'Sakawa': rituals and cyberfraud in Ghanaian popular video movies

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Periodical article

Title:	'Sakawa': rituals and cyberfraud in Ghanaian popular video movies
Author:	Oduro-Frimpong, Joseph
Year:	2014
Periodical:	African Studies Review (ISSN 1555-2462)
Volume:	57
Issue:	2
Pages:	131-147
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	fraud Internet magic films
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2014.51
Abstract:	'Sakawa' indexes a cyberfraud practice in Ghana allegedly linked with occult rituals. This article examines the phenomenon as an analytically relevant example of a material understanding of religion. It then offers a critical reading of a popular sakawa video series and contrasts its thematic perspectives with the reactions of some Ghanaian political leaders to the possible motivations for the practice. This critical approach is conceived as a response to the persistent myopic view of such popular genres as irrelevant to key debates around problematic Ghanaian issues and also to calls in global media studies to de-Westernize the field. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]