Indiana University Press Muslims and New Media in West Africa: Pathways to God

Although Islam is not new to West Africa, new patterns of domestic economies, the promise of political liberalization, and the proliferation of new media have led to increased scrutiny of Islam in the public sphere. Dorothea E. Schulz shows how new media have created religious communities that are far more publicly engaged than they were in the past. Muslims and New Media in West Africa expands ideas about religious life in West Africa, women's roles in religion, religion and popular culture, the meaning of religious experience in a charged environment, and how those who consume both religion and new media view their public and private selves. Review Muslims and New Media in West Africa makes a major contribution to the anthropological study of Islam as well as the study of Islam in West Africa. It adds to our knowledge of everyday practices of Islam as well as how these ordinary practices play into the creation of religious authorities.-- "Journal of Relgion in Africa" Schulz's book is a solid ethnographic work that makes a significant contribution to the literature on Islam in Africa, and on the effects of media technologies on local peoples' lives both on and beyond the continent.-- "Intl Jrnl African Historical Studies" About the Author Dorothea E. Schulz is Professor in the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Cologne.