'Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia': Pentecostal Pan-Africanism and Ghanaian identities in the transnational domain

Title'Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia': Pentecostal Pan-Africanism and Ghanaian identities in the transnational domain
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2004
AuthorsR.A. van Dijk
EditorW.M.J. van Binsbergen, R.A. van Dijk, and J.B. Gewald
Secondary TitleSituating globality : African agency in the appropriation of global culture
Pagination163 - 189
Date Published2004///
PublisherBrill
Place PublishedLeiden
Publication Languageeng
KeywordsAfrica, Baptist Church, diasporas, Ghana, Netherlands, pan-Africanism
Abstract

Rev. Mensa Otabil, the founder of the International Central Gospel Church in Accra, is considered an influential representative of a new Pentecostal-inspired Pan-Africanist ideology. His book 'Beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia' lays the foundations of a Pentecostal Liberation Theology that proclaims a Christianized sequel to Pan-Africanism. Operating from Ghana, his ideas for Africa and for 'black consciousness' have spread to Ghanaian migrant communities worldwide. While Otabil has been successful in transforming ownership of the intellectualist production of Pan-Africanism by tailoring it to the needs of the ordinary Pentecostal believer, it has not been adopted so extensively among all Ghanaian migrant communities in the West. By exploring Ghanaian migrant communities and their Pentecostal churches in the Netherlands, where the staunch identity politics of the Dutch government leave little room for the assertive proclamation of 'Africanness', this chapter demonstrates that Otabil's ideas do not act as a main source of inspiration everywhere in the Ghanaian diaspora. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Book abstract]

IR handle/ Full text URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1887/9615
Citation Key143