Pentecostal Urbanism? The Voices of Religious Objects in Harare, Zimbabwe

In this article I coin the term ‘Pentecostal urbanism’ to understand the ‘new’ phenomenon of materiality of urban religion in the form of Pentecostalism. I look at the use of material objects in the daily lives of Pentecostal adherents in Harare, Zimbabwe. The use of objects such as wrist bands, stickers, anointed pens, anointed condoms and turning of ordinary everyday objects into sacred things has dominated the urban landscape and lifestyle in the city for the past decade in Zimbabwe. Using observations, conversations and interviews with Pentecostal adherents, I seek to add to the puzzle of this development. The public omnipresence of Pentecostalism through images, symbols and sounds in the city brings another alternative in explaining and understanding urban life hence the concept, ‘Pentecostal urbanism‘. Instead of disappearance of religion in the public sphere into the private with increased modernity as some in the social science and humanities had predicted the reverse seem to be the case. A focus on the spiritualisation of modernity in this article will add to the puzzle which tries to explain the development. Moving from historical accounts on Pentecostalism, ethnographic work and, theoretical and conceptual reflection, this article seeks to make the puzzle more complex.