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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Religion and Ghanaian women entrepreneurship in South Africa
Author:Ojong, Vivian BesemISNI
Year:2008
Periodical:Journal for the Study of Religion
Volume:21
Issue:2
Pages:63-84
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:women entrepreneurs
women migrants
Pentecostalism
Ghanaians
Abstract:This paper demonstrates that migration is not just a physical event in the life of migrants but that it impacts enormously on ways in which migrants renegotiate their beliefs, practices, attitudes and personal and social identities in the country of destination. It looks at the effect of the religious beliefs, practices and customs of migrant women from Ghana on their personal lives, attitudes, expectations, hopes and their business practices. The paper describes the intensive involvement of these women in Ghanaian Pentecostal-type churches in Durban (South Africa) and how their payment of tithes and personal donations to their churches is understood by these women to be the pivotal reason for their success in business and in their private lives. There is a general consensus among these women that, unless they create a vital connection between their entrepreneurial activities and their religious lives, they will fail to receive God's blessing and will therefore fail to prosper in business. These women also generally dedicate their businesses to the service of God by making their business premises a locus for religious proselytizing, which, in their terms, means being able to 'reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ'. Some migrants strongly regard their evangelical activities as a means of fulfilling God's will in their lives. Bibliogr., ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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