Stuck in Kampala

Abstract

Based on fieldwork conducted in 2013 and 2014, this article analyses the role of religion in a context of displacement, where 40,000 refugees from the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been living in Kampala, Uganda. It focuses on the presence of Congolese Églises de Réveil in the neighborhood of Katwe, one of the most populated areas of Kampala. After introducing the context, it first examines the concept of “blocage” (“being stuck/immobilized”) to demonstrate the way in which it is used to make sense of the difficulties that Congolese refugees experience in the process of resettlement. Second, it focuses on the role of religious language and beliefs in describing situations of mobility and of immobility to then examine the transformation of religious language itself, in particular, when it interprets the refugees’ condition in terms of witchcraft, deliverance and spiritual warfare.

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