Author:

Keywords:

confessions, DR Congo, healing, key scenario, Kinshasa, media, ritual, television

Abstract:

Based on ethnographic research among Kinshasa’s evangelizing TV actors, this paper discusses the plotlines as shown in locally produced television drama. It will be argued that the particular configuration of dramatic personae (subject, witch, pastor) and the moral movement of these protagonists (leading towards confessions, deliverance rituals or the death of the evildoer) bring along social and spiritual harmony within the fictional worlds of the evangelizing melodramas and are, metaphorically, to be interpreted as attempts at establishing healing in Kinshasa. The presentation therefore concludes with reflections on the boundaries between media, performance, and ritual.