Muslim Actors Countering Radicalisation Narratives Through Film video in Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to bring out the voices of actors within the popular culture field of film video productions, which in Africa operates under the shadow of the more dominant cinema culture. The focus on film videos and their production of Islamic discourse, therefore, is an attempt to affirm the plurality of experiences and formats of expression within the emerging Islamic entertainment industry. The intervention of this article was to interrogate Kenyan Muslim actors’ attempts to use film video to counter narratives of division growing from perceived radicalisation of a section of the Muslim population in the country. The following questions were asked: How does film video give counter expressions to narratives on Muslim radicalisation and violent extremism? How do actors negotiate their citizenship as part of a Muslim minority population in a Christian majority country? Specifically, the article examined Islamic film video’s reconstructions of Kenyan national discourse on terror and radicalisation. This was done through an analysis of the discourse in Watatu, a recent Swahili language film video, and discussion of the thematic concerns. This article is situated within the broad outlines of the decolonial theoretical approach which advocates the need to confront colonial representations. The article challenged the unilateral consideration of specific geopolitical areas as naturally embodying knowledge, opening up the scope for the generation and validation of knowledges from Kenya’s Islamic film video industry, amplifying the voices of Muslim actors that can be considered marginal voices in national discourses about violent extremism and radicalisation.