Strategies of occupation of urban space: The case of Pentecostal churches in Kampala (Uganda)

Abstract

Based on a long-term research started in 2005, the article focuses on Pentecostals’ strategies of space occupation in the urban context of Kampala (Uganda); it compares these strategies with those of other Christian denominations and analyzes them from the angle of the “spatial turn”. During the last three decades hundreds of Pentecostal churches have been built in town, following non-centralized strategies; this process resulted in the coexistence of simple structures made with perishable materials with other bigger and more stable churches, up to the so-called “mega-churches”, giant congregations with thousands of members. In the present article, I consider these different modalities of being in the urban space as part of the success of the Pentecostal movement in Uganda and of its ability to enter the local public sphere. Through the analysis of the case study of Kampala, I aim to highlight the role of religions in signifying the urban territory, both with the physical presence and with the rhetoric of the spiritual warfare and of the competition over this space.