.>>
Dall’influenza spagnola del 1918 queste chiese hanno ricavato il loro spazio nel campo terapeutico in reazione ai fallimenti della bio-medicina e demonizzando le pratiche locali. Ad entrambe hanno opposto, come superiore, lo "spiritual power in the name of Jesus". Mostrerò come le chiese creano uno spazio di senso per i loro membri all'interno di un flusso globale di eventi e di problematiche moderne, percepite spesso come frustranti: ciò, attraverso un'agency, una lotta, espressa anche tramite tecniche del corpo durante le funzioni rituali. Infine, mostrerò come le chiese ricavino una posizione socio-politica sempre più riconosciuta anche a livello nazionale, divenendo parte, dal 2000, di programmi contro l'HIV; la cui partecipazione, non scevra da ambiguità, sarà analizzata mostrandone gli aspetti e le possibilità.
My paper, which suggests that any disease must be interpreted by people, shows how this process occurs in Ibadan (Nigeria) through multiple social agents. These agents struggle for exclusive control of the healthcare field and for the right to impose their discourse about the nature and causes of HIV/AIDS. I will explore these different discourses and how they legitimise one social agent rather than another. I will analyse the consequences of different interpretations of risk, the consequences of stigma and local narrative; the social construction of the experience of illness, and lastly, the numerous therapeutic pathways available. By suggesting policies which are based more on everyday life, I will draw attention to "culturally oriented" approaches adopted by some NGOs, which if not clearly thought through, paradoxically may contribute to pragmatically harmful therapeutic choices for people living with HIV.