Popular Arts and Political Authority in Africa
| Dozent/in | Till Förster mit Onookome Okome |
| Veranstaltungsart | Seminar |
| Wann | nach Vereinbarung |
| Ort | Ethnologisches Seminar |
| Sprechstunde | nach Vereinbarung |
Inhalt |
| Scholars and researchers are beginning to comb the neglected but interesting world of the popular arts in Africa and the audiences who consume them. Thematically diverse and stylistically eclectic, the range of social concerns and the geography of social meaning embedded in the texts of popular expressions can produce unexpected results for the researcher. Karin Barber refers to this cultural movement in Africa as "vast arena of popular arts" and argues that it needs to be properly understood on its own terms. For a long time, this arena of cultural expression belonging mainly to the poor has been construed as apolitical and largely unworthy of critical attention. On a closer scrutiny, this is far from the truth. Some of these art forms are themselves critical of social issues and are subversive ways of getting even with political and cultural institutions in a post-colony that has little or no respect for their wellbeing. Indeed, some of them may even signpost political options in a discursive manner worthy of critical attention. When they do so, political life is privileged from a different but very interesting position, offering alternative views of the post-colony. These views are often opposed to those privileged by the State. While the social and political affiliations to the State are minimal or even none existent in some cases, popular arts continually touch on the subject of politics that matter to those who produce and patronize them. They reveal telling insights into forms of knowledge and their modes of production in post-colonial Africa. It is the dynamics of the "politics of the belly" (Bayart 1994) which popular arts in Africa respond to playfully. In the series of talks which I propose to give in Basel, I will attempt to draw out a theoretical map for the place of the political in popular arts using the examples of the video film in West Africa and the Onitsha Market pamphlets of the 1940s. I will demonstrate that the politics of popular texts is contextual as it is subversive. I will pay attention to such issues as the politics of gender representation in the subversive narratives of these texts. |
Programm |
| Preparatory meeting: Tue, 4 May, 16 h 15, Alte Universität, Rheinsprung 9 |
Bemerkungen |
| For further information please contact: Lilo Roost Vischer (+41 61 267 27 42 or lilo.roost-vischer@unibas.ch) |
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studium lehrveranstaltungen popular arts and political authority in africa
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