Lexicon of Global Melodrama

This new go-to reference book for global melodrama assembles contributions by experts from a wide range of disciplines, including cultural studies, film and media studies, gender and queer studies, political science, and postcolonial studies. The melodramas covered in this volume range from early 20th century silent movies to contemporary films, from independent 'arthouse' productions to Hollywood blockbusters. The comprehensive overview of global melodramatic film in the Lexicon constitutes a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners of film, teachers, film critics, and anyone who is interested in the past and present of melodramatic film on a global scale. The Lexicon of Global Melodrama includes essays on All That Heaven Allows, Bombay, Casablanca, Die Büchse der Pandora, In the Mood for Love, Nosotros los Pobres, Terra Sonâmbula, and Tokyo Story

Lexicon of Global Melodrama

This new go-to reference book for global melodrama assembles contributions by experts from a wide range of disciplines, including cultural studies, film and media studies, gender and queer studies, political science, and postcolonial studies. The melodramas covered in this volume range from early 20th century silent movies to contemporary films, from independent ›arthouse‹ productions to Hollywood blockbusters. The comprehensive overview of global melodramatic film in the Lexicon constitutes a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners of film, teachers, film critics, and anyone who is interested in the past and present of melodramatic film on a global scale. The Lexicon of Global Melodrama includes essays on All That Heaven Allows, Bombay, Casablanca, Die Büchse der Pandora, In the Mood for Love, Nosotros los Pobres, Terra Sonâmbula, and Tokyo Story

Exploring semiotic remediation in performances of stand-up comedians in post- apartheid South Africa and post-colonial Nigeria

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis research has been conducted by focusing on the trajectories of semiotic ensembles from various contexts that stand-up comedians exploited for aesthetic and communicative purposes. I apply the social semiotic theory of multimodality (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2001, 2006), and the notions of semiotic remediation (Bolter and Grusin, 1996, 2000) and resemiotization (Iedema, 2003) to selected audiovisual recordings performances of Trevor Noah and Loyiso Gola from South Africa; and Atunyota Akporobomeriere (Ali Baba) and Bright Okpocha (Basket Mouth) from Nigeria. I explore the trajectories of semiotic resources that the comedians used across modes, contexts and practices. I also trace the translation and interpretation of socio-cultural and political materials by South African and Nigerian stand-up comedians’ performances. The idea is also to examine the extent to which the socio-cultural and political contexts of both countries have differential effects on the choices in the semiotic resources used in the reconstruction of meanings, including cross socio-cultural taboos. The study reveals that combinations of various semiotic materials ranging from political, sociocultural, religious and personal lifestyles are remediated (repurposed) for comic and aesthetic effects. This involves translating and re-interpreting the semiotic resources across contexts and practices. In this regard, the study showed how the artists rework verbal language, images, socio-political discourses and other semiotic material for new meanings. It also reveals that although the choices of materials are similar, there is a tendency of localizing semiotic resources to particular localities and audiences, so that each artist’s performance comes out as unique to the person. The study concludes that language alone is not at the core of communication as other semiotic modes (in addition to languages) are integrated interweaving resources to make meaning. The direction of the modes or resources is multidimensional. All the spoken texts, all the non-linguistic modes: gestures, stance, movements, running on stage, postures, mimicking and others, perform vital roles to recontextualize meanings in stand-up comedy performance. Therefore, the study opens up new perspectives on social semiotic approaches to multimodality, as well as on language social semiotic and to theory and media studies. The contribution also answers the call to expand the understanding and research on the theory of ‘multimodality’ and the various concepts such as semiotic remediation and resemiotization associated with it

Cinema in Ethiopia : Genre, Melodrama and the Commercial Amharic Film Industry

This thesis explores the emergence of the commercially viable Amharic film industry in Ethiopia, investigating its system of genres and the manifestation of an Ethiopian-style melodrama. Emerging in 2002 from an economic scenario devoid of government support and dependent on entrepreneurial action, the commercial Amharic film industry is centred in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, where cinemas are devoted to screening the latest local releases to a young cinemagoing public. Film genre terms in Amharic are strikingly visible in the Ethiopian context. They often appear written on film posters, voiced in television and radio trailers and denoted in cinema listings. This experience of locally produced and consumed popular cinema and the prevalence of Amharic genres to its organisation offers an alternative case study to mainstream film cultures and experiences of cinema in Africa and around the world, while also presenting a point of keen comparative interest. Enabled through ethnographic and textual research methods, this study applies a sustained and detailed appreciation of the history of Ethiopia, its specific cultural milieu and social orientations as central to understanding the nature of Amharic cinema. Contributing a historically and culturally conditioned study helps to focus on the role of local specificities in understandings of cinema in a field experiencing a trend towards more transnational approaches. Balancing an awareness of both local and global interactions through a study of genre and melodrama and their usages by producers and consumers in the Ethiopian case study reveals new conceptualisations of these phenomena and their interdependency. The research findings detail the affective characteristics that delineate most Amharic genres and the role an Ethiopian-style melodrama plays in this popular cinema, negotiating between romantic, familial, patriotic and spiritual notions of ፍቅር - fiker/love

Theatre, Performance and Representation: African Diasporic Identity on the British Stage

The focus of this thesis is the performance of African diasporic identities through a unique theatre emerging from the second and third generations of peoples and communities of the African Diaspora in Britain. The politics, the dynamics, articulation and representation of these identities on the British stage, forms a major part of this investigation, which also goes beyond the stage to comment on British society itself. The discipline of theatre and performance are appropriate vehicles to research the notion of African diasporic identity because they continue to be an essential part of any nation’s cultural discourse on who, what and why they are. Nadine Holdsworth argues that theatre at a basic level is: intrinsically connected to nation because it enhances “national” life by providing a space for shared civil discourse… Theatre as a material, social and cultural practice, offers the chance to explore histories, behaviours, events and preoccupations in a creative communal realm that opens up potential for reflection and debate. (2010, p. 6) The relationship between the current context of Britain and an emotional or physical link to Africa or the Caribbean and the negotiations that characterize that relationship underpin the examination of the constantly shifting diasporic identities in this study. The theatre coming from these African diaspora communities is exhibiting characters on the British stage that are a reflection of African diasporic individuals who are no longer agreeing to be confined to the margins of society by claiming their rightful place in the public domain, in the centre themselves. The theatre is reflecting that by beginning to move outside the confines of the margins. This investigation looks at a spectrum of African diasporic dramatists and theatre companies, examining how they use the theatre to explore the complex, multifaceted and subtly layered identities that the African in the diaspora has become, whilst revealing whether the current prominence of African diasporic dramatists in the mainstream is only perceived or confirm that indeed African diasporic identity has claimed the space to articulate being ‘here’ and also relating to ‘there.

African Luxury

Moving far beyond predominant views of Africa as a place to be 'saved', and even more recent celebratory formulations of it as 'rising', African Luxury: Aesthetics and Politics highlights and critically interrogates the visual and material cultures of lavish and luxurious consumption already present on the continent. Methodologically, conceptually and analytically, the collection dismantles taken-for-granted ideas that the West is the source and focus of high-end and hyper-desirable material cultures. It explores what the culture of consumption means in Africa in both historical and contemporary contexts, studying diverse luxury phenomena including fashion advertising, reality television, retail, gendered consumption and gardening to re-centre the discussion on existing contemporary luxury cultures across the continent

Contesting Boko Haram: A postcolonial critique of media representation of the ethnoreligious, socio-economic and political conflict in Nigeria

Representative and narrative discourses from international media and academia present an essentialist and misleading idea of African issues, and this misrepresentation has leaked, by association, into a flawed portrayal of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. That is, just as reductionism, ahistorical attributions, and contradictions tend to occur in writing on African conflicts, this has become the tendency with insufficient attempts to define the identity and explain the actions of Boko Haram. Using a postcolonial critique, this dissertation reveals how news media and scholarly reports often undermine and negate the historical, ethno-religious and ideological nuances of Boko Haram’s identity, as well as the socio-economic and political issues that motivate the actions of the sect. Additionally, the examination of Boko Haram’s origins, influences and ever-evolving identity confronts the contradictions and flaws within the group’s own representation, through its ideology and pragmatism. This multi-fold analysis is done through an initial exploration of Nigeria’s history under British colonial rule and the lasting legacy thereafter, which has been responsible for the contemporary violent conflicts that journalist and scholars tend to reduced to Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. This is followed by a critical acknowledgement of the complicity of Nigeria’s political leadership in the socio-economic injustices prevalent between the two predominant religious populations of Nigeria’s rich and educated Christian South, and the poor and disadvantaged Muslim North. Critical Discourse Analysis is used as a method to analyse the representation of Boko Haram from three academic journal reports by African scholars and three international print media news reports. This study seeks to contribute to reports/writings on postcolonial interpretations of violence and conflict in African media studies, and to account for the historical and contemporary complexities within African countries and their inhabitants who are often negated by influential libertarian media and trusted analytical-scholarly articles

New Aesthetic Dimensions in African Drama and Theatre: A Festschrift in Honour of Prof Sam Ukala

New Aesthetics in African Drama and Theatre ... is a unique work. It is a valedictory gift to a man who has paid his academic dues, and also a justification of these dues that he has paid. The contributions in the book come from both seasoned eggheads and academic neophytes. The book interrogates the oeuvre of Sam Ukala's works. it also updates two previous works which Ukala's creativity has engendered and has as a bonanza, essays on the African/Nigerian theatre and drama from various perspectives. There are also essays on educational theatre, oral poetry, Urhobo studies, Nollywood studies among others

‘Musical traffic’: transnationalism and reconstruction in Rwanda and Uganda

This thesis focuses on popular music in the “New Rwanda” (Rwanda Rushya). It starts from life on the ground: to examine how young cultural producers in Kigali adopt and adapt genres, styles and languages, activate and block support networks, form “collabos” with Ugandans and other international artists and producers, create songs and music videos, promote and circulate their work, and nurture aspirations while overcoming obstacles in their quest for stardom in the Rwandan context of post-genocide reconstruction. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic research conducted in Rwanda and Uganda, this thesis addresses how and why musicians travel physically, with specific focus on musical connections between Kigali and Kampala, and additionally how they and their work travel digitally. I address how cultural producers often circumvent state regulation while simultaneously drawing on official government rhetoric and occasionally support, and through all of these activities, reflect upon, shape and articulate the experience of living in 21st century Rwanda. Taking a wider view, the thesis focuses on transnationalism and border-crossing within Africa through a popular culture perspective. The narratives of the young, urban people in my research illuminate histories of exile and return, split identities and memories of living in both countries

Ethics, media, theology and development in Africa : a Festschrift in honour of Msgr Prof. Dr Obiora Francis Ike

This Festschrift is published in honour of Msgr Prof. Dr Obiora Francis Ike on the auspicuous occasion of his 65th birthday celebration and 40th priestly ordination anniversary in the year of the Lord two thousand and twenty two (2022), for his immensely distinguished and valuable services and contributions to Nigeria, Africa and the world as a priest, a scholar and an administrator. This Festschrift commemorates the successful six years of his tenure as the Executive Director of Globethics.net, Geneva, Switzerland (2016-2022).This book is a collection of scholarly articles, structured into six different parties and topics such as Reflections on Obiora Ike, Ethics and Christian Faith, Ethics and Environment, War, Ethics, Value, Culture and the Media in Africa, Ethics and the Media in Nigeria, Ethics and Administration. These parties are aiming at understanding and highlighting thoughts and areas of scholarly interest of Msgr Prof. Obiora Ike on theology, ethics and development issues. By showing several serious ethical issues observed on the African continent the book is aiming at being a resource material for theology scholars, applied ethicists, media scholars and professionals, development planners, technological entrepreneurs, policymakers, curriculum developers, society leaders and administrators in general