| ID | 190351 |
| Title Proper | Cyber-Christianity in Qatar |
| Other Title Information | Migrant” and “Expat” Theologies of COVID-19 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Promodh, Irene Ann |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | In the year 2020, COVID-19 wreaked havoc on everyday life in the Persian Gulf. Yet little is known about how non-citizens responded to a virus that inexorably exposed their transience and precarity. This article addresses a much-neglected aspect of local responses to COVID-19, namely, how non-citizens made sense of the virus theologically. Drawing on existing scholarship on cyber religion and migrant religiosity in the Gulf, I examine the theological responses of a distinctive subset of non-citizens –– Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians in Qatar. My approach, rooted in digital ethnographic methods, led me to uncover divergent theological responses to COVID-19 among lower-income “migrants” and higher-income “expats”. Lower-income “migrants” sought spiritual remedies to counter what they deemed to be a man-made virus, whereas higher-income “expats” strove for spiritual perfection during what they believed was a divine trial. Working through these divergent theological responses, I argue that both “migrants” and “expats” built stronger affinities to their host state during the pandemic as they developed new forms of spiritual communitas online. |
| `In' analytical Note | Journal of Arabian Studies Vol. 11, No.2; Dec 2021: p.329-346 |
| Journal Source | Journal of Arabian Studies Vol: 11 No 2 |
| Key Words | Christianity ; Qatar ; Migrants ; COVID-19 ; Expats ; Digital Ethnography |