On the Devil - with Birgit Meyer

What do depictions of the devil reveal about modernity, late capitalism and the world at large? In this episode with Birgit Meyer, professor of religious studies at Utrecht University, we talk about the devil in images and imaginaries of evil from religious cultures to the culture of consumption. Meyer is a cultural anthropologist whose scholarly work centres on the forces of darkness in relation to new religious movements, film media, and the senses. Her research encompasses the increasing prominence of global Pentecostalism and the complex relationship between religion and popular culture, heritage, media, and the public sphere. She is widely recognized in anthropology and African Studies for her contributions to understanding Pentecostalism and late capitalism in post-colonial West Africa, with a particular focus on Ghana. Meyer has led numerous collaborative projects and has published edited and co-edited essay collections, including Magic and Modernity Interfaces of Revelation and Concealment (2003), Religion Media and the Public Sphere (2005), and Aesthetic Formations. Media, Religion, and the Senses (2009), Sense and Essence. Heritage and Cultural Production of the Real (2018).

This episode focuses on two monographs: Translating the Devil: Religion and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana  (1999), and Sensational Movies: Video Vision and Christianity in Ghana (2015).

Host: George Paul Meiu, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Basel.

Production: Zainabu Jallo (Institute of Social Anthropology) in

collaboration with the New Media Center at the University of Basel