Articles by Marleen de Witte
Social Anthropology, 2019
Open Cultural Studies, 2019
This article contributes to scholarship on Afroeurope by investigating the intersection of blackn... more This article contributes to scholarship on Afroeurope by investigating the intersection of blackness, Africanness, and Europeanness in everyday discourses and social practices in the Netherlands and Italy. We examine how young African-descended Europeans are forging new ways of being both African and European through practices of self-making, which should be understood against both the historical background of colonialism and the contemporary politics of othering. Such practices take on an urgency for these youth, often encompassing a reinvention of Africanness and/or blackness as well as a challenge to dominant, exclusionary understandings of Europeanness. Comparing Afro-Dutch and Afro-Italian modes of self-making, centred on African heritage and roots, we discuss: 1) the emergence of a transnational, Afroeuropean imaginary, distinguished from both white Europe and African-American formations; and 2) the diversity of Afroeuropean modes of self-making, all rooted in distinct histories of colonialism, slavery, and immigration, and influenced by global formations of Africanness and blackness. These new Afro and African identities advanced by young Europeans do not turn away from Europeanness (as dominant identity models would assume: the more African, the less European), nor simply add to Europeanness ("multicultural" identities), nor even mix with Europeanness ("hybrid" identities), but are in and of themselves European.
Scholars of Pentecostalism have usually studied people who embrace it, but rarely those who do no... more Scholars of Pentecostalism have usually studied people who embrace it, but rarely those who do not. I suggest that the study of global Pentecostalism should not limit itself to Pentecostal churches and movements and people who consider themselves Pentecostal. It should include the repercussions of Pentecostal ideas and forms outside Pentecostalism: on non-Pentecostal and non-Christian religions, on popular cultural forms, and on what counts as 'religion' or 'being religious'. Based on my ethnographic study of a charismatic-Pentecostal mega-church and a neo-traditional African religious movement in Ghana, I argue that neo-Pentecostalism, due to its strong and mass-mediated public presence, provides a powerful model for the public representation of religion in general, and some of its forms are being adopted by non-Pentecostal and non-Christian groups, including the militantly anti-Pentecostal Afrikania Mission. Instead of treating neo-Pentecostal and neo-traditionalist revival as distinct religious phenomena, I propose to take seriously their intertwinement in a single religious field and argue that one cannot sufficiently understand the rise of new religious movements without understanding how they influence each other, borrow from each other, and define themselves vis-à-vis each other. This has consequences for how we conceive of the study of Pentecostalism and how we define its object.
This special issue brings together anthropologists in the field of religion with the aim of explo... more This special issue brings together anthropologists in the field of religion with the aim of exploring the aesthetic dimensions of authority in religious leadership.* Taking aesthetics to refer to the range of sensory forms and experiences that shape the relation between religious practitioners and leaders, the contributing authors set out to explore the role of aesthetic forms and performative practices in the making of religious authority. What kind of shifts and changes can be observed in religious leadership practices? In what particular situations and encounters is religious leadership produced? What does the use of media do to the nature and diversity of such encounters? What do particular contestations over the public representation of religion reveal with regard to the making of authority and its transformations in recent years? How do novel forms of mediation and authority production speak to registers of authenticity and sincerity? This introduction situates these questions in the context of recent scholarly discussions on aesthetics, mediation, and the senses and outlines three angles from which the authors explore them: (1) changing sources of religious authority, (2) the dynamics of leadership and (3) the anthropology of events.
No campo de estudos de religião e mídia, a importância da comunicação de massa
está bem estabelec... more No campo de estudos de religião e mídia, a importância da comunicação de massa
está bem estabelecida para as religiões globalizadas tais como o cristianismo e o islamismo,
mas o mesmo não se verifica com relação às religiões nativas africanas. O
presente artigo busca preencher essa lacuna investigando as atividades de mídia de
um movimento religioso neo-tradicional em Gana, a Missão Afrikania. Ao analisar a
posição cambiante de Afrikania na esfera pública em relação a mudanças nos cenários
político, religioso e midiático de Gana, demonstro como novos constrangimentos e
oportunidades levaram Afrikania a adaptar suas estratégias de acesso à mídia e seus
estilos de representação. A política de representação da Afrikania é complexificada
pela sua posição delicada entre uma esfera pública de hegemonia cristã e as práticas
dos sacerdotes e sacerdotisas que ela visa representar.
This paper explores the plurality and dynamics of 'cultural heritage' formation in Ghana by looki... more This paper explores the plurality and dynamics of 'cultural heritage' formation in Ghana by looking at key players in the historically constituted heritage arena and the contestations between them. Focusing on the intersecting domains of the state, religion, and entertainment media, it discerns several tendencies with regard to the framing of cultural pasts: mobilization of 'heritage' by the state as part of national identity politics; contestation of this state project by Pentecostal churches that view 'heritage' as demonic and dangerous; and revaluation of 'heritage' as aesthetic style in local television and video making. Recent, marketdriven trends towards a more positive representation of 'African heritage' depart from earlier state initiatives in their explicit focus on visual style and design, raising new questions about the links between heritage and visual aesthetics and asking for an understanding of cultural heritage that takes into account issues of style, design, and commerce. Résumé : Prenant comme point de départ l'arène patrimoniale historiquement constituée au Ghana, et plus particulièrement les acteurs clés de cette arène et les conflits entre eux, les auteurs explorent la pluralité et les dynamiques de la construction du "patrimoine culturel" dans ce pays. Plusieurs domaines -État, religion, media de loisir -et tendances dans la construction du passé culturel se rencontrent : la mobilisation du 'patrimoine' par l'État dans le cadre des politiques d'identité nationale, la contestation de ce projet étatique par les Églises pentecôtistes qui considèrent le 'patrimoine' comme dangereux et satanique, et la valorisation du 'patrimoine' comme style esthétique dans les vidéos présentées par les télévisions locales. Les tendances économiques récentes visant à donner une image plus positive du 'patrimoine africain' s'ancrent dans des initiatives publiques antérieures et s'appuient sur la notion de style et de design visuel. Ainsi, ces tendances posent de nouvelles questions sur les liens entre patrimoine et esthétique visuelle, et impliquent une compréhension du patrimoine culturel prenant en compte les questions de style, de design et de commercialisation.
What makes someone or something African? What does it mean to be African? When does someone’s or ... more What makes someone or something African? What does it mean to be African? When does someone’s or something’s Africanness become important? And on whose terms? These questions are currently hotly debated on diverse fora, by various groups and individuals, and on different continents. This special issue explores the different ways in which the qualifier ‘African’ is and has been employed, as well as challenged, in self-identifications in Africa and its diasporas.
This article focuses on the recent emergence of an “Afro-Dutch” category of self-identification a... more This article focuses on the recent emergence of an “Afro-Dutch” category of self-identification among young people in Amsterdam. Dutch-born youth of different Afro-Caribbean and African backgrounds show a new sense of (and search for) a shared African heritage, and a growing desire for public exposure and recognition of this Africanness. Manifesting in, for example, media initiatives, performing arts, cultural
festivals, and bodily fashions, this trend is characterized by an aesthetic emphasis on globalized African styles and by political struggles about the inclusion of African heritage in Dutch imaginations of nationhood. Approaching Africanness as a process of becoming and a practice of self-styling, this article explores the convergence between the renewed interest in African roots among Dutch-born Afro-Caribbeans and the ways in which Ghanaian youth engage with their African origins. It discerns three prominent, but contested tropes with regard to their framing and design of Africanness: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”.
This paper explores the plurality and dynamics of ‘cultural heritage’ formation in Ghana by looki... more This paper explores the plurality and dynamics of ‘cultural heritage’ formation in Ghana by looking at key players in the historically constituted heritage arena and the contestations between them. Focusing on the intersecting domains of the state, religion, and entertainment media, it discerns several tendencies with regard to the framing of cultural pasts: mobilization of ‘heritage’ by the state as part of national identity politics; contestation of this state project by Pentecostal churches that view ‘heritage’ as demonic and dangerous; and revaluation of ‘heritage’ as aesthetic style in local television and video making. Recent, market-driven trends towards a more positive representation of ‘African heritage’ depart from earlier state initiatives in their explicit focus on visual style and design, raising new questions about the links between heritage and visual aesthetics and asking for an understanding of cultural heritage that takes into account issues of style, design, and commerce.
This article takes a critical look at Ghana’s rapidly evolving broadcasting scene and in particul... more This article takes a critical look at Ghana’s rapidly evolving broadcasting scene and in particular at the expansion and popularity of religious broadcasting. Sketching the developments of the Ghanaian media landscape, it analyses the changing politics of representing religion in this field. The much-celebrated processes of media deregulation and democratization, and the new opportunities for ownership, production, and participation they entail, have led to a dominance of Pentecostalism in the public sphere. While this development has been analysed from the perspective of churches and pastors, this article explores the intertwinement of commercial media and Pentecostalism from the perspective of a number of private media owners and producers in Accra. Whether these media entrepreneurs are themselves Pentecostal or not, they all have to deal with, and commercially exploit, the power and attraction of Pentecostalism. Their experience that commercial success is hardly possible
without Pentecostalism makes clear that the influence of Pentecostalism in the Ghanaian public sphere reaches way beyond media-active pastors and born-again media practitioners, and invites us to rethink the relationship between media, business and religion.
This article discusses the bodily mass reproduction of divine touch in Ghanaian charismatic Pente... more This article discusses the bodily mass reproduction of divine touch in Ghanaian charismatic Pentecostalism and argues for an understanding of conversion as an ongoing bodily process that ‘tunes’ the senses to specific sensory experiences. Presenting a case study of the International Central Gospel Church in Accra, it asks how the church’s explicit appeal to the body relates to its strong suspicion of bodily mediation and its ideology of conversion as an inner transformation of the spirit and only secondarily of the body. It shows that the learning of the church doctrine that grounds born-again subjectivity in spontaneous and immediate experiences of being touched by the Holy Spirit goes together with repeated performance and gradual embodiment of sensory and bodily ‘formats’ that evoke such experiences, but also raise concerns about their authenticity.
Presenting a case study of the Ghanaian charismatic-Pentecostal celebrity pastor Mensa Otabil, th... more Presenting a case study of the Ghanaian charismatic-Pentecostal celebrity pastor Mensa Otabil, this article explores processes of marketing and mass mediating charisma in the making of religious celebrity. In order to grasp the convincing force of this ‘Man of God’, it moves beyond classical Weberian and theological understandings of charisma by looking at styling, marketing, and branding strategies. Thus analyzing ‘the making of’ religious celebrity in the broader context of Ghana’s religious arena, the secular celebrity scene, and global charismatic Christianity, it argues that while part of the global charismatic movement with its jet set leaders and high tech
styling, Ghanaian charismatic celebrities are also rooted in traditional modes of religious ‘celebrity’. Otabil’s charisma—or his fans’ and followers’ perception of his supernatural giftedness—derives largely from his being (crafted as) a national and international star. Despite clear similarities to
‘secular’ stardom, the specificity of religious celebrity lies, in the case of Ghanaian pastors, in how the contagious aura of celebrity connects to traditional beliefs in the power of religious specialists. The religious authority of African ‘Men of God’ such as Otabil thrives, I argue, on an embodied fusion of the mass mediated and marketed charisma of modern celebrity
and the perceived power of traditional shrine priests as intermediaries between the human and the spirit world. The magical aura of celebrity at work in the transmission of Holy Spirit power through the ‘Man of God’ to his followers is fragile though, perpetually challenged by the possible visibility of ‘the making of’ threatening to undermine Otabil’s authenticity.
Charismatic-Pentecostal ‘media ministries’ have become very successful in Africa’s new media fiel... more Charismatic-Pentecostal ‘media ministries’ have become very successful in Africa’s new media fields. They shape new forms of public religiosity that spill over into various forms of popular
culture and resonate with broad audiences. This article explores the emergence of new Pentecostalpublics at the intersection of media, religion, and entertainment in Ghana, raising critical questions concerning the relations between these domains. It analyses two diffferent religious
television broadcasts: a television ministry by a well-known celebrity pastor and a gospel reality show featuring a preaching competition for youth. It also considers the debates and concerns such programmes evoke locally. The analysis shows that Pentecostalism’s employment of popular media and entertainment styles is an efffective source of persuasive power, but also poses challenges with regard to binding people as committed Christians. The blurring of boundaries between religion and entertainment business causes insecurities about the authenticity of religious authority and religious subjectivity.
This article compares the role of media in three religious movements in Ghana, a country where th... more This article compares the role of media in three religious movements in Ghana, a country where the mediascape has undergone fundamental changes since the 1990s. It shows how visual mediation, mobility and the spiritual domain are intertwined, and demonstrates how media evoke both a public and a secret realm, as distinct yet connected spheres. The ethnography documents how this negotiation of public and
secret finds itself at the heart of charismatic Pentecostalism, neo-traditional African religion, and traditional spiritual practices – three religions that situate themselves differently in public space but are interrelated and heavily interdependent.
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Articles by Marleen de Witte
está bem estabelecida para as religiões globalizadas tais como o cristianismo e o islamismo,
mas o mesmo não se verifica com relação às religiões nativas africanas. O
presente artigo busca preencher essa lacuna investigando as atividades de mídia de
um movimento religioso neo-tradicional em Gana, a Missão Afrikania. Ao analisar a
posição cambiante de Afrikania na esfera pública em relação a mudanças nos cenários
político, religioso e midiático de Gana, demonstro como novos constrangimentos e
oportunidades levaram Afrikania a adaptar suas estratégias de acesso à mídia e seus
estilos de representação. A política de representação da Afrikania é complexificada
pela sua posição delicada entre uma esfera pública de hegemonia cristã e as práticas
dos sacerdotes e sacerdotisas que ela visa representar.
festivals, and bodily fashions, this trend is characterized by an aesthetic emphasis on globalized African styles and by political struggles about the inclusion of African heritage in Dutch imaginations of nationhood. Approaching Africanness as a process of becoming and a practice of self-styling, this article explores the convergence between the renewed interest in African roots among Dutch-born Afro-Caribbeans and the ways in which Ghanaian youth engage with their African origins. It discerns three prominent, but contested tropes with regard to their framing and design of Africanness: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”.
without Pentecostalism makes clear that the influence of Pentecostalism in the Ghanaian public sphere reaches way beyond media-active pastors and born-again media practitioners, and invites us to rethink the relationship between media, business and religion.
styling, Ghanaian charismatic celebrities are also rooted in traditional modes of religious ‘celebrity’. Otabil’s charisma—or his fans’ and followers’ perception of his supernatural giftedness—derives largely from his being (crafted as) a national and international star. Despite clear similarities to
‘secular’ stardom, the specificity of religious celebrity lies, in the case of Ghanaian pastors, in how the contagious aura of celebrity connects to traditional beliefs in the power of religious specialists. The religious authority of African ‘Men of God’ such as Otabil thrives, I argue, on an embodied fusion of the mass mediated and marketed charisma of modern celebrity
and the perceived power of traditional shrine priests as intermediaries between the human and the spirit world. The magical aura of celebrity at work in the transmission of Holy Spirit power through the ‘Man of God’ to his followers is fragile though, perpetually challenged by the possible visibility of ‘the making of’ threatening to undermine Otabil’s authenticity.
culture and resonate with broad audiences. This article explores the emergence of new Pentecostalpublics at the intersection of media, religion, and entertainment in Ghana, raising critical questions concerning the relations between these domains. It analyses two diffferent religious
television broadcasts: a television ministry by a well-known celebrity pastor and a gospel reality show featuring a preaching competition for youth. It also considers the debates and concerns such programmes evoke locally. The analysis shows that Pentecostalism’s employment of popular media and entertainment styles is an efffective source of persuasive power, but also poses challenges with regard to binding people as committed Christians. The blurring of boundaries between religion and entertainment business causes insecurities about the authenticity of religious authority and religious subjectivity.
secret finds itself at the heart of charismatic Pentecostalism, neo-traditional African religion, and traditional spiritual practices – three religions that situate themselves differently in public space but are interrelated and heavily interdependent.
está bem estabelecida para as religiões globalizadas tais como o cristianismo e o islamismo,
mas o mesmo não se verifica com relação às religiões nativas africanas. O
presente artigo busca preencher essa lacuna investigando as atividades de mídia de
um movimento religioso neo-tradicional em Gana, a Missão Afrikania. Ao analisar a
posição cambiante de Afrikania na esfera pública em relação a mudanças nos cenários
político, religioso e midiático de Gana, demonstro como novos constrangimentos e
oportunidades levaram Afrikania a adaptar suas estratégias de acesso à mídia e seus
estilos de representação. A política de representação da Afrikania é complexificada
pela sua posição delicada entre uma esfera pública de hegemonia cristã e as práticas
dos sacerdotes e sacerdotisas que ela visa representar.
festivals, and bodily fashions, this trend is characterized by an aesthetic emphasis on globalized African styles and by political struggles about the inclusion of African heritage in Dutch imaginations of nationhood. Approaching Africanness as a process of becoming and a practice of self-styling, this article explores the convergence between the renewed interest in African roots among Dutch-born Afro-Caribbeans and the ways in which Ghanaian youth engage with their African origins. It discerns three prominent, but contested tropes with regard to their framing and design of Africanness: “African heritage”, “blackness” and “Afro-cool”.
without Pentecostalism makes clear that the influence of Pentecostalism in the Ghanaian public sphere reaches way beyond media-active pastors and born-again media practitioners, and invites us to rethink the relationship between media, business and religion.
styling, Ghanaian charismatic celebrities are also rooted in traditional modes of religious ‘celebrity’. Otabil’s charisma—or his fans’ and followers’ perception of his supernatural giftedness—derives largely from his being (crafted as) a national and international star. Despite clear similarities to
‘secular’ stardom, the specificity of religious celebrity lies, in the case of Ghanaian pastors, in how the contagious aura of celebrity connects to traditional beliefs in the power of religious specialists. The religious authority of African ‘Men of God’ such as Otabil thrives, I argue, on an embodied fusion of the mass mediated and marketed charisma of modern celebrity
and the perceived power of traditional shrine priests as intermediaries between the human and the spirit world. The magical aura of celebrity at work in the transmission of Holy Spirit power through the ‘Man of God’ to his followers is fragile though, perpetually challenged by the possible visibility of ‘the making of’ threatening to undermine Otabil’s authenticity.
culture and resonate with broad audiences. This article explores the emergence of new Pentecostalpublics at the intersection of media, religion, and entertainment in Ghana, raising critical questions concerning the relations between these domains. It analyses two diffferent religious
television broadcasts: a television ministry by a well-known celebrity pastor and a gospel reality show featuring a preaching competition for youth. It also considers the debates and concerns such programmes evoke locally. The analysis shows that Pentecostalism’s employment of popular media and entertainment styles is an efffective source of persuasive power, but also poses challenges with regard to binding people as committed Christians. The blurring of boundaries between religion and entertainment business causes insecurities about the authenticity of religious authority and religious subjectivity.
secret finds itself at the heart of charismatic Pentecostalism, neo-traditional African religion, and traditional spiritual practices – three religions that situate themselves differently in public space but are interrelated and heavily interdependent.
The articles discuss the ways in which African diaspora communities and cultures in Europe are constructed not only by individuals' engagements in Africa and its global diaspora but also through the collective agency, aiming at promoting change in European societies shadowed by the normative whiteness, nationalist discourses and policies, human rights violations and overt racism. Together, the articles make visible the diversity of African and black diasporic spaces in Europe.