Overview

This book takes a critical look at contemporary digital forms of African popular cultural production, examining how they articulate relationships between Africa and Europe, and between Africans and Europeans. The current state of African popular arts has been made possible by two major media transformations—mass media liberalisation and increased internet connectivity across the continent. With increased globalisation, encounters between Africa and Europe have become more dispersed, dynamic, persistent, and mutable. However, these emerging relationships are haunted by a difficult past, the harrowing systems of enslavement and colonialism, historically framed by false narratives. Through detailed analysis of cinema narration, video films, comedy skits, social media performances, and lip-sync impressions, the contributors reveal how African creators remix and revise European cultural forms whilst asserting their own agency and resistance. The collection demonstrates how digital platforms have become sites of counter-hegemonic cultural production, where African artists negotiate complex postcolonial relationships through creative appropriation and transformation. Essential reading for scholars of African studies, cultural studies, media studies, and postcolonial theory, this volume offers fresh insights into how contemporary African popular culture engages with European influences whilst maintaining distinctive African voices and perspectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of African Cultural Studies.

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9781041312550

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Matthias Krings is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He has specialized in the study of African popular culture, the anthropology of the body, and religion. His current research focuses on the global mainstreaming of African popular music, and on skin colour-based categorization practices beyond racialization. Izuu Nwankwọ is an Assistant Professor in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. His research interests span oral, theatrical, and popular performances by African and African diaspora peoples, both on stage and online. His scholarly publications have focused on taboo, self-censorship, and the limits of humour in stand-up and other forms.

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