Abstract

This paper investigates the negotiation of gendered religious experiences and practices within the Waldensian Church in Italy. By listening to women’s experiences, it analyses the impact of migration flows in relation to gender roles among an established religious minority. How far do the encounters, the exchanges and shared community and spiritual life of Protestant believers from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds result in a re-negotiation of gendered religious understanding? Which theological outlooks intentionally or unintentionally inform gendered roles and behaviours, and which models are transmitted to the next generations? By illustrating the complexity and intersectionality of women’s lived experiences, and in particular their different roles in congregations vis-à-vis their different geographical provenance, this research intends to bring new knowledge to religious and gender studies. Starting from the author’s positionality in the field, the research draws its analysis method from multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, which also includes semi-structured interviews with female church leaders and churchgoers, both indigenous and migrant.