Ne Media and Religious Transformations in Africa [Paperback]

New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa casts a critical look at Africa's rapidly evolving religious media scene. Following political liberalization, media deregulation, and the proliferation of new media technologies, many African religious leaders and activists have appropriated such media to strengthen and expand their communities and gain public recognition. Media have also been used to marginalize and restrict the activities of other groups, which has sometimes led to tension, conflict, and even violence. Showing how media are rarely neutral vehicles of expression, the contributors to this multidisciplinary volume analyze the mutual imbrications of media and religion during times of rapid technological and social change in various places throughout Africa.

Christianity, Politics, and Public Life in Kenya by Paul Gifford (Columbia University Press, 2009). ISBN 9780231154420.

This collection considers Islam and Christianity, but also African indigenous religions and will be extremely useful to scholars in media studies, religious studies, and African studies, in sociology, political science and anthropology among other disciplines.[This] volume is an engaging and innovative contribution to scholarly work on religion, media, and politics, and an effective critique of the concept of the public sphere as an a-religious or secular zone.Backed by grounded theory in the emergent field of research on the nexus of religion and media, these essays offer detailed and deep insights into the ingenious, often surprising ways in which new--and old--media are negotiated and employed in Christian, Muslim, and indigenous religious practices across the African continent. A wonderful resource for teaching and a treasure box sparkling with new ideas for future research on the intricacies of religious mediation.New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa casts a critical look at Africas rapidly evolving religious media scene. . . Showing how media are rarl³±