Religious peacebuilding in Zimbabwe: The role of the printing press

This chapter focuses on how a specific religious organization, called Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, whose interest is in pursuing broader political objectives, has used the print media in pursuing peacebuilding. It describes, analyzes and demarcates the religious fields of discourse in Zimbabwe. Characterizing the religious landscape of Zimbabwe as a field helps identify the differences and alliances built or broken between the different religious groups and political actors with respect to peacebuilding. In doing so, this chapter acknowledges that Zimbabwe is not religiously monolithic and thus, regarding peacebuilding, different religious actors have promoted or undermined peace and reconciliation via various media including print media. This is influenced by the socio-economic and political objectives at particular given times. This chapter engages with how it has been presented in state print media and how it has also presented itself via a similar type of media and how that form of mediatization has influenced the discourse of religious peacebuilding.