Afrocentric Spirituality as Belonging and Cultural Transmission: West African Migrant Parenting and Children’s Learning Through Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM) in Barcelona
Publication information:
Abstract
Drawing on the case of West African families who attend Mountain of Fire and Miracle(MFM), the paper examines how migrant families in Barcelona (Spain) adopt spirituality as an experiential and epistemological practice through which identity, knowledge, and belonging are produced in diaspora contexts amongst their children. Data was generated from ethnographic observation of Mountain of Fire and Miracle(MFM), church services, deliverance sessions, night vigils, and prayer meetings, interviews, and reflexive field notes. The paper argues that West African families in Barcelona use religion—not just as belief, but as active experience for their children to learn from—to help their children understand who they are, what they believe, and where they belong while growing up in a different country. Unlike typical Global Christianity approaches that emphasise doctrine, institutions, or formal theology, this study centres on spirituality as an experiential and epistemological practice through which identity, knowledge, and belonging are produced in diaspora contexts.
Presenter Biographies
Adetola Elizabeth Umoh holds educational qualifications in Educational Management and History/Social Studies at the Bachelor's and Master's levels. She is a PhD student at the University of Autonomous Barcelona, Spain. She was a visiting researcher at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. She wears many hats as a research consultant, student mentor, and freelance journalist. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Internal Displacement as Associate Editor.
Angelina Sánchez-Martí is an Associate Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, UAB). She holds a Serra Húnter Fellowship in the area of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education.