Gender strategies in a diasporic context: the case of the Brazilian Pentecostal Missionaries in Barcelona.

Abstract

<p>The religious revival of the 'North' (Europe), developed by Pentecostal missionaries of the 'South' (Latin America - Brazil, in particular), in the context of the 'reverse mission', is a dynamic process and in significant expansion. From a localized ethnography - conducted between November 2011 and April 2012 - this article analyzes the work of evangelization and gender strategies developed by two emblematic and differentiated Brazilian neo-Pentecostal religious movements, in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain): the evangelical and transnationalised Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal group Raboni Ajaray. From a comparative anthropological study of the daily life of these two religious groups, it discusses how a "feminized" and "manly" character, respectively, define important boundaries between Catholics and evangelicals. The ethnographic data demonstrate how certain characteristics of immigrants can act as a source of social differentiation that fosters opportunities and specific doctrinal strategies for men and women, in a context of diaspora.</p>