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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Pastor Mensa Otabil: marketing charisma, making religious celebrity
| Panel |
68. Exploring new dimensions of religion and entrepreneurship
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| Paper ID | 70 |
| Author(s) |
Witte, Marleen de
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | This paper examines the charisma of a Ghanaian religious celebrity, pastor Mensa Otabil, the ‘general overseer’ of a large Pentecostal-charismatic church based in Accra. In order to understand the convincing force of this ‘man of God’, what makes people believe in his (supernatural) power, I wish to move beyond both classical Weberian and theological understandings of charisma to include questions of marketing, mass media, personality creation, celebrity, and thus of style. Rather than seeing charisma and economics as inherently contradictory forces, as Weber did, I examine the constitution of religious authority through the convergence of charisma and styling and marketing techniques. Bringing together religion, national politics, business, entertainment, and Holy Spirit power in his preaching and performance, Otabil at the same time creates himself as the embodiment of his message, carefully managing his public image and charisma and styling his body, voice, and performance through a ‘politics of distinction’.
The paradoxical blend of divine activity and entrepreneurial pragmatism that sustains the success of Ghanaian charismatic pastors resonates with the modes of traditional shrine priests and healers, whose perceived spiritual power can neither be separated from their entrepreneurial concerns with attracting clients. I argue, then, that the religious authority of African ‘men of God’ such as Otabil thrives on a fragile fusion of the mass mediated charisma of modern celebrity and the power of traditional religious specialists as intermediaries between the human and the spirit world. The fragility of this fusion, and hence the challenge for religious celebrities, lies in the inherent contradiction in this process of ‘branding’ charisma. Economic strategies and mass media production imply certain ‘formats’ (including a highly structured set of an instantly recognizable logo, house style, trademark, package design, slogan, and jingle), that may not necessarily counteract the spontaneous flow and operation of spiritual gifts at the basis of charismatic authority, but always threaten to do so.
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