Dreams, Memory, and Bureaucracy

Based on the case study of a prophetic-charismatic Church in Angola (Tokoist Church), this article analyzes the emergence of conversion narratives, collected through interviews and ethnography, through a historically constructed paradigm, where spiritual encounters are combined with an institutional and sociopolitical dimension. This paradigm acts as a catalyst for a biographic illusion, whereby contact with the Spirit is considered as the main factor for one’s transformation, yet it is anchored to one’s social capital.

It also shows how these conversion narratives reproduce three distinct temporalities, which reflect the temporalities implicitly embodied by the figure of the prophet: the event, associated with a spiritual dimension, i.e. the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the bureaucratic act of conversion; the process, which involves access to institutional positions and daily charisma, depending on one’s social capital; and performativity, which is visible in the ethnographic interaction between the researcher and the converts.