Photographer: Bobbie Nystrom. From: With open arms

Nigeria will study media and religious transformations in Africa

An international conference will be held here to encourage the study of the expanding range of religious media, as well as coverage of religion, in a globalizing Africa, reports CISA News.

The main goal of the July 10-12 event, under the theme "New media and Religious Transformations in Africa", is to cast a critical look at Africa’s rapidly evolving religious media scene. It is particularly interested in the challenges of balancing freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief in Africa’s fast-growing media sector, organisers said.

Since the early 1990s, following political liberalization in Africa, the media landscape has altered radically due to deregulation and the emergence of new communication and informational technologies.

There has been a rapid increase in the numbers of radio and television stations, newspapers and magazines, computers, and mobile phone networks. With this kind of media diversification have come new opportunities for ownership, production, and participation. Religious leaders and activists in particular have appropriated these new media outlets for strengthening and expanding their communities, and gaining public recognition for their organizations.

In some more competitive, public spheres, the media may also be used to defame or marginalize religious others, which can lead to conflict, and even, violence. In rarer cases, the media have developed programming to promote inter-religious dialogue.

The conference will have two major areas of analytical focus, namely transformation and differentiation. Since the media are not just neutral vehicles of expression, it is important to consider how the institutional forms, messages, experiences, values, and practices of religious individuals and communities are being transformed by greater media use and presence.

Participants will also analyse how the newer forms of (mass) mediated religious expression encourage cooperation within and between religions, as well as between religions and the state, or conversely, heighten old or introduce new cleavages.

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[03/11/2008]

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