Abstract
This qualitative study explores how Christian students from Sub-Saharan Africa negotiate their religious identity in Japan, a country whose logic and practice of religiosity is different. Employing qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, participant observation, and thematic analysis, this research explores the lived experiences of a selection of Sub-Saharan African Christian students in Japan. By examining the intersection of religious identity, cultural context, and individual agency, the study investigates the factors contributing to the students’ redefinition of religiosity and considers the influence of Japan’s practice of religiosity on these students’ religious identities. The project analytically illustrates the concrete process of how individuals reconfigure their own religiosity (orientation) through interactions with cultural otherness, drawing on frameworks proposed by scholars like Charles Long and Thomas Csordas. It reveals that the students come from contexts in which their religiosity form has strict and clear moral, belief, and practice boundaries while the ones they encounter in Japan seem non-committal and porous. Through a diffusive process that involves cultural, social, academic, and explicitly religious interactions, the students adopt a porous religious form. The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the complexities inherent in religious identity negotiation within multicultural settings.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
RELIGIOUS IDENTITY, AFRICAN DIASPORA IN JAPAN, RELIGIOUS SOCIALISATION
