Advertising God: Nigerian Christian Video-Films and the Power of Consumer Culture

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	Advertising God: Nigerian Christian Video-Films and the Power of Consumer Culture
Author:	Ukah, Asonzeh F.
Year:	2003
Periodical:	Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:	33
Issue:	2
Pages:	203-231
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Baptist Church cinema Religion and Witchcraft Literature, Mass Media and the Press
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581655
Abstract:	Pentecostalism in Nigeria is increasingly altering the way that those who are attracted in large numbers by its practices and resources perceive their relationship with local culture and material goods. One of the practices of Pentecostalism that has captured popular imagination is the production of Christian video-films. This paper discusses how these popular narratives negotiate both the local world view and the cultural marketplace. It argues that the rhetoric of Pentecostalism as portrayed in locally produced videos is implicated in changing consumer tastes and behaviour. Although this type of Pentecostalism speaks the language of traditional world views in terms of the emphasis on occultism, it is harnessed to a project of Westernized commodity consumption. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]