African Communication Research: Media and Religion in Africa

African Communication Research is a peer-reviewed journal which seeks to help bring African communication researchers into dialogue and debate about their common efforts with the aim to strengthen African theories and methods around communication for development. It is published three times a year by the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communications at St. Augustine University of Tanzania, Mwanza, Tanzania.

The focus of this issue is on "media and religion in Africa". It contains the following contributions:

Review Article: Research on Media, Religion and Culture in Africa: Current trends and debates - by Walter C, Ihejirika

Abstract: "Before the year 2000, Africa was conspicuously absent in bibliographic reviews in the field of media, religion and culture. Within the past decade, however, many African and international scholars have focused more attention on the cultural interface between religion and the media on the continent. This article attempts to sketch a general overview of this research: a presentation of the scholars involved in the field of religion and media in Africa; their major findings; the theoretical grounds for the study of media and religion within the African landscape; and a road map for future areas of study of the interface between media, religion and culture in Africa. The present work also intends to initiate a clearinghouse for researchers in this field within Africa, especially for the younger scholars just entering the field."

"Preaching Music" and Islam in Senegal: Can the Secular Mediate the Religious? The Case of Rap and Mbalax Music - by Abdoulaye Niang

Abstract: "The introduction of rap and mbalax 'preaching music' into Senegal has raised the question of the role of popular music in the Islamic religious culture of Senegal. Preaching music produced by rappers (rap entered Senegal in the mid-1980s) and by imbalax singers (imbalax goes back to the 1960s) carries religious themes reminding people of Islamic principles and is played on a variety of musical instruments. Some religious leaders question this very much. This study of perceptions reveals a variety of perspectives among the public in Senegal regarding this "preaching music": a) as a purely secular expression transgressing orthodox Islamic traditions; b) as a 'polynuclearisation', that is, recognising that preaching is no longer the exclusive research of Islamologists but can be done also by musicians; c) 'politopic', recognising that the usual sacred places no longer have the monopoly on the communication of sacred messages; d) as a strategy enabling the Senegalese public to respond to whatever marketing approach gets the religious message across to the people."

Gender and Religion in Nigerian Popular Films - by Dominica Dipio

Abstract: "Although Nollywood films are often a critical social commentary on the greed, corruption and injustice of Nigerian society, Nigerian popular film tend to portray male dominance as "natural" while women are portrayed as simplistic supporters of masculine socio-cultural power. This ideological construction of male and female roles is carried over quite consistently in religious films. The present article analyses six "Catholic" films which construct priests as superheroes or, more enticingly, as wounded heroes while women are constructed as a passive background chorus serving the priests and singing the glories of the priests. When protagonists, women are constructed as temptresses, carriers of evil spirits and a threat to the good order of the Church. When women, especially women religious, are major narrative characters, they are portrayed as ridiculous, fatuous, and inherently evil with weaknesses that can be cured only by male religious power. Underlying Nigerian religious films is the dualistic struggle of good and evil in the world, the portrayal of the community as the preserver of the sacred, and the continual ambiguity and internal debate of religious figures."

Examining the Nexus of Religion, Media and Conflict in Africa - by Rosalind I.J. Hackett

Abstract: "In the expanding research on media, religion and culture in Africa, not enough attention has been given to the intensification of old socio-religious polarities and the generation of new forms of religious intolerance and conflict. The protection of religious pluralism and freedom in media vaunted by many governments is not necessarily borne out in terms of current patterns of media ownership, access, programming and transmission. More specifically media policy favoring unbridled commercialization is tending to foster the "pentecostalisation" of the media. The present article focuses on four aspects of this increasing lack of balance in religion and media: inequitable access, encroachment, defamation, and consumerism."

"Catching the Anointing": Mediating Supernatural Power through Enchanted Texts and Tapes in Africa - by J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyahdu

Abstract: "In the African sacramental view of the universe, the divine power is seen as present and operating in the physical reality so that all physical phenomena are expressions of divine power. Founders of the Pentecostal/charismatic movements (New Religious Movements) are seen as especially endowed with this divine power or anointing (from the traditional Christian view of sacred oils as able to confer divine power on ordained ministers), and their words carry in a special way this divine power. All media such as books, magazines, video tapes, radio and television broadcasts - even the physical television set - which carry the words of the founder or those ordained by the founder also carry the power of the founder’s word. This word is seen as capable of carrying out the divine will that nature be fulfilled in good health, human reproduction, agriculture, success in business and all other aspects of the physical world. This sacramental view of the power of the mediated word is spreading not only in Africa but around the world."

Pentecostalism in Kinshasa: Maintaining Multiple Church Membership - by Rigobert Kamate

Abstract: "Although some research suggests that conversion to Pentecostalism implies a total break with previous religious membership, the present study, reporting the religious life histories of a representative sample of persons indicates that most people active in the vigorous Pentecostal growth in Kinshasa (8-10 per cent of the total religious membership) carry on multiple church practices. While most maintain their basic identities in their original church for social reasons, they are more active in the Pentecostal churches because of better biblical instruction, a deeper prayer life, better response to immediate problems such as health crises and because of warm social interaction. Especially important in multiple membership is the access to services of revival churches through television and radio in the privacy of their homes while the practice in the churches of origin is a public social routine."

New Research Methodologies in Media and Religion: An International Survey - by Robert A. White

Abstract: "The present article reviews increasingly sophisticated research methodologies in the field of media and religion available for studying a wide variety of questions and issues: assessing the audience impact of religious broadcasting; verifying the claims of religious broadcasters; evaluating religious reporting in the press; the application of the uses and gratifications methods to religious media; using life-story methods in religious audience research; analysing how audiences use general TV programming to reaffirm personal religious identity; analysing personal construction of meaning in religious media; using methods of political-economy for critical examination of social power operating in religious media; and assessing the role of religious media in non-Western countries in the globalisation process."