Doing Identity: Power and the Reproduction of Collective Identity in Racially Diverse Congregations

Congregational identity formation is a challenge for any head clergy. It is particularly challenging for head clergy of racially and ethnically diverse congregations as these leaders occupy positions uniquely situated for destabilizing or instantiating racial hierarchies. Drawing upon the Religious...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Edwards, K.L (Author), Priest, K.B (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association for the Sociology of Religion 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
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008 220511s2019 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 10694404 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Doing Identity: Power and the Reproduction of Collective Identity in Racially Diverse Congregations 
260 0 |b Association for the Sociology of Religion  |c 2019 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srz002 
520 3 |a Congregational identity formation is a challenge for any head clergy. It is particularly challenging for head clergy of racially and ethnically diverse congregations as these leaders occupy positions uniquely situated for destabilizing or instantiating racial hierarchies. Drawing upon the Religious Leadership and Diversity Project (RLDP), this article examines multiracial church pastors' stories of how they achieve ethnic and racial inclusion in their congregations. We pay particular attention to how these leaders reference and draw upon four contestable cultural worship elements - language, ritual, dance, and music - that operate as primary terrain for collective identity construction. Integrating theories on identity, race, ethnicity, and culture, we take a realistic context-sensitive approach to the nature of how worship works as a bridge, recognizing that cultural markers are not neutral but can simultaneously activate ethno-specific identities in racially and ethnically diverse spaces, instantiating hierarchies of value and thus making worship a potential barrier to the formation of a unified diverse community. © 2019 The Author(s). 
650 0 4 |a clergy/ministers/religious professionals 
650 0 4 |a congregations 
650 0 4 |a diversity/multiculturalism 
650 0 4 |a identity 
650 0 4 |a leadership 
650 0 4 |a race and ethnicity 
700 1 |a Edwards, K.L.  |e author 
700 1 |a Priest, K.B.  |e author 
773 |t Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review