Benedikt Pontzen
Biographic Data
| ID | 311204 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benedikt Pontzen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benedikt |
| FAMILY NAME | Pontzen |
| SIGNATURE | PONTZEN B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0395-9391 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Religious Plurality in Africa
Grounded in ethnographic and historiographic research and taking a cross-regional approach, this book explores the complex dynamics of similarity and difference, rapprochement and detachment, and divergence and competition between practitioners of Christianity, Islam and African religious traditions. Across Africa, Muslims, Christians, and practitioners of African religious traditions live in shared settings, demarcating themselves in opposition …
Religious Plurality in Africa
Secular Framings
The secular Ghanaian state frames and governs 'African Traditional Religion' ('ATR') in three main ways. As culture and heritage, aspects of 'ATR' are integrated into public performances and national narratives, displaying the African identity of the Ghanaian nation. As providers of traditional forms of therapy, traditional shrines are administered as health facilities and supervised by the Ministry of Health. As religion, 'ATR' is counted as one…
Introduction
Minorities are not defined by mere numbers but must be considered as emergent formations within their wider surroundings. As such, minorities are defined by the relations to their majorities, especially by the differences to, but also by their exchanges with them, which have an impact on their lives and communal identities. Minorities emerge in larger processes and narratives by which their surrounding societies render themselves into imagined co…
Bōkā or how one Religion sees another
Islamic discourses in West Africa that use Hausa as lingua franca commonly designate ‘African Traditional Religion’ as bōkā. I consider bōkā as ethnographic theory, i.e., as means to contemplate and make sense of the forms of life that it is embedded in and that it articulates. Accordingly, translating bōkā is anything but straightforward. I trace the various meanings of this term in Hausa ethnographies, dictionaries, and summarize an extensive c…
“Those Who Pray Together”
What's (not) in a leather pouch? Tracing Islamic amulets in Asante, Ghana
Islamic charms and amulets (lāyā) are simultaneously fairly common, highly valued and ardently contested items among Muslims in Asante. Tracing their history and the relations in which Muslims in Asante manufacture, make sense of and debate them, this article places such amulets within relations and delineates the discourses surrounding them. For those who manufacture and request them, these amulets are part not only of the Islamic tradition but …
Islamic Revivalism in Contemporary Ghana, written by Yunus Dumbe
Caring for the People”
As an Islamic radio station, ZuriaFM stands as an exception in the heavily pentecostalized Ghanaian mediascape. In this essay, I locate this station in this mediascape and discuss the “Islamic sphere” it co-brings into being. Thereby, I complement the mainly Christian case studies of media, institutions, and actors in the Ghanaian public sphere with an Islamic one. ZuriaFM has emerged as a central platform for Muslims in the country, and has sign…
ʻSpeaking for Islamʼ and Religious Authority in Zongos in Asante, Ghana
In presenting and comparing three different endeavors of ʻspeaking for Islamʼ in the Muslim communities of zongos in Asante, this essay analyzes what renders this act into a felicitous performance. Accordingly, I delineate and discuss the grounds on which one is accorded or denied the authority to make consequential pronouncements on Islamic matters within the discursive tradition of this religion. As I argue, this authority does not solely hinge…
What's (not) in a leather pouch? Tracing Islamic amulets in Asante, Ghana
Islamic charms and amulets (lāyā) are simultaneously fairly common, highly valued and ardently contested items among Muslims in Asante. Tracing their history and the relations in which Muslims in Asante manufacture, make sense of and debate them, this article places such amulets within relations and delineates the discourses surrounding them. For those who manufacture and request them, these amulets are part not only of the Islamic tradition but …
Caring for the People”
As an Islamic radio station, ZuriaFM stands as an exception in the heavily pentecostalized Ghanaian mediascape. In this essay, I locate this station in this mediascape and discuss the “Islamic sphere” it co-brings into being. Thereby, I complement the mainly Christian case studies of media, institutions, and actors in the Ghanaian public sphere with an Islamic one. ZuriaFM has emerged as a central platform for Muslims in the country, and has sign…
ʻSpeaking for Islamʼ and Religious Authority in Zongos in Asante, Ghana
In presenting and comparing three different endeavors of ʻspeaking for Islamʼ in the Muslim communities of zongos in Asante, this essay analyzes what renders this act into a felicitous performance. Accordingly, I delineate and discuss the grounds on which one is accorded or denied the authority to make consequential pronouncements on Islamic matters within the discursive tradition of this religion. As I argue, this authority does not solely hinge…
ʻSpeaking for Islamʼ and Religious Authority in Zongos in Asante, Ghana
In presenting and comparing three different endeavors of ʻspeaking for Islamʼ in the Muslim communities of zongos in Asante, this essay analyzes what renders this act into a felicitous performance. Accordingly, I delineate and discuss the grounds on which one is accorded or denied the authority to make consequential pronouncements on Islamic matters within the discursive tradition of this religion. As I argue, this authority does not solely hinge…
Islamic Revivalism in Contemporary Ghana, written by Yunus Dumbe
Caring for the People”
As an Islamic radio station, ZuriaFM stands as an exception in the heavily pentecostalized Ghanaian mediascape. In this essay, I locate this station in this mediascape and discuss the “Islamic sphere” it co-brings into being. Thereby, I complement the mainly Christian case studies of media, institutions, and actors in the Ghanaian public sphere with an Islamic one. ZuriaFM has emerged as a central platform for Muslims in the country, and has sign…
“Those Who Pray Together”
What's (not) in a leather pouch? Tracing Islamic amulets in Asante, Ghana
Islamic charms and amulets (lāyā) are simultaneously fairly common, highly valued and ardently contested items among Muslims in Asante. Tracing their history and the relations in which Muslims in Asante manufacture, make sense of and debate them, this article places such amulets within relations and delineates the discourses surrounding them. For those who manufacture and request them, these amulets are part not only of the Islamic tradition but …
Introduction
Minorities are not defined by mere numbers but must be considered as emergent formations within their wider surroundings. As such, minorities are defined by the relations to their majorities, especially by the differences to, but also by their exchanges with them, which have an impact on their lives and communal identities. Minorities emerge in larger processes and narratives by which their surrounding societies render themselves into imagined co…
Bōkā or how one Religion sees another
Islamic discourses in West Africa that use Hausa as lingua franca commonly designate ‘African Traditional Religion’ as bōkā. I consider bōkā as ethnographic theory, i.e., as means to contemplate and make sense of the forms of life that it is embedded in and that it articulates. Accordingly, translating bōkā is anything but straightforward. I trace the various meanings of this term in Hausa ethnographies, dictionaries, and summarize an extensive c…
Religious Plurality in Africa
Grounded in ethnographic and historiographic research and taking a cross-regional approach, this book explores the complex dynamics of similarity and difference, rapprochement and detachment, and divergence and competition between practitioners of Christianity, Islam and African religious traditions. Across Africa, Muslims, Christians, and practitioners of African religious traditions live in shared settings, demarcating themselves in opposition …
Religious Plurality in Africa
Secular Framings
The secular Ghanaian state frames and governs 'African Traditional Religion' ('ATR') in three main ways. As culture and heritage, aspects of 'ATR' are integrated into public performances and national narratives, displaying the African identity of the Ghanaian nation. As providers of traditional forms of therapy, traditional shrines are administered as health facilities and supervised by the Ministry of Health. As religion, 'ATR' is counted as one…
History (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (5 works) · Islam (5 works) · African history and culture analysis (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Religion and Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nigeria (4 works) · Religion, Society, and Development (4 works) · Archaeology (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works)