Pentecostalism, the Media, and the State: Politicization of Indigenous Customary Systems in Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper interrogates the interrelationships between the state, pentecostalism, and the media in contemporary Ghana. It examines how pentecostal ideological and practical approach to the indigenous field, its symbolisms and ritual practices, latently aids contemporary Ghana to negotiate between protecting indigenous normative systems and meeting external obligations under international human rights law. It highlights the often misrecognized significance of pentecostalism and the media in achieving state obligation of modernizing religious customary ideals. It examines the implications of this in relation to the politicization of customary normative systems in contemporary Ghana. It argues that in the attempt to construct an idealized modern society, the state, the media and pentecostalism enter into a subtly, often times, unintended alliance.