The fantastic fetus: the fetus as a super-citizen in Ghanaian Pentecostalism

ABSTRACT

Miraculous pregnancies are perhaps the most ubiquitous miracles in Pentecostal spaces. Utilizing ethnographic data from a Pentecostal church in Accra, Ghana, this article explores the primacy that miraculous – or fantastic – fetuses play in these spaces. In particular, this article focuses on the rituals performances surrounding the fantastic fetus. Applying the category of citizenship – or the public performance of personhood – to these miraculous events illuminates that the fetus is the most privileged citizen, a super-citizen. While fantastic, the super-citizenship of the fetus has real implications on material, fleshy bodies. For example, reading these stories through a patriarchal model the super-citizenship of the fantastic fetus siphons off the citizenship of women, leaving women without an identifiable citizenship. However, this article challenges such a patriarchal reading and instead reads female agency in the fetal miracles. Ultimately, citizenship is birthed – or destroyed – by the miraculous infusion of fetuses into wombs.

KEYWORDS:

• Fantastic fetus
• super-citizen
• publicity
• miracle
• intimacy
• personhood
• agency
• autonomy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Though the sign offered miracle babies, it is really the infusion of a fetus that these services offer. It is miracle pregnancies that are celebrated not necessarily the birth of the children themselves. That someone has become miraculously pregnant at services such as this one are common testimonies but only rarely are material children part of the testimony.

2. While not necessarily relevant herein, this episode begs for an interpretation that considers the symbolization of the foot as a penis, which is not uncommon in Christianity.