Performing Power in Nigeria

Abimbola A. Adelakun is Assistant Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin where her research focuses on the politics and performances of Pentecostalism. She is the author of articles in journals including the Journal of Women and Religion, Jenda: Journal of Culture and African Women Studies and co-editor of Art, Creativity, and Politics in Africa and the Diaspora (2018).

• Introduction; 1. Demons and Deliverance: Discourses on Pentecostal Character; 2. 'What Islamic devils?!': Power Struggles, Race, and Christian Trans-nationalism; 3. 'Touch not Mine Anointed': #MeToo, #ChurchToo, and the Power of 'See Finish'; 4. 'Everything Christianity/the Bible Represents is being Attacked on the Internet!': The Internet and Technologies of Religious Engagement; 5. 'God too laughs and we can laugh too': The Ambivalent Power of Comedy Performances in the Church; 6. 'The Spirit Names the Child': Pentecostal Futurity in the Name of Jesus; Conclusion: Power Must Change Hands: COVID 19, Power, and the Imperative of Knowledge.

'This book is important for two reasons, one is the way it explores identity and performance of power in Nigerian Pentecostalism. Second, in how it traces this power through social and political contexts including the entertainment industry. The book will be a worthwhile read for Pentecostal scholars in African Pentecostalism and Global Pentecostalism and scholars interested in the arts and culture.' Mookgo Solomon Kgatle, Journal of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity