Abstract
Pentecostal female clergy are increasingly appropriating soft power to gain power and influence not just in their respective religious organizations but also in all aspects of public life. In this chapter, Parsitau examines how neo-Pentecostal female clergy in Kenya construct, appropriate, and embody soft power and spirituality as an alternative model to contest civic and public life. Based on ethnographic research carried out in the last five years on the Faith Evangelistic Ministry and its founder, Evangelist Teresia Wairimu, the chapter seeks to understand not only how this female cleric appropriates religious soft power but also how she mediates between spirituality and politics in a highly contested political space; it attempts to understand the relationship and intersections between these two significant, emerging domains of power for women and argues that this has created its own tensions and paradoxes in which their coziness with the state leads to serious cooption that ultimately stifles their voices.
This chapter is written with generous research grants from the Nagel Institute, USA, for which I am profoundly grateful. Damaris Parsitau is a Research Associate and Visiting fellow at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Nayar, V. (2011), Women and Soft Power in Business, Harvard Business Review. www.http//hbr.org.
- 2.
Moodley et al. (2016), Women Matter Africa: Making Gender Diversity a reality, a report commissioned by McKinsey and Company, Africa.
- 3.
Nye, J. (1990), “Soft Power,” Foreign Policy, No. 80, pp. 153–171.
- 4.
Nye, J. (2004), Soft Power: The means to Success in World Politics. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/…/soft-power-means-success-world-politics.
- 5.
Nye, J. (2004), Soft Power: the Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs).
- 6.
Mahapatra, D. A. (2016), From a Latent to a Strong Power? The Evolution of India’s Cultural Diplomacy (Boston: University of Massachusetts). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31148441.
- 7.
Haynes, J. (1996), Religion and Politics in Africa (London: Zed Books). See also Haynes, J. (1993), Religion in Third World Politics (Buckingham: Open University Press) and Haynes, Jeffry (2007), An Introduction to International Relations and Religion (London: Pearson).
- 8.
Katzenstein, P. (1997), Cultural Norms and National Security: Police and Military in Post War Japan (Ithaca, NY: Cornel University Press, 1996).
- 9.
Mahapatra, D. A. (2016), From a Latent to a Strong Power?
- 10.
Nye, J. (2004), Soft Power.
- 11.
Gifford, P. (2009), Christianity, Politics and Public Life in Kenya (London: Hurst & Co.). See also Deacon, G. & Parsitau, D. S. (2017), “Empowered to Submit: Pentecostal Women in Nairobi,” Journal of Religion and Society, Vol. 19, pp. 1–17. http://wwwhdl.handle.net/10504/109164.
- 12.
Parsitau, D. S. and Mwaura, N. J. (2010), “Gospel without Borders: Gender Dynamics of Transnational Religious Movements in Kenya and the Kenyan Diaspora,” in Afe Adogame & Jim Spickard (eds.), Religions Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora (Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV), pp. 185–210. See also Parsitau, D. S. (2011), “Arise Oh Ye Daughters of Faith: Pentecostalism, Women and Public Culture in Kenya,” in Englund, H. (ed.), Christianity and Public Culture in Africa (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press), pp. 131–148. Deacon, G. & Parsitau, D. S. (2017), “Empowered to Submit: Pentecostal Women in Nairobi,” Journal of Religion and Society, Vol. 19. http://wwwhdl.handle.net/10504/109164; Soothill, J. E. (2007), Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power: Charismatic Christianity in Ghana (Leiden: E. J. Brill).
- 13.
Sackey, B. M. (2006), New Directions in Gender and Religion: The Changing Status of Women in African Independent Churches (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield).
- 14.
Kamau, N. P. (2010), Women and Political Leadership in Kenya, Ten Case Studies (Nairobi: Henrich Boll Foundation).
- 15.
Parsitau, D. S. (2011), “Arise Oh Ye Daughters of Faith,” pp. 131–148. See also Parsitau, D. S. (2012), “Agents of Gendered Change: NGOs and Pentecostal Movements as Agents of Social Transformation in Urban Kenya,” in Freeman, D. (ed.), The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development: Churches, NGO and Social Change in Neo-Liberal Africa (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).
- 16.
Agadjanian, Victor (2015), “Women’s Religious Authority in Sub-Saharan African Settings: Dialectics of Empowerment and Dependency,” Gender & Society, No. 6, pp. 982–1008; Chong, K. H. (2008), Deliverance and Submission: Evangelical Women and the Negotiation of Patriarchy in South Korea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press); Hollingsworth, Andrea and Melissa Browning (2010), “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy (As Long as They Submit): Pentecostalism and Gender in Global Perspectives,” in Michael Wilkinson and Steven M. Studebaker (eds.) A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications), 161–184; Sackey, B. M. (2006), New Directions in Gender and Religion: The Changing Status of Women in African Independent Churches (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield); Soothill, J. E. (2007), Gender, Social Change and Spiritual Power: Charismatic Christianity in Ghana (Leiden: E. J. Brill); Parsitau (2012); Mwaura and Parsitau (2011); Mwaura, P. N. (2005a), “Gender and Power in African Christianity: African Instituted Churches and Pentecostal Churches,” in Ogbu Kalu (ed.), African Christianity: An African Story (Pretoria: University of Pretoria); Mwaura, P. N. (2005b), “Nigerian Pentecostal Missionary Enterprise in Kenya,” in C. J. Korieh and G. U. Nwokweji (eds.), Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria (Lanham, MD: University Press of America); Mwaura, P. N. (2002), “A Burning Stick Plucked Out of the Fire: The Story of Rev. Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus is Alive Ministries,” in I. Phiri and S. Nadar (eds.), Hidden Histories of Women of Faith in Africa (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications); Parsitau, D. S. and Mwaura, N. J. (2010), “Gospel without Borders: Gender Dynamics of Transnational Religious Movements in Kenya and the Kenyan Diaspora,” in Afe Adogame & Jim Spickard (eds.), Religions Crossing Boundaries: Transnational Religious Dynamics in Africa and the New African Diaspora (Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV), pp. 185–210; Mate, Rekopantswe (2002), “Wombs as God’s Laboratories: Pentecostal Discourses of Femininity in Zimbabwe,” Africa, Vol. 72, No. 4, pp. 549–658; Griffith, Marie (1997), God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (Los Angeles: University of California Press); Nadar, Sarojini (2004), “On Being the Pentecostal Church,” The Ecumenical Review, Vol. 56, No. 3; Nadar, Sarojini and C. Potgieter (2010), “Liberated through Submission: The Worthy Woman’s Conference as a Case Study of Formenism,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 1–151.
- 17.
Manana, Francis (2000), “Wairimu, Teresia.” Online Dictionary of African Christian Biography. http://www.dacb.org/stories/kenya/wairimu_teresia.html (accessed, October 13 2008).
- 18.
Parsitau, D. S. and Mwaura, N. J. (2010), “God in the City: Pentecostalism as an Urban Phenomenon in Kenya,” Studia Historiae Ecclesiaticae, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 95–112.
- 19.
See Parsitau and Nwaura (2010); Parsitau (2011), and Manana (2002).
- 20.
Wairimu, T. K. (2011), A Cactus in the Desert: An Autobiography of Reverend Theresa Wairimu Kinyanjui (Nairobi: Revival Spring Media), pp. 100–102.
- 21.
Parsitau & Mwaura (2010); see also Parsitau (2011).
- 22.
Manana, Francis (2000).
- 23.
Interview with Nancy Gitau on November 10/2012 in Nakuru, Town.
- 24.
Wairimu (2011).
- 25.
Interview with Nancy Gitau.
- 26.
Wairimu (2011: 99) and Manana (2000).
- 27.
This information was gleaned from excerpts in Wairimu (2011).
- 28.
Wairimu (2011: 23).
- 29.
Testimony given by Virginia Wanjiku of FEM, a former street girl rescued by FEM. Virginia now also volunteers for the ministry.
- 30.
Wairimu (2010).
- 31.
Parsitau, D. S. (2011), “The Role of Faith and Faith Based Organizations among Internally Displaced Persons in Kenya,” Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 493–512.
- 32.
Mate (2002); Deacon and Parsitau (2017).
- 33.
Chong (2008).
- 34.
Gifford (2009).
- 35.
Gifford (2009), See also Parsitau, D. S. (2012), “From Voices of the People to Discordant/Stifled Voices: Theological, Ethical and Social Political Voice and Voicelessness in a Multicultural/Religious Space, Perspectives from Kenya,” Studia Historiae Ecclesiaticae, Vol. 38, pp. 243–268. http://uir.unisa.ac.za.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Parsitau, D.S. (2018). Soft Tongue, Powerful Voice, Huge Influence: The Dynamics of Gender, Soft Power, and Political Influence in Faith Evangelistic Ministries in Kenya. In: Afolayan, A., Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74910-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74911-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)