African Appropriations
Subtitle: Cultural Difference, Mimesis, and Media
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 328
ISBN-13: 9780253016256
Subjects: Popular culture, africa; Mass media, social aspects; Mass media, africa
Description: Why would a Hollywood film become a Nigerian video remake, a Tanzanian comic book, or a Congolese music video? Matthias Krings explores the myriad ways Africans respond to the relentless onslaught of global culture. He seeks out places where they have adapted pervasive cultural forms to their own purposes as photo novels, comic books, songs, posters, and even scam letters. These African appropriations reveal the broad scope of cultural mediation that is characteristic of our hyperlinked age. Krings argues that there is no longer an "original" or "faithful copy," but only endless transformations that thrive in the fertile ground of African popular culture.