Langues et possession : le cas des pentecôtistes en Italie méridionale

Languages and Possession: The Case of Pentecostal Croups in Southern Italy. ; ; The "gift" of glossolalia (speaking in tongues) as seen in Pentecostal groups which sprang up in rural southern Italy after the Second World War, conforms to the ambiant ideology insofar as it serves to handle problems of domination and hierarchization with which the local populations were preoccupied. In the groups studied—the unitary Pentecostal group from Accadia (Fouilles/Puglia), directed by a woman missionary, and the neighboring unitary or trinitary groups directed by men—an emphasis was found to be placed on "gifts" given by the Holy Ghost, especially that of glossolalia. In the Accadian group, this particular "gift" stimulates "equality", while elsewhere it "hierarchizes" the group by separating the pastor and missionary—who have the "gift" from the faithful who are deprived of it.