“Shalom Alaykum, My Fellow Krislam”: examining Tanzanian youth’s social media communication in response to perceived religious division

This study examines how Tanzanian youth used social media to resist religious division and promote social cohesion following the 2025 general elections. Guided by Social Identity Theory, the study adopted a qualitative digital ethnographic approach. Data were drawn from publicly accessible posts and comments on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, collected through software-assisted data mining and manual digital observation. The data were thematically analysed to identify dominant patterns of meaning. Findings revealed that youth rejected religious polarisation by foregrounding national identity, everyday interfaith relationships, and shared experiences of political violence. Interfaith unity was framed as both a protective political strategy and a moral stance against the instrumentalization of religion. Youth also expressed scepticism towards religious and political elites, exposed divide-and-rule tactics, and used hybrid religious language to blur sectarian boundaries. Social media emerged as a key space for youth-led, preventive peacebuilding, enabling peer-to-peer resistance to polarisation.