Insight, Secrecy, Beasts, and Beauty

Struggles over the Making of a Ghanaian Documentary on "Afrrican Traditional Religion"

Authors

  • Marleen de Witte University of Amsterdam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i2_3.277

Keywords:

Ghanaian media, Ghanaian Religion, Pentacostalism in Africa

Abstract

Since the liberalization of the Ghanaian media in 1992, audiovisual representation has become crucial in the struggle over religion and culture. This article examines the neo-traditionalist Afrikania Mission’s struggles with audiovisual media in the context of a strong Pentecostal dominance in Ghana’s religious and media landscape. It argues that the study of religion in an era of mass media cannot be limited to religious doctrine and content. One must also take into account matters of style and format associated with audiovisual representation. This article shows how new media opportunities and constraints have pushed Afrikania to adapt its strategies of accessing the media and its styles of representation. Adopting dominant media formats such as the documentary, the news item, and the spectacle involves a constant struggle over revelation and concealment. It also entails the neglect of much of the spiritual power that constitutes African religious traditions. The question of how to represent spiritual power through audiovisual media occupies many religious groups, but the question of its very representability seems to be especially pressing for Afrikania.

Author Biography

  • Marleen de Witte, University of Amsterdam

    Marleen de Witte is a Ph.D candidate at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, and a research fellow at MIGRINTER, Universite de Poitiers Varikstaat 46 1106 CV The Netherlands

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Published

2005-12-03

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

de Witte, M. (2005). Insight, Secrecy, Beasts, and Beauty: Struggles over the Making of a Ghanaian Documentary on "Afrrican Traditional Religion". Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 1(2-3), 277-300. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v1i2_3.277