Genre, conversion personnelle et individualisme en pentecôtisme: les Assemblées de Dieu de Polynésie française

Abstract

While the Assemblies of God (AoG) in French Polynesia insist on the dimension of choice in their definition of Pentecostal belonging, in contrast with the ‘historical’ Protestant identity inherited from parents, the conditions under which Pentecostal conversions take place lead us to qualify this simplistic opposition. The institutional recognition of personal conversion (through immersion baptism) by AoG ministers depends, in fact, on the regularisation of the conjugal situation. In so doing, they alter the process of conversion by transforming a supposedly personal decision into a conjugal and family negotiation. Adopting a gender perspective, the author first shows how the modalities of conversion to Pentecostalism and responsibility for such conversion vary significantly according to the gender and conjugal situation of the individual concerned. She goes on to question the signification of the ‘autonomy’ and ‘individual freedom’ promoted by Pentecostalism in so far as these are associated with a traditional division of gendered roles focused on the upholding of ‘familial values’.