Anthropology of Television

Turkey has witnessed a proliferation of Islamic television channels since the liberalization of broadcasting in the 1990s. The programming of these TV channels was initially distinctly theological in character, with shows focusing on the doctrinal, scriptural, and ritualistic aspects of Islam. More recently, however, they have started producing family-friendly entertainment programs as well as shows aimed at “strengthening the family.” Islamic broadcasters intend their family-focused programming as civil initiatives against what they see as the increasing corrosion of the “moral fabric of the family” and devaluation of “family values” in contemporary Turkish society. In these TV shows, audiences are provided with guidance and techniques that would help them cultivate ethical dispositions, knowledge, and skills so that they could assume autonomy and responsibility for administering their families more effectively. Islamic broadcasters explicitly identify their role as assisting the state in  fighting social problems through their programming. Moreover, the discourses and sensibilities promoted on television articulate with the biopolitical concerns of the nation-state and the emerging rationalities of governance. While Islamic television professionals’ self-ascribed mission to “strengthen the family” emerges from a religiously inspired moral imperative to provide service, it simultaneously indicates their internalization of neoliberal rationalities of governance that promote the responsibilization of non-governmental actors for providing social services as well as that of individuals for supporting and caring for their family members. [Keywords: Islam, television, media, family, family values, secularism, neoliberalism, Turkey]

You can download the paper at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/670934

This article addresses social and symbolic differences in contemporary Kinshasa as these are expressed in and mediated via widely watched music television shows such as Bana Léo (‘The Children of Léo[poldville]’) and Sentiment Lipopo (‘The Feeling of Lipopo’), both of which have become extremely popular in Kinshasa (‘Léopoldville’ as the city was called during colonial times, or affectionately ‘Lipopo’) since the early 2000s. Recorded in local nightclubs, these programmes show elderly people performing cha cha cha, merengue, polka piquée, bolero, rumba, and other international dance styles to Congolese rumba music dating from the late colonial and early postcolonial periods. Intimately tied to the emergence of a new category of elderly people in Kinshasa, these shows clarify the boundaries between the ‘urban elderly’ and (a) the younger generations and (b) the ‘elders from the village’. A ‘practical nostalgia’ is performed that aims at restoring value to, and the esteem of, elders in the African city. The Bana Léo genre thus illustrates the ambiguity of the production of difference in the cultural domain. While generational differences may be expressed in the space of this genre, it simultaneously articulates a cultural attempt to overcome that distance and to create conviviality among the generations.

Televizijske serije predstavljaju zapažen  i raširen oblik popularne kulture. Antropološkom istraživanju su podložne kao sveki drugi oblik popularne kulture i to je učinjeno u novoj srpskoj antropologiji koja ih je uvrstila u svoj u inventar istraživanih fenomena. Istražujući televizijske serije antropolog istražuje savremeno društvo i to kako kroz značenja i vrednosti koje se u serijama sadrže tako i kroz recepciju tih sadržaja. Antropološko proučavanje televizijskih serija u Srbiji je rezultiralo jednim brojem radova koji prvenstveno posvećeni serijama koje su proizvedene u Srbiji i svega u jednom slučaju seriji inostranog porekla (Bafi ubica vampira) koja se proučava sa stanovišta recepcije.  Sasvim očekivano najveću pažnju su antropologa su privukle serije koje su imale veliku gledanost poput serija Srećni ljudi, prorodično blago, Kursadžije, Mile protiv tranzicije i Moj rođak sa sela.

Many sub-Saharan African societies have undergone significant political shifts in the last two decades. Changes in political representation and leadership have induced new forms of political mediation and communication. This article probes into one of the most visible transformations in Kinshasa’s political society: TV news reports about urban misery, often resulting from a malfunctioning state, are produced in which Kinshasa’s inhabitants testify about their difficulties and press fellow citizens as well as local and national leaders to bring about change. Exposing suffering is a strategy to mobilise shame and it thus becomes a political act. Through the discursive and visual aesthetics of the proximity account, citizens and political leaders are inserted into one political community. The main argument is that the proximity account illustrates a new kind of political communication. The article analyses the socio-political contexts in which the proximity report emerged and has become popular. The emergence of this new kind of interaction between political leaders and citizens enabled through the proximity account is traced back to the transformation of the late Zairian ‘state’, vernacular understandings of ‘democracy’, the influence of NGO activities and Pentecostal Christianity.


[Key words: DR Congo, Kinshasa, political society, political communication, journalism, media, news]

copyright Cambridge University Press

This chapter attempts to tackle the social and economic structures that define the production and outlook of television serials in Kinshasa. Since 1996, Kinshasa’s mediascape has witnessed a significant transformation. In that year, President Mobutu ordained a freedom of press, which led many wealthy individuals (politicians, entrepreneurs and religious, especially Christian, leaders) to set up their own television channels. With the proliferation of television stations, the production of local television drama increased. Totally in line with the charismatization of Kinshasa’s society, the post-Mobutu teleserials are immersed within the ideology of Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity. The most popular television serials are those that visualize a spiritual battle between God and the Devil. Many of Kinshasa’s drama groups are also affiliated with Pentecostal-charismatic churches. This not only influences the storylines, but it also shapes the social organization of the television acting groups.
The main questions addressed are: how are the television actors positioned within the hierarchies of the television station and the church? And, how do television actors make a livelihood out of appearing on the small screen? The analysis will focus on the diverging forms of patronage and clientelism that are at play among (1) the actors and between actors, (2) the drama group and the heads of television channels, (3) the dramatic artists and the pastors, and (4) the actors and the powerful (“Big Men”) in Kinshasa. It will be argued that Kinshasa’s dramatic artists occupy diverging positions within the patron-client axis, which offer them not only power and authority, but which also allow these professional artists to earn a livelihood. These relationships thus bear an economic significance in Kinshasa’s precarious society