Seite - 181 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 06/01

JRFM 2021, 7/2 CALL FOR PAPERS Media, Power, Religion Reconfigurations in Postcolonial Societies Media have always been contested spaces which express and shape people’s lives and realities. They contribute to forming structures of oppression and of resist- ance, can facilitate social change, create alternative realities, or provide a venue to imagine different forms of living together. Media, the spaces they create and the spaces we create through them, are part and parcel of power dynamics in societies shaped by competing interests. Today it is easier than ever to access media productions from a wide range of cultural contexts and tune into the digital lives of a vast part of humankind. What re- mains often hidden is that the media we prod-use and the voices we decide to listen to shape our horizon, our perception of the world, and of the people we encounter. Media, their uses and users, have played a major role in maintaining colonial power imbalances and they continue to be dominated by the west in postcolonial times. Whereas certain media forms and practices impose a western perspective (in terms of cultural and linguistic values, political domination, economic relationships ec.) on postcoloniality, other media forms, and different ways of using them, provide spaces for creating and expressing postcolonial subjectivity. In the past as in the present, perceptions of ‘religion’, what it is or does (symbols, practices, resources for participation etc.), have provided key resources for these dynamics. Thus in this issue of JRFM, we want to explore the reconfigurations of media, power and religion in postcolonial societies. We are interested in analyses of the implication of media (broadly understood) in social and political configurations, especially regarding the relationships of power, ‘religion’ and cultural dynamics in postcoloniality and/or drawing on indigenous resources (Africa, South America, South and South-East Asia, indigenous communities), in present or past contexts. We invite analyses of how individuals, communities, social institutions, or politi- cal actors use or have used media to support or subvert existing social structures and structures of power drawing on religious resources, motifs or concepts. Giv- 180 | Call for Papers www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 180–181