Migrant Routes – Religious Routes

Since the beginning of the 1980s, (neo-)Pentecostal and charismatic churches have emerged rapidly throughout Africa. Due to new migration movements, African charismatic and (neo-)Pentecostal communities have arisen in many European metropolises, but also along African migrant routes in transit cities. Various studies have been conducted on transnational religious diasporic communities of Africans in Europe. But the role of religious communities in the migration process itself and the way they affect migration routes and the decision-making processes of migrants has been less analyzed.

This research project will investigate the effect (neo-)Pentecostal church communities have on the migration routes of Congolese migrants in different cities. On the basis of a multi-sited ethnographic analysis, the project will trace the journeys of migrants as well as those of (neo-) Pentecostal churches to cities of transit and destination and/or to starting points like Berlin, Istanbul, Kinshasa, etc. It will also compare the spatial practices of (neo-)Pentecostal church communities in various metropolises.