The emergence of prophetic ministries in Botswana: self-positioning and appropriation of new media

ABSTRACT

In the past two decades or so, Botswana has witnessed a spectacular growth of prophetic Christianity and experienced a media revolution through the emerging use of new media. While studies have generally focused on either the growth of Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity or the new media revolution, little attention has been paid to the characteristics of emerging prophetic ministries, entailing the appropriation of new media and how this has accelerated the development of religious practices in Botswana. In light of positioning and mediatisation theories, this paper examines the ways in which prophetic ministries position themselves and shape the religious landscape of Botswana and how prophetic ministries have adopted and appropriated the use of new media technologies. It argues that the synergy between prophetic ministries and technological developments of new media opens a new space for cultural production of religious practices and experiences as well as religious imagination, experience and identity.

KEYWORDS:

• New media
• positioning
• prophetic ministries
• Botswana
• prophets

Acknowledgements

This work was supported with funding by the Office of Research and Development (ORD), University of Botswana (2014-2015) and the Nagel Institute with generous support from the John Templeton Foundation, U.S.A. (Grant ID 2016-SS180).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Gabriel Faimau is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Botswana. He is also Visiting Lecturer at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) and a member of the Advisory Board of IRGSC (Institute of Resource Governance and Social Change), an Indonesian think tank, based in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. He is co-editor of New Media and the Mediatisation of Religion: An African Perspective (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018). He can be contacted at: [email protected].

ORCID

Gabriel Faimau http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8177-3520

Notes

1 The research participants identified themselves during the research fieldwork. All names in this paper are pseudonyms.

2 See http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm, accessed on 1 September 2016.

3 This research project was funded by the University of Botswana through its Office of Research and Development (ORD). Field research was conducted in 2015.

4 The study is funded by the Nagel Institute with generous support of funding from the John Templeton Foundation in the United States of America. The overall aim of the project is to explore and examine the multifaceted characteristics of prophetic ministries in Botswana and how new media shapes religious discourses and the religious landscape in Botswana.

5 Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, located about 400km from Gaborone the capital city of Botswana. Maun is popularly known as a tourist destination in Botswana, located about 900km from Gaborone.

6 This includes the 2011 Botswana census and 2012 Botswana AIDS Impact Survey (BAIS).

7 Information relating to the benefits and costs of being a partner was obtained from a partnership form of a prophetic ministry. BWP or Botswana Pula is Botswana's currency. When this article was written, 1 Botswana Pula was equivalent to US4 0.096.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported with funding by the Office of Research and Development (ORD), University of Botswana (2014–2015) and the Nagel Institute with generous support from the John Templeton Foundation, U.S.A. [grant number 2016-SS180].