Religious Innovation and Competition amidst Urban Social Change Pretoria Case Study
Main Article Content
Keywords
Urban (Social) Change, Urban Vulnerability, Religious Innovation, Religious Competition, Trans-disciplinary Research
Abstract
We are a group of 9 researchers curious to explore how local churches in two specific regions of Pretoria – Pretoria Central and Mamelodi East – respond to urban change and vulnerability, whether there are signs of religious innovation and competition, and whether there is evidence of churches in these regions contributing to the healing, or perpetuation, of urban fractures. In the article we engage critically the concepts of innovation, competition, vulnerability and urban change, recognizing that these are by no means neutral terms. We approach the research in a trans-disciplinary manner, outlining our specific research methods – mapping, surveys, focus groups, and the World Café – in a self-critical manner. We then describe the face of the locality, as well as the face of the broader context, identifying emerging themes surfacing from our research engagements. These include the different faces of migration; church members as distant consumers or vested contributors; ecclesiologies under construction; informality, innovation and the church; and youth agency. We reflect critically on both innovation and competition as we encountered it in these communities, appreciating the dynamism and fluidity of many of the churches but concluding that these churches held largely unfulfilled potential as agents of urban social change.
Article Metrics Graph
References
Allen, JD. (2008). 'The Intersection of Liberation Theology, Structural Social Work, and Empowerment Practice'. Paper presented at the Third North American Conference on Spirituality and Social Work, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, NB, June 19-21, 2008.
Bernstein, A. and Rule, S. (2010). 'Flying under South Africa's radar: The growth and impact of Pentecostals in a developing country'. In The hidden form of capital: Spiritual influences in societal progress, pp. 91−131. Edited by P.L. Berger and G. Redding. London: Anthem Press.https://doi.org/10.7135/UPO9780857289520.007
Boll, A.J. (2015). 'Cartography for Communities: An Examination of Participatory Action Mapping'. Masters dissertation, Georgia State University.
Boff, L. (1986). Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church. New York: Orbis Books.
Botha, N. (2013). 'A theological perspective on migrants and migration focussing on the Southern African Development Community (SADC)'. Missionalia 41:2: 104-119. https://doi.org/10.7832/41-2-8
Botha, N. (2015). 'Community engagement as the organic link with the street: Creating a learning community between the academy and homeless people in Tshwane'. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 71:3: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v71i3.3118
Chambers, R. (2006). 'Participatory mapping and geographic information systems: whose map? Who is empowered and who disempowered? Who gains and who loses'? Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries 25:2: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2006.tb00163.x
Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. (2002). Act 19 of 2002, Republic of South Africa.
Crush, J., Chikanda, A., and Skinner, C. (2015) Mean Streets: Migration, Xenophobia and informality in South Africa. Ontario: Southern African Migration Programme (SAMP), Cape Town: African Centre for Cities (ACC) and Nairobi: International Development Research Centre (IDRC).https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh8r45r
De Beer, S. (2012). 'Urban South Africa: An opportunity for liberating theological education'. Missionalia 40:3: 251-277.https://doi.org/10.7832/40-3-32
De Beer, S. (2014). 'Whose knowledges shape our city? Advancing a community-based praxis'. in De Jure 47:2: 218-223.
De Beer, S. and Swart, I. (2014). 'Towards a fusion of horizons: Thematic contours for an urban public theological praxis-agenda in South Africa'. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70:3: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v70i3.2812
De Beer, S. (2015), 'Reading Psalms, and other urban poems, in a fractured city'. Verbum et Ecclesia 36:1: 1-8.https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v36i1.1472
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Herder.
GAPP Architects. (2010). Tsosoloso Programme: Mamelodi Regeneration Strategy. Specialist report commissioned by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
Glassman, M., and Erdem, G. (2014). 'Participatory Action Research and Its Meanings: Vivencia, Praxis, Conscientization'. Adult Education Quarterly 64:3: 206-221. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713614523667
Holland, J., and Henriot, P. (1983). Social analysis: linking faith and justice. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Huchzermeyer, M. (2011). Cities with 'slums': From informal settlement eradication to a right to the city in Africa. Cape Town: Juta/UCT Press.
Klein, J. (2001). Transdisciplinarity: Joint Problem Solving among Science, Technology and Society. Basel: Birkhaüser.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8419-8
Kuljian, C. (2003). Sanctuary: How an inner-city church spilled over onto a sidewalk. Aukland Park: Jacana.
Literat, I. (2013): 'Participatory mapping with urban youth: the visual elicitation of sociospatial research data'. Learning, Media and Technology 38:2: 198-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2013.782037
Makhubu, N. (2014). 'Foreigners in fear after looting of shops'. Pretoria News, 12 September.
Mays, Benjamin E. and Joseph W. Nicholson. (1933). The Negro's Church. New York: Institute of Social and Religious Research.
Muller, B.A. (2008). 'A Missional Understanding of the Church, its Ministry, especially with regards to its Christ Centric Liturgical Reorientation'. Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif 49:1&2: 53-65.
Natarajan, L. (2017). 'Socio-spatial learning: a case study of community knowledge in participatory spatial planning'. Progress in Planning 111 (January): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2015.06.002
Naudé, P. (2015). 'African Urbanism: Re-Interpreting the Marks of the Church'. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 1:2: 69-86.https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2015.v1n2.a03
Nkoane, M.M. (2012). 'Critical emancipatory research for social justice and democratic citizenship'. Perspectives in Education 30:4 (December): 98-104.
Parsitau, D.S. and Mwaura, P.N. (2010). 'God in the city: Pentecostalism as an urban phenomenon in Kenya'. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae 36:2 (October): 95-112.
Rakodi, C. (2014). 'Religion and social life in African cities'. In Africa's urban revolution, pp. 82−109. Edited by S. Parnell & E. Pieterse. London: Zed Books. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218246.ch-005
Saunders, D. (2011). Arrival city: The final migration and our next world. Toronto: Vintage.
Schwartz, S. (2011). '"Going deep" and "giving back": strategies for exceeding ethical expectations when researching amongst vulnerable youth'. Qualitative Research 11:1: 47-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794110385885
Smith, A. (2010). 'Social/spatial mapping of asylum seeker accommodation centres in Ireland'. Geographic Information System (GIS) Interactive Website, https://www.unbc.ca/angele-smith. Accessed 17 August 2019.
Smith, C.G. (2007). 'A Missiological Study of Pentecostal Churches in an Informal Settlement in Nairobi, Kenya'. D.Th. thesis, University of South Africa.
Smith, R.D. (2015). 'Urban Marginality, Religious Liminality, and the Black Poor'. HTS Theological Studies 71:3: 1-8.https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v71i3.3079
Smith, R.D. (2015) 'Introduction'. In Contesting Post Racialism: Conflicted Churches in the U.S. and South Africa, pp. 3-12. Edited by R. Drew Smith, et. al. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781628462005.003.0016
Smith, R.D. and Ackah, W. (2014). 'Introduction'. In Churches, Blackness, and Contested Multiculturalism: Europe, North America, and Africa, pp.1-8. Edited by R.D. Smith , W. Ackah, and A. Reddie. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Steier, F., Brown, J., and Mesquita da Silva, F. (2015). 'The World Cafe in Action Research Settings'. Chapter 20, in The SAGE handbook of action research, 3rd edn. Edited by H. Bradbury. London and Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Steyn, G. (2009). 'Squatting and Settlement Making in Mamelodi, South Africa'. In Movements, borders and identities in Africa, pp. 153-165. Edited by T. Falola and A. Usman. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781580467285-008
Synexus. (2015) 'Stanza Clinical Research Centre: Mamelodi'. Synexus Clinical Research website. https://www.synexusclinicalresearch.co.za/our-clinics/stanza-clinical-research-cesite/. Accessed on 16 November 2016.
Tan, S., and Brown, J. (2005). 'The World Café in Singapore: Creating a Culture through Dialogue'. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 41:1: 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886304272851
Takahashi, LM. (1997). 'The Socio-Spatial Stigmatization of Homelessness and HIV/AIDS: Toward an Explanation of the NIMBY Syndrome'. Social Science and Medicine 45:6: 903-914. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(96)00432-7
Van Eck, E., Renkin, W., and Ntakirutimana, E. (2016). 'The parable of the Feast (Lk 14:16b-23): Breaking down boundaries and discerning a theological-spatial justice agenda'. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 72:1: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i1.3512
Van Wyngaard, C. (2015). 'Whiteness and Public Theology: an Exploration of Listening'. Missionalia, 43:3: 478-492. Walks, R.A. 'The Social Ecology of the Post-Fordist/Global City? Economic Restructuring and Socio-Spatial Polarisation in the Toronto Urban Region'. Urban Studies 38:3: 407-447. https://doi.org/10.7832/43-3-132
Winkler, T. (2008a). 'Super-sizing community development initiatives: The case of Hillbrow's faith sector'. International Journal of Public Theology 2:1: 47−69. https://doi.org/10.1163/156973208X256448
Winkler, T. (2008b). 'When God and poverty collide: Exploring the myths of faithsponsored community development'. Urban Studies 45:10: 2099−2116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098008094875
Bernstein, A. and Rule, S. (2010). 'Flying under South Africa's radar: The growth and impact of Pentecostals in a developing country'. In The hidden form of capital: Spiritual influences in societal progress, pp. 91−131. Edited by P.L. Berger and G. Redding. London: Anthem Press.https://doi.org/10.7135/UPO9780857289520.007
Boll, A.J. (2015). 'Cartography for Communities: An Examination of Participatory Action Mapping'. Masters dissertation, Georgia State University.
Boff, L. (1986). Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church. New York: Orbis Books.
Botha, N. (2013). 'A theological perspective on migrants and migration focussing on the Southern African Development Community (SADC)'. Missionalia 41:2: 104-119. https://doi.org/10.7832/41-2-8
Botha, N. (2015). 'Community engagement as the organic link with the street: Creating a learning community between the academy and homeless people in Tshwane'. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 71:3: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v71i3.3118
Chambers, R. (2006). 'Participatory mapping and geographic information systems: whose map? Who is empowered and who disempowered? Who gains and who loses'? Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries 25:2: 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1681-4835.2006.tb00163.x
Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities. (2002). Act 19 of 2002, Republic of South Africa.
Crush, J., Chikanda, A., and Skinner, C. (2015) Mean Streets: Migration, Xenophobia and informality in South Africa. Ontario: Southern African Migration Programme (SAMP), Cape Town: African Centre for Cities (ACC) and Nairobi: International Development Research Centre (IDRC).https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh8r45r
De Beer, S. (2012). 'Urban South Africa: An opportunity for liberating theological education'. Missionalia 40:3: 251-277.https://doi.org/10.7832/40-3-32
De Beer, S. (2014). 'Whose knowledges shape our city? Advancing a community-based praxis'. in De Jure 47:2: 218-223.
De Beer, S. and Swart, I. (2014). 'Towards a fusion of horizons: Thematic contours for an urban public theological praxis-agenda in South Africa'. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 70:3: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v70i3.2812
De Beer, S. (2015), 'Reading Psalms, and other urban poems, in a fractured city'. Verbum et Ecclesia 36:1: 1-8.https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v36i1.1472
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Herder.
GAPP Architects. (2010). Tsosoloso Programme: Mamelodi Regeneration Strategy. Specialist report commissioned by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
Glassman, M., and Erdem, G. (2014). 'Participatory Action Research and Its Meanings: Vivencia, Praxis, Conscientization'. Adult Education Quarterly 64:3: 206-221. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713614523667
Holland, J., and Henriot, P. (1983). Social analysis: linking faith and justice. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Huchzermeyer, M. (2011). Cities with 'slums': From informal settlement eradication to a right to the city in Africa. Cape Town: Juta/UCT Press.
Klein, J. (2001). Transdisciplinarity: Joint Problem Solving among Science, Technology and Society. Basel: Birkhaüser.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-8419-8
Kuljian, C. (2003). Sanctuary: How an inner-city church spilled over onto a sidewalk. Aukland Park: Jacana.
Literat, I. (2013): 'Participatory mapping with urban youth: the visual elicitation of sociospatial research data'. Learning, Media and Technology 38:2: 198-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2013.782037
Makhubu, N. (2014). 'Foreigners in fear after looting of shops'. Pretoria News, 12 September.
Mays, Benjamin E. and Joseph W. Nicholson. (1933). The Negro's Church. New York: Institute of Social and Religious Research.
Muller, B.A. (2008). 'A Missional Understanding of the Church, its Ministry, especially with regards to its Christ Centric Liturgical Reorientation'. Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif 49:1&2: 53-65.
Natarajan, L. (2017). 'Socio-spatial learning: a case study of community knowledge in participatory spatial planning'. Progress in Planning 111 (January): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2015.06.002
Naudé, P. (2015). 'African Urbanism: Re-Interpreting the Marks of the Church'. Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 1:2: 69-86.https://doi.org/10.17570/stj.2015.v1n2.a03
Nkoane, M.M. (2012). 'Critical emancipatory research for social justice and democratic citizenship'. Perspectives in Education 30:4 (December): 98-104.
Parsitau, D.S. and Mwaura, P.N. (2010). 'God in the city: Pentecostalism as an urban phenomenon in Kenya'. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae 36:2 (October): 95-112.
Rakodi, C. (2014). 'Religion and social life in African cities'. In Africa's urban revolution, pp. 82−109. Edited by S. Parnell & E. Pieterse. London: Zed Books. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350218246.ch-005
Saunders, D. (2011). Arrival city: The final migration and our next world. Toronto: Vintage.
Schwartz, S. (2011). '"Going deep" and "giving back": strategies for exceeding ethical expectations when researching amongst vulnerable youth'. Qualitative Research 11:1: 47-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794110385885
Smith, A. (2010). 'Social/spatial mapping of asylum seeker accommodation centres in Ireland'. Geographic Information System (GIS) Interactive Website, https://www.unbc.ca/angele-smith. Accessed 17 August 2019.
Smith, C.G. (2007). 'A Missiological Study of Pentecostal Churches in an Informal Settlement in Nairobi, Kenya'. D.Th. thesis, University of South Africa.
Smith, R.D. (2015). 'Urban Marginality, Religious Liminality, and the Black Poor'. HTS Theological Studies 71:3: 1-8.https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v71i3.3079
Smith, R.D. (2015) 'Introduction'. In Contesting Post Racialism: Conflicted Churches in the U.S. and South Africa, pp. 3-12. Edited by R. Drew Smith, et. al. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781628462005.003.0016
Smith, R.D. and Ackah, W. (2014). 'Introduction'. In Churches, Blackness, and Contested Multiculturalism: Europe, North America, and Africa, pp.1-8. Edited by R.D. Smith , W. Ackah, and A. Reddie. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Steier, F., Brown, J., and Mesquita da Silva, F. (2015). 'The World Cafe in Action Research Settings'. Chapter 20, in The SAGE handbook of action research, 3rd edn. Edited by H. Bradbury. London and Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Steyn, G. (2009). 'Squatting and Settlement Making in Mamelodi, South Africa'. In Movements, borders and identities in Africa, pp. 153-165. Edited by T. Falola and A. Usman. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781580467285-008
Synexus. (2015) 'Stanza Clinical Research Centre: Mamelodi'. Synexus Clinical Research website. https://www.synexusclinicalresearch.co.za/our-clinics/stanza-clinical-research-cesite/. Accessed on 16 November 2016.
Tan, S., and Brown, J. (2005). 'The World Café in Singapore: Creating a Culture through Dialogue'. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 41:1: 83-90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886304272851
Takahashi, LM. (1997). 'The Socio-Spatial Stigmatization of Homelessness and HIV/AIDS: Toward an Explanation of the NIMBY Syndrome'. Social Science and Medicine 45:6: 903-914. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(96)00432-7
Van Eck, E., Renkin, W., and Ntakirutimana, E. (2016). 'The parable of the Feast (Lk 14:16b-23): Breaking down boundaries and discerning a theological-spatial justice agenda'. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 72:1: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i1.3512
Van Wyngaard, C. (2015). 'Whiteness and Public Theology: an Exploration of Listening'. Missionalia, 43:3: 478-492. Walks, R.A. 'The Social Ecology of the Post-Fordist/Global City? Economic Restructuring and Socio-Spatial Polarisation in the Toronto Urban Region'. Urban Studies 38:3: 407-447. https://doi.org/10.7832/43-3-132
Winkler, T. (2008a). 'Super-sizing community development initiatives: The case of Hillbrow's faith sector'. International Journal of Public Theology 2:1: 47−69. https://doi.org/10.1163/156973208X256448
Winkler, T. (2008b). 'When God and poverty collide: Exploring the myths of faithsponsored community development'. Urban Studies 45:10: 2099−2116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098008094875
Article Sidebar
Published
Sep 30, 2024
Article Details
How to Cite
Religious Innovation and Competition amidst Urban Social Change: Pretoria Case Study. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 5(1), 104-121. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujsrad/article/view/3419
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Religious Innovation and Competition amidst Urban Social Change: Pretoria Case Study. (2024). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 5(1), 104-121. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/ujsrad/article/view/3419