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Disjunctures of belonging and belief: Christian migrants and the bordering of identity in S ingapore
Author(s) -
Kong Lily,
Woods Orlando
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.2235
Subject(s) - christianity , ethnic group , identity (music) , sociology , faith , gender studies , immigration , geography , aesthetics , anthropology , epistemology , art , philosophy , archaeology
Migration results in people that are different from one another living in closer physical proximity. Proximity increases the chances of encountering difference and can lead to both the formation of new communities and the strengthening of old. As a religion that claims to integrate people into a trans‐ethnic, transterritorial faith community, Christianity encourages such encounters and Christian groups play an important role in mediating them. Disjunctures of belonging and belief are the outcomes that arise from encounters with difference within spaces of Christianity. Drawing on 100 interviews conducted between August 2017 and February 2018, this paper unravels these disjunctures through a focus on the interplay between migrant and nonmigrant Christian communities in Singapore. Although Christian groups have the potential to be agents of integration, we consider the ways in which they encourage the “bordering of identity” by serving to divide communities rather than unite them.