TY - JOUR
T1 - African diasporas in Australia
T2 - Christianity and the complicated matter of trust
AU - Rocha, Cristina
AU - Openshaw, Kathleen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Australian Anthropological Society.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Christianity plays a foundational role in many communities in sub-Saharan Africa. As migrants from the African continent arrive in Australia, the usual roles of religion (i.e., connecting to the spiritual world and strengthening community) become even more pronounced. Churches become trusted support institutions for settlement. Here, we consider the complexities of trust for Christian African migrants as they negotiate settlement in Australia. For them, relationships of trust within their own communities and with Australian society at large are situated, ambivalent, and contingent. Indeed, for this cohort, trust is both powerful and fragile. We argue that in order to overcome the uncertainties of life, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, they mobilise Christianity as a way of establishing trust. Overall, this paper calls for greater scholarly attention to how relationships of trust are established and negotiated in daily life among migrants, and particularly to the role of religion in this process.
AB - Christianity plays a foundational role in many communities in sub-Saharan Africa. As migrants from the African continent arrive in Australia, the usual roles of religion (i.e., connecting to the spiritual world and strengthening community) become even more pronounced. Churches become trusted support institutions for settlement. Here, we consider the complexities of trust for Christian African migrants as they negotiate settlement in Australia. For them, relationships of trust within their own communities and with Australian society at large are situated, ambivalent, and contingent. Indeed, for this cohort, trust is both powerful and fragile. We argue that in order to overcome the uncertainties of life, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, they mobilise Christianity as a way of establishing trust. Overall, this paper calls for greater scholarly attention to how relationships of trust are established and negotiated in daily life among migrants, and particularly to the role of religion in this process.
KW - African diasporas
KW - Australia
KW - Christianity
KW - COVID-19
KW - trust
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85211953564&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://ezproxy.uws.edu.au/login?url=https://doi.org/10.1111/taja.12532
U2 - 10.1111/taja.12532
DO - 10.1111/taja.12532
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85211953564
SN - 1035-8811
JO - Australian Journal of Anthropology
JF - Australian Journal of Anthropology
ER -