Paper short abstract:

The Guinean population living in Greater Lisbon is marked by a high degree of religious plurality, even within the same families. This paper will present an ethnographic portrayal of Guinean transnational families, focusing on the practicalities of religious coexistence in this context.

Paper long abstract:

The Guinean population living in Greater Lisbon is marked by a high degree of religious plurality, reflecting the diversity of the religious landscape in contemporary Guinea-Bissau (Sarró and Barros 2016). Although Catholicism and Islam are the main religious affiliations in this context, many migrants of both groups recur to traditional religious specialists on specific occasions, such as life-cycle events and states of affliction (Carvalho 2001; Quintino 2004; Saraiva 2008). In this pluralistic environment, Evangelical Guineans form a minority group, which differentiates itself from Catholics and Muslims by professing a stricter rejection of what they call "animistic" practices and by creating relatively distinct social networks. Nonetheless, Catholicism, Protestantism, indigenous religions and, to a lesser extent, Islam, may coexist within the same families. Moreover, due to the shortage of low-cost housing in Lisbon area, it is common for members of the same family, but with distinct religious faith, to live under the same roof. Therefore, within these households, kinship bonds and norms both intersect and clash with religious practices and memberships.

Having as starting point my fieldwork among Evangelical Guineans in Lisbon, this paper will present an ethnographic portrayal of Guinean transnational families, focusing on the practicalities of religious coexistence and cohabitation in this context.