El ascetismo pentecostal gitano y la gestión corporal: una aproximación desde la antropología del cuerpo

Abstract

Pentecostal religious beliefs & practices consist of a complex set of strategies of transformation & personal renewal. Among other aspects of their experiences in the Church of Philadelphia, the social construction of Gypsy reality turns on the reform of the body. The present paper lies on aspects such as the body as object & subject of biopolitical & religious practices; the relationships between religious experience & body management; new social & community interactions; & autobiographical discourse as the ideological vehicle of personal conversion & transformation. All these processes reveal how social practices remake & shape bodily behaviour & its meaning. Pentecostal charismatic practices channel & express the community & individual demands of Church of Philadelphia converts, & represent central issues in the Pentecostal management of body & spirit. Our aim in this paper is to analyze the bodily practices which provide for believers transformation, & which shape community rituals & the congregation's interactions.