Pub Date : 2020-06-18DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05101003
C. Vierke
The question of the arts’ potential to intervene is a topical one. Art seems to be ubiquitous in forms of recent political protest and interventions morph into artistic practices—so that the boundary between art and political engagement becomes porous. The face of Khalid Said tortured to death by the Egyptian police appeared as graffiti on walls all over Alexandria and Cairo as well as facebook pages in 2010 and 2011 spurring hugemass protests againstMubarak’s regime; later a mural received a permanent space in the Goethe Institute of Cairo.1 In 2006, the Kenyan artist Sam Hopkins founded Slum TV, enabling the inhabitants of Mathare, one of the largest slums in Nairobi, to film their own news and stories and screen them in the slum.2 Considering the arts as a primary political tool meant to liberate the human being from all obstacles on the way to self-fulfillment has a longer tradition in many African contexts. Rather than pitting the essential embeddedness of all art in social contexts in traditional African contexts and arguing against a stereotypically evokedWestern art for art’s sake, as it has often been done, I would like to put emphasis on the fact that it is a notion deeply entrenched in projects of modernity, which also comes out in the contributions to this special issue. It was first of all the imagination of the nation state with its promises of unity, prosperity, progress and participation of all, founded on the essential myth of leaving behind a dark period of colonial oppression and exploitation, which inspired so many African artists particularly in the 1960s to give form to a bright future yet to be defined. In reflecting upon aspects of the “modern time regime”, which essentially breaks with previous notions of present, past
{"title":"Intervention, Patronage and Performance","authors":"C. Vierke","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101003","url":null,"abstract":"The question of the arts’ potential to intervene is a topical one. Art seems to be ubiquitous in forms of recent political protest and interventions morph into artistic practices—so that the boundary between art and political engagement becomes porous. The face of Khalid Said tortured to death by the Egyptian police appeared as graffiti on walls all over Alexandria and Cairo as well as facebook pages in 2010 and 2011 spurring hugemass protests againstMubarak’s regime; later a mural received a permanent space in the Goethe Institute of Cairo.1 In 2006, the Kenyan artist Sam Hopkins founded Slum TV, enabling the inhabitants of Mathare, one of the largest slums in Nairobi, to film their own news and stories and screen them in the slum.2 Considering the arts as a primary political tool meant to liberate the human being from all obstacles on the way to self-fulfillment has a longer tradition in many African contexts. Rather than pitting the essential embeddedness of all art in social contexts in traditional African contexts and arguing against a stereotypically evokedWestern art for art’s sake, as it has often been done, I would like to put emphasis on the fact that it is a notion deeply entrenched in projects of modernity, which also comes out in the contributions to this special issue. It was first of all the imagination of the nation state with its promises of unity, prosperity, progress and participation of all, founded on the essential myth of leaving behind a dark period of colonial oppression and exploitation, which inspired so many African artists particularly in the 1960s to give form to a bright future yet to be defined. In reflecting upon aspects of the “modern time regime”, which essentially breaks with previous notions of present, past","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"8 28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80452445","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: 10.1163/18757421-05101005
Marie-Anne Kohl
Departing from a close reading of a particular performance to examplify localisation processes of the global Reality TV talent show format, this paper offers an analysis of the relationship between talent shows and patronage. Based on a concrete music and dance performance analysis, it further contributes to the more general discussion of transnational format trade and format adaptation by putting a focus on the entanglement of patronage, intervention and transformation. The analysis of the performance in question addresses how the musicians and dancers approached a concrete problem by creating a sense of belonging, involvement and disorientation through aesthetic means. With their critical stance, they position themselves in a specific local performing arts tradition, which itself is connected to earlier theatre and TV talent contests. Referring to the concept of glocalisation, I suggest that local topics of critique and intervention are part of the localising effect of the Reality TV talent show format.
{"title":"Dancing with Empty Water Bottles at L’ Afrique a un incroyable talent, Brought to You by Nestlé","authors":"Marie-Anne Kohl","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Departing from a close reading of a particular performance to examplify localisation processes of the global Reality TV talent show format, this paper offers an analysis of the relationship between talent shows and patronage. Based on a concrete music and dance performance analysis, it further contributes to the more general discussion of transnational format trade and format adaptation by putting a focus on the entanglement of patronage, intervention and transformation. The analysis of the performance in question addresses how the musicians and dancers approached a concrete problem by creating a sense of belonging, involvement and disorientation through aesthetic means. With their critical stance, they position themselves in a specific local performing arts tradition, which itself is connected to earlier theatre and TV talent contests. Referring to the concept of glocalisation, I suggest that local topics of critique and intervention are part of the localising effect of the Reality TV talent show format.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80249918","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: 10.1163/18757421-05101008
C. Odhiambo
Patronage in the arts has always been a paradox. This article grapples with this paradox as reflected in the symbiotic relationship between artists and their sponsors. This paradoxical, complex and complicated co-existence of patronage through arts’ sponsorship is scrutinized through the intervention community theatre initiatives of Sponsored Arts for Education in Kenya (S.A.F.E-K). The paper argues that the ideology and the messages as framed, circulated and conveyed by the film Ni Sisi on the post-election violence (PEV) that visited Kenya in 2007/2008 is immensely influenced by the commercial and publicity interests of its main sponsor. The article as such draws attention to the nuanced subtleties of aesthetic framing in this film and how these are implicated in the sponsor’s intentions of projecting a positive image of itself disguised as a project of ‘demonizing’ violence and foregrounding a peace culture. The article identifies and interrogates the subtle indices that are found in the film that appears to cunningly exonerate the sponsor from any role that might have led to escalation of the post-election violence. The reading of such nuanced subtleties in absolving the sponsor of complicity in the perpetuation of violence remains the focus of this article.
{"title":"He Who Pays the Piper Plays the Tune","authors":"C. Odhiambo","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101008","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Patronage in the arts has always been a paradox. This article grapples with this paradox as reflected in the symbiotic relationship between artists and their sponsors. This paradoxical, complex and complicated co-existence of patronage through arts’ sponsorship is scrutinized through the intervention community theatre initiatives of Sponsored Arts for Education in Kenya (S.A.F.E-K). The paper argues that the ideology and the messages as framed, circulated and conveyed by the film Ni Sisi on the post-election violence (PEV) that visited Kenya in 2007/2008 is immensely influenced by the commercial and publicity interests of its main sponsor. The article as such draws attention to the nuanced subtleties of aesthetic framing in this film and how these are implicated in the sponsor’s intentions of projecting a positive image of itself disguised as a project of ‘demonizing’ violence and foregrounding a peace culture. The article identifies and interrogates the subtle indices that are found in the film that appears to cunningly exonerate the sponsor from any role that might have led to escalation of the post-election violence. The reading of such nuanced subtleties in absolving the sponsor of complicity in the perpetuation of violence remains the focus of this article.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89176234","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: 10.1163/18757421-05101006
P. Mforbe Chiangong
The collaboration between theatre directors and funding agencies can impede and/or promote the aesthetics and functionality of theatre performances, thus (dis)empowering the ordinary people. The paper, focusing on two performances, The Boomerang and Pamela’s Journal sponsored by the Fobang-Mundi Foundation and The Society for Women and AIDS in Africa-Cameroon (SWAA-C), explores the role of institutions and organisations that fund theatre projects in Africa to highlight the impact of patronage, specifically in contexts where the patron-artist relation is evoked. Questioning whether such projects could actually confer “power to the people,” depend on the negotiation skills and professionality of the theatre facilitator; the paper focuses on the beneficiaries of commissioned performances.
{"title":"Patronage or Negotiation?","authors":"P. Mforbe Chiangong","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101006","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The collaboration between theatre directors and funding agencies can impede and/or promote the aesthetics and functionality of theatre performances, thus (dis)empowering the ordinary people. The paper, focusing on two performances, The Boomerang and Pamela’s Journal sponsored by the Fobang-Mundi Foundation and The Society for Women and AIDS in Africa-Cameroon (SWAA-C), explores the role of institutions and organisations that fund theatre projects in Africa to highlight the impact of patronage, specifically in contexts where the patron-artist relation is evoked. Questioning whether such projects could actually confer “power to the people,” depend on the negotiation skills and professionality of the theatre facilitator; the paper focuses on the beneficiaries of commissioned performances.","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":"72754928","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: 10.1163/18757421-05101002
A. Raia
In this paper, I seek to investigate the manifold relationships between traditional and contemporary, oral and written Swahili poetry—in the utendi and mashairi forms—and its recitation in terms of the following considerations: how have advances in technology changed the production, transmission and reception of Swahili Islamic poetry? To what extent do writing and orality coexist in a recited text? What is the nature of performer identity formation within a “discourse network” of artists—the composer (mtungaji), reader (msomaji), and singer (mwimbaji)—who, in Goffman’s words, play “participation roles” and appropriate poetry belonging to other living poets or to their own (sometimes anonymous) ancestors? In an attempt to answer these questions, I provide examples of performers and their performative craft.
{"title":"Texts, Voices and Tapes","authors":"A. Raia","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05101002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05101002","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, I seek to investigate the manifold relationships between traditional and contemporary, oral and written Swahili poetry—in the utendi and mashairi forms—and its recitation in terms of the following considerations: how have advances in technology changed the production, transmission and reception of Swahili Islamic poetry? To what extent do writing and orality coexist in a recited text? What is the nature of performer identity formation within a “discourse network” of artists—the composer (mtungaji), reader (msomaji), and singer (mwimbaji)—who, in Goffman’s words, play “participation roles” and appropriate poetry belonging to other living poets or to their own (sometimes anonymous) ancestors? In an attempt to answer these questions, I provide examples of performers and their performative craft.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80989736","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 : 2020-02-13DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05002002
H. Becker
In this article I read several recently published novels that attempt to write the early 20th century Namibian experience of colonial war and genocide. Mari Serebrov’s Mama Namibia, Lauri Kubuitsile’s The Scattering and Jaspar Utley’s The Lie of the Land set out to write the genocide and its aftermath. Serebrov and Kubuitsile do so expressly from the perspective of survivors; their main characters are young Herero women who live through war and genocide. This sets Mama Namibia and The Scattering apart from the earlier literature, which—despite an enormous divergence of political and aesthetic outlooks—tended to be written from the perspective of German male protagonists. The Lie of the Land, too, scores new territory in postcolonial literature. I read these recent works of fiction against an oral history-based biography, in which a Namibian author, Uazuvara Katjivena, narrates the story of his grandmother who survived the genocide.
{"title":"Writing Genocide","authors":"H. Becker","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05002002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05002002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this article I read several recently published novels that attempt to write the early 20th century Namibian experience of colonial war and genocide. Mari Serebrov’s Mama Namibia, Lauri Kubuitsile’s The Scattering and Jaspar Utley’s The Lie of the Land set out to write the genocide and its aftermath. Serebrov and Kubuitsile do so expressly from the perspective of survivors; their main characters are young Herero women who live through war and genocide. This sets Mama Namibia and The Scattering apart from the earlier literature, which—despite an enormous divergence of political and aesthetic outlooks—tended to be written from the perspective of German male protagonists. The Lie of the Land, too, scores new territory in postcolonial literature. I read these recent works of fiction against an oral history-based biography, in which a Namibian author, Uazuvara Katjivena, narrates the story of his grandmother who survived the genocide.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"6 1","pages":"361-395"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81967211","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 : 2020-02-13DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05002012
H. Ellis
The practice of performance or ‘spoken word’ poetry has gained a significant foothold among the youth in urban Namibia in the last two decades. While this poetry has been put to many socio-political uses, one of the main ones has been a protest against patriarchal elements in Namibian society and culture, and an outcry against Namibia’s high rates of gender-based violence. Patriarchal aspects of Namibia’s national culture are often explicitly linked to violence and to the intersectional nature of oppression. Spoken word poetry has also often given LGBT+ women a space to speak out against their oppression and to normalise their existence. This article shows how women performers have used and modified the conventions of poetry and song to get this challenging—in the Namibian context often radical—message across. The paper argues that poetry in this context has the potential to approximate a localised ‘public sphere’ where inclusive discourse can be held around social issues—bearing mind that people are not excluded from this discourse because of arbitrary reasons such as gender or sexuality.
{"title":"‘Why don’t you let me flow in my space?’","authors":"H. Ellis","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05002012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05002012","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The practice of performance or ‘spoken word’ poetry has gained a significant foothold among the youth in urban Namibia in the last two decades. While this poetry has been put to many socio-political uses, one of the main ones has been a protest against patriarchal elements in Namibian society and culture, and an outcry against Namibia’s high rates of gender-based violence. Patriarchal aspects of Namibia’s national culture are often explicitly linked to violence and to the intersectional nature of oppression. Spoken word poetry has also often given LGBT+ women a space to speak out against their oppression and to normalise their existence. This article shows how women performers have used and modified the conventions of poetry and song to get this challenging—in the Namibian context often radical—message across. The paper argues that poetry in this context has the potential to approximate a localised ‘public sphere’ where inclusive discourse can be held around social issues—bearing mind that people are not excluded from this discourse because of arbitrary reasons such as gender or sexuality.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"1 1","pages":"444-455"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78797009","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 : 2020-02-13DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05002011
Manfred Loimeier
Both Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo and South African author Niq Mhlongo encapsulate in novels published by each of them in 2013 what has become of their governments’ promises of freedom and prosperity. In her novel We Need New Names, Bulawayo criticises the poverty, corruption and mismanagement seen under the regime of Robert Mugabe and caricatures the grandiose slogans of ‘Black Power.’ In his novel Way Back Home, Mhlongo reveals how a former anti-apartheid activist in the ANC becomes enmeshed in self-enrichment and nepotism and is pursued by the ghosts of the past. Both Bulawayo and Mhlongo are not content with merely decoding slogans, but identify possible paths to a future with greater self-determination. Disappointment about the unredeemed promises is thus transformed into a sobering résumé and stocktaking that can provide a basis for a new consideration and new definition of social objectives.
{"title":"Disillusionment and Disappointment","authors":"Manfred Loimeier","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05002011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05002011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Both Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo and South African author Niq Mhlongo encapsulate in novels published by each of them in 2013 what has become of their governments’ promises of freedom and prosperity. In her novel We Need New Names, Bulawayo criticises the poverty, corruption and mismanagement seen under the regime of Robert Mugabe and caricatures the grandiose slogans of ‘Black Power.’ In his novel Way Back Home, Mhlongo reveals how a former anti-apartheid activist in the ANC becomes enmeshed in self-enrichment and nepotism and is pursued by the ghosts of the past. Both Bulawayo and Mhlongo are not content with merely decoding slogans, but identify possible paths to a future with greater self-determination. Disappointment about the unredeemed promises is thus transformed into a sobering résumé and stocktaking that can provide a basis for a new consideration and new definition of social objectives.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"47 1","pages":"456-476"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82737646","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 : 2020-02-13DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05002007
C. Saunders
This essay is a preliminary attempt to compare the ways in which the liberation struggles in Namibia and South Africa have been memorialised, both in non-fiction writing about the two struggles and in monuments, memorials and museums. Such a comparison needs to be undertaken through contextualising the two struggles. Though they have some similar features, the ways they have been memorialised are strikingly different, with the armed struggle having been given much greater emphasis in Namibia than in South Africa.
{"title":"Comparing the Namibian and South African Liberation Struggles","authors":"C. Saunders","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05002007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05002007","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This essay is a preliminary attempt to compare the ways in which the liberation struggles in Namibia and South Africa have been memorialised, both in non-fiction writing about the two struggles and in monuments, memorials and museums. Such a comparison needs to be undertaken through contextualising the two struggles. Though they have some similar features, the ways they have been memorialised are strikingly different, with the armed struggle having been given much greater emphasis in Namibia than in South Africa.","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"24 1","pages":"280-298"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81730398","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 : 2020-02-13DOI: 10.1163/18757421-05002010
M. Malaba, H. Melber
History, Narratives and Realities : Engagements with the Past and Present in Southern African Literature
历史、叙事与现实:非洲南部文学的过去与现在
{"title":"History, Narratives and Realities","authors":"M. Malaba, H. Melber","doi":"10.1163/18757421-05002010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18757421-05002010","url":null,"abstract":"History, Narratives and Realities : Engagements with the Past and Present in Southern African Literature","PeriodicalId":35183,"journal":{"name":"Matatu","volume":"1 1","pages":"229-236"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91091721","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}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：