Wednesday 16:00-16:30
Laurie Taylor discusses the latest social science research.
12 October 2005
Zimbabwe churches
The weChishanu Christians are one of the fastest growing religious movements in Zimbabwe. The 1990s saw a marked increase not just in the number of people attending religious services but also in the number of services held each day.
Laurie Taylor is joined by Dr Matthew Engelke, Lecturer in the department of Anthropology at the LSE, to discuss why this religious movement challenges traditional understandings of religion; how it conflates seemingly disparate beliefs like spirit-possession with Christianity; and how it provides an insight in to the history and culture of Zimbabwean society.
Boris Johnson and authenticity
The Tory Leadership contest has been described as a beauty pageant based more on image than policy. Yet, with voters wary of "spin", politicians are keen to demonstrate that they are speaking from the heart. Is it really possible though to have such an authentic dialogue between voters and politicians?
Laurie Taylor talks to Dr Andy Ruddock, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at John Moores University in Liverpool who is currently working on audiences and political performance and Andrew Pearce, political journalist, about the search for authenticity in politics.
Additional information:
Dr Matthew Engelke , Lecturer in the department of Anthropology at the LSE and editor of the Prickly Paradigm Press which publishes pamphlets on world politics, critical theory, and anthropology.
A Problem of Presence: Beyond Scripture in an African Christian Church
Publisher: forthcoming from the University of California Press ( Berkeley and London )
Dr Andy Ruddock , Senior Lecturer at the department of Media and Cultural Studies, John Moores University , Liverpool
Andy Ruddock's presented his paper " Boris Johnson, performance and non-communication in mediated scandals " at The first celebrity culture conference took place at the University of Paisley, Scotland on the 12 - 14th September.
Reading extract from: The Fortresses of Solitude (preface to the American Edition) of Travels in Hyperreality
By Umberto Eco
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 0330296671
Music:
Track title: Nherera
Performers: Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited
CD: Africa Remix - track 9
Label: Milan 30715-2
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites
