Karen Lauterbach discusses hybrid forms of faith-based hosting in Kampala

In post on the ‘Refugee Hosts’ blog, associate professor at CAS Karen Lauterbach discusses hybrid forms of faith-based hosting and draws on her research with Congolese refugee churches in Kampala, Uganda. Lauterbach examines what kind of faith-based hosting these churches represent and what these hybrid forms of hosting can tell us about the categories of ‘host’ and ‘guest’. Lauterbach highlights that patterns of hosting function in ‘changeable, informal, and volatile’ ways and describes the various motivations influencing these patterns, which, for Congolese refugee pastors, include compassion and sacrifice, and for Congolese refugees, respect for the position of authority that the pastor occupies. In this process, Lauterbach argues, ‘the categories and roles as host and guest get confused and turned upside down’.