Pub Date : 2020-09-21DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05102007
O. Ayinuola
Extant studies have investigated postproverbial expressions from sociological, feminist, and philosophical perspectives with insufficient attention paid to the linguistic representations of social identity in such expressions. This study, therefore, examines how social identities are constructed through postproverbials among Yoruba youths with a view to exploring the social realities that conditioned the representations of new identities in such expressions. The study adopts Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Tajfel and Tuner’s Social Identity Theory as framework. Ten (10) postproverbial expressions, which are from anonymous and the written collections of Yoruba proverbs by Yoruba scholars form the data. Linguistic substitutions and code-mixings characterise such expressions. Postproverbials are a conveyor of rationalist, religious, hedonistic, and economic identities, which are conditioned by western influence and are transported by the generation of conscious Yoruba youths. The paper inferred that, though proverbs and postproverbials are context-dependent, postproverbials explicate a paradigm shift in the postmodernist discourse and refract Nigerian socio-cultural realities.
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Pub Date : 2020-09-21DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05102013
Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, Z. Ango
The scholarship of change and transformations in proverbs has become an emergent industry in contemporary African studies. The term in transgressive paremiography used for this phenomenon of transformation is called postproverbials. Postproverbiality in Fulfulde is one illustration of the engagement with perspectives of modernities, and aspects of change in worldviews among the Ful’be. “Five and five does not make ten, …” is a signal Ful’be proverbial clause which represents the early interactional history of trade, political and jurisprudent relations between the Ful’be and the predominant Hausa communities of Northern Nigeria. The proverb has experienced a radical reception and turning, based on contemporary social relations and literacy. It is employed in this essay as a symbolic example of how change in proverb construction can also be a challenge to received history. Thirteen pairs of Ful’be proverbs and postproverbials will be deployed to establish the phenomenon of transgressive proverb-making among contemporary Ful’be speakers. The essay will highlight the peculiar forms of extensions, adaptations and cutterage that have been invested into the making of new radical Fulbe proverbs, usually by a younger generation of Fulfulde speakers whose attempt (inadvertent or deliberate) is ultimately to break conventions through newly invented proverbs.
{"title":"“Five and Five Does Not Make Ten …”","authors":"Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, Z. Ango","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05102013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05102013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The scholarship of change and transformations in proverbs has become an emergent industry in contemporary African studies. The term in transgressive paremiography used for this phenomenon of transformation is called postproverbials. Postproverbiality in Fulfulde is one illustration of the engagement with perspectives of modernities, and aspects of change in worldviews among the Ful’be. “Five and five does not make ten, …” is a signal Ful’be proverbial clause which represents the early interactional history of trade, political and jurisprudent relations between the Ful’be and the predominant Hausa communities of Northern Nigeria. The proverb has experienced a radical reception and turning, based on contemporary social relations and literacy. It is employed in this essay as a symbolic example of how change in proverb construction can also be a challenge to received history. Thirteen pairs of Ful’be proverbs and postproverbials will be deployed to establish the phenomenon of transgressive proverb-making among contemporary Ful’be speakers. The essay will highlight the peculiar forms of extensions, adaptations and cutterage that have been invested into the making of new radical Fulbe proverbs, usually by a younger generation of Fulfulde speakers whose attempt (inadvertent or deliberate) is ultimately to break conventions through newly invented proverbs.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"303 1","pages":"406-416"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77198745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-21DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05102011
Ronke Eunice Okhuosi
Postproverbiality, the novel perspective to studying proverbs, has focused mainly on the radical revision of African proverbs. However, this phenomenon is not only found in African proverbs, but also in many other languages as already suggested in literature. Therefore, this study investigates postproverbiality in English proverbs as used on social media, particularly Twitter. Twitter is especially known for people’s display of radical ideologies, opinions, and idiosyncrasies; therefore, it serves as a useful source for such radical revision of English proverbs. The analysis was done using Jacob Mey’s (2001) Pragmatic Acts as theoretical framework. The data was purposively gathered using five standard English proverbs to search for postproverbial versions; a total of thirty postproverbials were discovered on Twitter. The analysis revealed ten practs and allopracts which include affirming, insisting, informing, counselling, warning, instructing, and encouraging. These were projected through contextual features of shared situational knowledge, voicing, inference, metaphor, and socio-cultural knowledge. The interaction among the textual and contextual features and the allopracts shows that cultures and occurrences in public affairs affect such cultural indices as proverbs and language use and this interaction increases through the internet and social networks which link the world into a global community.
{"title":"A Pragmatic Act Analysis of English Postproverbials on Twitter","authors":"Ronke Eunice Okhuosi","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05102011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05102011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Postproverbiality, the novel perspective to studying proverbs, has focused mainly on the radical revision of African proverbs. However, this phenomenon is not only found in African proverbs, but also in many other languages as already suggested in literature. Therefore, this study investigates postproverbiality in English proverbs as used on social media, particularly Twitter. Twitter is especially known for people’s display of radical ideologies, opinions, and idiosyncrasies; therefore, it serves as a useful source for such radical revision of English proverbs. The analysis was done using Jacob Mey’s (2001) Pragmatic Acts as theoretical framework. The data was purposively gathered using five standard English proverbs to search for postproverbial versions; a total of thirty postproverbials were discovered on Twitter. The analysis revealed ten practs and allopracts which include affirming, insisting, informing, counselling, warning, instructing, and encouraging. These were projected through contextual features of shared situational knowledge, voicing, inference, metaphor, and socio-cultural knowledge. The interaction among the textual and contextual features and the allopracts shows that cultures and occurrences in public affairs affect such cultural indices as proverbs and language use and this interaction increases through the internet and social networks which link the world into a global community.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"43 1","pages":"379-392"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74311832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-21DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05102008
Ositadinma Nkeiruka Lemoha, F. Ohwovoriole, A. Agugua
The wave of globalization and the attendant acculturation has uttered the contextual and conceptual rendition and meaning of traditional Igbo proverbs. In view of the fact that proverbs are wisdom from the elderly that reveals the peoples’ values, ethics, morals and worldviews. Therefore, the modernized versions of Proverbs attest to the fact of lack/loss of the ancient fervour. This paper attributes the loss of ancient morale to youth incursion and the consequent travesty of the proverbial space. It therefore, contends that Igbo postproverbial is a reaction to acculturation engendered by human interaction. Twenty-one pairs of Igbo proverbs made up of, the traditional proverb and its postproverbial version were subjected to critical analysis focusing on the culture dynamics in the construction of the postproverbials. The analysis of data is anchored on Herbert Blumer’s theory of symbolic interactionism. The paper establishes that Igbo postproverbial is a reaction to culture diffusion occasioned by human interaction and the accompanying changes in values, morals and worldviews.
{"title":"Postproverbials","authors":"Ositadinma Nkeiruka Lemoha, F. Ohwovoriole, A. Agugua","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05102008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05102008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The wave of globalization and the attendant acculturation has uttered the contextual and conceptual rendition and meaning of traditional Igbo proverbs. In view of the fact that proverbs are wisdom from the elderly that reveals the peoples’ values, ethics, morals and worldviews. Therefore, the modernized versions of Proverbs attest to the fact of lack/loss of the ancient fervour. This paper attributes the loss of ancient morale to youth incursion and the consequent travesty of the proverbial space. It therefore, contends that Igbo postproverbial is a reaction to acculturation engendered by human interaction. Twenty-one pairs of Igbo proverbs made up of, the traditional proverb and its postproverbial version were subjected to critical analysis focusing on the culture dynamics in the construction of the postproverbials. The analysis of data is anchored on Herbert Blumer’s theory of symbolic interactionism. The paper establishes that Igbo postproverbial is a reaction to culture diffusion occasioned by human interaction and the accompanying changes in values, morals and worldviews.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"11 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72593630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101007
Fredrick Mbogo
This paper makes a comparative study of the dialogue found in John Sibi-Okumu’s Role Play with that in Francis Imbuga’s Betrayal in the City. It stems from the claim that both plays situate characters in spaces, through their dialogue, where escape becomes vital. Essentially, the paper focuses on characters either in regret, as Mzee in Role Play, or seeped in an urgency of correcting mistakes made within the political arena, as is the case in conversations between Mosese and Jere in Betrayal in the City. Mzee thinks himself a failure, an individual who has stood by as political decision after another have led to the mess he now finds his countrymen in. On the other hand, Mosese and Jere are in a dialogue that at first seems to suggest a Sisyphurian kind of cynicism, but which morphs into a kind of exhortation for action against oppressing circumstances. The question then is whether a director’s possible interpretation can capture the depth of Mzee’s agony while delivering an aesthetic presentation or whether as in the case of Imbuga’s Mosese and Jere, the mood swings from cynicism to agitation can muzzle the dulce, or sweetness, of the presentation.
{"title":"Sweetness in an Age Caught between Anti-Stoic Regret and Sisyphurian Cynicism","authors":"Fredrick Mbogo","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper makes a comparative study of the dialogue found in John Sibi-Okumu’s Role Play with that in Francis Imbuga’s Betrayal in the City. It stems from the claim that both plays situate characters in spaces, through their dialogue, where escape becomes vital. Essentially, the paper focuses on characters either in regret, as Mzee in Role Play, or seeped in an urgency of correcting mistakes made within the political arena, as is the case in conversations between Mosese and Jere in Betrayal in the City. Mzee thinks himself a failure, an individual who has stood by as political decision after another have led to the mess he now finds his countrymen in. On the other hand, Mosese and Jere are in a dialogue that at first seems to suggest a Sisyphurian kind of cynicism, but which morphs into a kind of exhortation for action against oppressing circumstances. The question then is whether a director’s possible interpretation can capture the depth of Mzee’s agony while delivering an aesthetic presentation or whether as in the case of Imbuga’s Mosese and Jere, the mood swings from cynicism to agitation can muzzle the dulce, or sweetness, of the presentation.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79502812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101011
Yvette Ngum
Despite the crucial role that performative arts play in enabling progressive transformation, education, healing and psychological protection for abuse on certain female bodies, often the intentions or agenda of such performances habitually outweighs the transformative potentials therein. In the context of this paper, my association with transformation is related to power in a performance that invites participants to reclaim the broken pieces of their lives as a form of agency. Tears in the Mirror, is based on my personal experience narrated in a performance-based project on sexual violence. In my position as the artist directing the play, I took down notes over a period of one-week rehearsal with the actor, representing my experience. The autoethnographic performance method for information sourcing was used with the actor. I used observation and discussion in the process and each stage reflected a continuing process of integrating the ‘doing’ of autoethnography with a critical reflection upon the subject matter. My findings showed that victims of sexual violence are more likely to identify with narratives of other victims during a performance. This is because in viewing the image of the actor on stage one is simultaneously viewing the self in the mirror of the other.
{"title":"Transformative Power in Performance","authors":"Yvette Ngum","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Despite the crucial role that performative arts play in enabling progressive transformation, education, healing and psychological protection for abuse on certain female bodies, often the intentions or agenda of such performances habitually outweighs the transformative potentials therein. In the context of this paper, my association with transformation is related to power in a performance that invites participants to reclaim the broken pieces of their lives as a form of agency. Tears in the Mirror, is based on my personal experience narrated in a performance-based project on sexual violence. In my position as the artist directing the play, I took down notes over a period of one-week rehearsal with the actor, representing my experience. The autoethnographic performance method for information sourcing was used with the actor. I used observation and discussion in the process and each stage reflected a continuing process of integrating the ‘doing’ of autoethnography with a critical reflection upon the subject matter. My findings showed that victims of sexual violence are more likely to identify with narratives of other victims during a performance. This is because in viewing the image of the actor on stage one is simultaneously viewing the self in the mirror of the other.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"124 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75806668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101004
T. Michael Mboya
This paper interrogates the asymmetry that is inscribed in the patron–client paradigm often used to describe the relationship between artists and consumers of art who, also, promote it in Kenya. It does this by latching onto and inspecting a practice where members of the audience gave cash to musicians while making song requests in the “live band” music performances of Ja-Mnazi Afrika at The Noble Hotel in Eldoret town. The practice is shown to be an exchange of gifts on the basis of which a transactional relationship characterized by mutual dependence and reciprocity between musicians and members of their audience was established and maintained. A consideration of the power relations between musicians and members of their audience as read from the exchange of gifts leads to the argument that patronage was part of the “live band” music performances of Ja-Mnazi Afrika in Eldoret town and was a source of the social meaning of the performance. By participating in it, musicians and members of their audience embodied and enacted power—and thereby constructed a sense of the value of their lives.
{"title":"“Music is Sweet When Your Praises Are Sung”","authors":"T. Michael Mboya","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper interrogates the asymmetry that is inscribed in the patron–client paradigm often used to describe the relationship between artists and consumers of art who, also, promote it in Kenya. It does this by latching onto and inspecting a practice where members of the audience gave cash to musicians while making song requests in the “live band” music performances of Ja-Mnazi Afrika at The Noble Hotel in Eldoret town. The practice is shown to be an exchange of gifts on the basis of which a transactional relationship characterized by mutual dependence and reciprocity between musicians and members of their audience was established and maintained. A consideration of the power relations between musicians and members of their audience as read from the exchange of gifts leads to the argument that patronage was part of the “live band” music performances of Ja-Mnazi Afrika in Eldoret town and was a source of the social meaning of the performance. By participating in it, musicians and members of their audience embodied and enacted power—and thereby constructed a sense of the value of their lives.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"99 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85768298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101001
C. Vierke
This paper interrogates the notion of intervention in popular poetry. It takes the example of popular poetry from Dar es Salaam, which has so far not received much scholarly attention, since it can neither be classified as traditional nor avantgarde. The urban poets struggle to make ends meet, but regularly publish their poetry in the newspaper or through social media and organize themselves in networks. They often remain without a voice in their society, but, contrary to a romanticist perception of the downtrodden, also do not seem to do much to criticize the status quo. Rather than following patterns of postcolonial paradigms which reduce poetry to a political message, I will argue for the potential of the aesthetic experience of poetry, whose imagery stirs the imagination of alternative worlds. Taking the example of a poem by the a female poet, Bi Jalala Sikudhani, I will show how the poem offers alternative views on her lifeworld.
{"title":"Boarding a Full Bus","authors":"C. Vierke","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper interrogates the notion of intervention in popular poetry. It takes the example of popular poetry from Dar es Salaam, which has so far not received much scholarly attention, since it can neither be classified as traditional nor avantgarde. The urban poets struggle to make ends meet, but regularly publish their poetry in the newspaper or through social media and organize themselves in networks. They often remain without a voice in their society, but, contrary to a romanticist perception of the downtrodden, also do not seem to do much to criticize the status quo. Rather than following patterns of postcolonial paradigms which reduce poetry to a political message, I will argue for the potential of the aesthetic experience of poetry, whose imagery stirs the imagination of alternative worlds. Taking the example of a poem by the a female poet, Bi Jalala Sikudhani, I will show how the poem offers alternative views on her lifeworld.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82896710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101010
S. Ndogo
This paper starts on the premise that comedy performed in vernacular languages in Kenya has proliferated over the last two decades. Specific focus is on Gĩkũyũ language plays performed by Fanaka Arts, a theatre company based in Nairobi. I settle on three titles namely Nyoori Momori, Tũirio Twega and ITINA SACCO to demonstrate that: (a) these plays draw inspiration and thematic material from the everyday social cultural and political experiences and (b) they employ vernacular language and various literary techniques to provide entertainment as well as to impart didactic values to the audience. One feature that is common in the three plays is the marriage motif; there are convergences and divergences in the ways each reference and parody marriage, infidelity, urbanity, politics, and unpopular government policies. The key question I ask is: what makes these plays appealing to the audiences? References to the body as well as descriptions of sexuality in veiled figurative language are other common features in these plays. As such, it is the libidinous metaphors and sexual innuendoes in the titles of these lewd comedies that make them attractive to the audiences in Nairobi. Apart from being a form of entertainment, these monthly theatre performances in Gĩkũyũ language enable the urban middle class to connect with their village and cultural roots. Moreover, through comedy, they articulate what may be considered as trite social-cultural issues in ways that other conventional media may not achieve. As such, these comedies make people to reflect upon and laugh at themselves concomitantly. The hilarious depictions of various social concerns can also be considered as subversive and aesthetic means of political critique.
{"title":"The City and the Comic","authors":"S. Ndogo","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper starts on the premise that comedy performed in vernacular languages in Kenya has proliferated over the last two decades. Specific focus is on Gĩkũyũ language plays performed by Fanaka Arts, a theatre company based in Nairobi. I settle on three titles namely Nyoori Momori, Tũirio Twega and ITINA SACCO to demonstrate that: (a) these plays draw inspiration and thematic material from the everyday social cultural and political experiences and (b) they employ vernacular language and various literary techniques to provide entertainment as well as to impart didactic values to the audience. One feature that is common in the three plays is the marriage motif; there are convergences and divergences in the ways each reference and parody marriage, infidelity, urbanity, politics, and unpopular government policies. The key question I ask is: what makes these plays appealing to the audiences? References to the body as well as descriptions of sexuality in veiled figurative language are other common features in these plays. As such, it is the libidinous metaphors and sexual innuendoes in the titles of these lewd comedies that make them attractive to the audiences in Nairobi. Apart from being a form of entertainment, these monthly theatre performances in Gĩkũyũ language enable the urban middle class to connect with their village and cultural roots. Moreover, through comedy, they articulate what may be considered as trite social-cultural issues in ways that other conventional media may not achieve. As such, these comedies make people to reflect upon and laugh at themselves concomitantly. The hilarious depictions of various social concerns can also be considered as subversive and aesthetic means of political critique.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75447247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101009
Farouk El Maarouf, M. D. El Maarouf
The city reflects a politics of possession, upon which pieces of land ultimately get encircled by walls for exploitation. Walls—the entities that frame up the city—are territory ma(r)kers, yet this architectural gesture, far from being innocent, symbolizes a lurking desire at owning territories in the ma(r)king. This paper brings this idea home by examining the other meanings of the wall in contemporary Morocco, by closely studying the poetics and politics of the wall in the context of the Jidar street art festival of Rabat, situated, as it were, in the intersection of concepts (such as festival, paint, street art, wall, patronage, cooptation, resistance, local and global). We argue that the JSAF presents, among other things, a venue for local artists to perform and translate their thoughts and artistic visions into murals of a grand scale. Yet under the gaze of power, their performances accentuate the existentialist yet ambivalent position of city walls not only as embodiments of visual escape, but also as terrains of artistic/economic opportunities, incompatible social emotions, and contentious politics.
{"title":"City as Canvas","authors":"Farouk El Maarouf, M. D. El Maarouf","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101009","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The city reflects a politics of possession, upon which pieces of land ultimately get encircled by walls for exploitation. Walls—the entities that frame up the city—are territory ma(r)kers, yet this architectural gesture, far from being innocent, symbolizes a lurking desire at owning territories in the ma(r)king. This paper brings this idea home by examining the other meanings of the wall in contemporary Morocco, by closely studying the poetics and politics of the wall in the context of the Jidar street art festival of Rabat, situated, as it were, in the intersection of concepts (such as festival, paint, street art, wall, patronage, cooptation, resistance, local and global). We argue that the JSAF presents, among other things, a venue for local artists to perform and translate their thoughts and artistic visions into murals of a grand scale. Yet under the gaze of power, their performances accentuate the existentialist yet ambivalent position of city walls not only as embodiments of visual escape, but also as terrains of artistic/economic opportunities, incompatible social emotions, and contentious politics.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"97 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80053036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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