Paper short abstract:

How dancing collective experiences shape the future of the city and the continent in a global world ? Based on the study of DJ parties in the cosmopolitan town of Accra, this anthropological research analyses both the discourses of organisers and interactions between participants during the venues.

Paper long abstract:

Accra is known as a "hub on the urban landscape where inhabitants from different countries may invent new forms of cohabitation" (Van Wolputte et al.2022). These people incidentally meet in different venues dedicated to music and dance. What's happening there? "We are the authority of who is next" is a motto of one Ghanaian creative agency that organises venues and advertises artists (Avallon 2020). How collective experiences are created and spread? How the future is imagined and built in the city?

DJ events are the point of departure for my ongoing research. I study not only the musical sounds but the gathering, the movements and interactions of participants, the economical and political context of these events in order to analyse how people cooperate, how these events are integrated in the city and spread collective experiences over the world. To go beyond lifestyle, musical tastes and economic differences, I follow three different scenes in a context of circulation of people. The first is connected to diaspora living in Europe or the USA; the second is attended by a continental diaspora from the francophone neighbouring countries; the third scene is a place dedicated to Afrobeat, a style of music largely shared across the world.

Based on the observation of DJ parties in Accra, and on interviews with organisers, DJs and participant, I will present an analysis of dancing events, that shape the city, and shape the global world, giving a central place to the African continent.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the analysis of Katutura Fashion Week (KFW) - held since 2019 in Windhoek, Namibia - through an approach, methodologically based on semiotics of culture, that perspectives a fashion event as a powerful tool for shaping and reconciling identities through clothing.

Paper long abstract:

It is from the emblematic township of Katutura - so called in Otjiherero as "the place where we don't want to live"(Pendleton, 1994) because, in the colonial past, indigenous people were forcibly displaced there - that the concept of KFW emerges in the spirit of its founder, Dennis Hendricks. A talented entrepreneur, high level athlete and model by profession, a "township boy", Hendricks embodies young Namibia and sets out from Katutura to access the backstage of culture by enhancing Namibia's potential in the Fashion sector. Namibia has a rich cultural heritage and diversity inspiring contemporary design and KFW becomes a catwalk of creations reinventing the Odelela skirt, colorful Nama patchwork, Kavango bead sets or the iconic Herero dress. The fashion week concept extends to innovative practices and becomes a tool for shaping and reconciling identities through clothing. Fashion expresses a worldview, tells the story of a society, and becomes "a metronome of cultural development"(Lotman, 1993). African fashion has memory and KFW is an example. Reevaluating the general context of its tradition, African fashion reappropriates its own cultural consciousness and invent new paradigms (Mudimbe, 1941) giving the key to understand possible forms of cultural relationship shaping the future. Change agent, incorporating cultural heritage with a global worldview, KFW is committed to rising awareness of ethnic interactions and cultural diversity, including body diversity, and aspires to (re)build a new Katutura as "the place where we want to live", a unifying place of a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nation.

Paper short abstract:

Why does the ongoing Africa hype not necessarily translate into commensurate futures for African creatives? Based on extensive fieldwork with young instrumentalists from Ghana, this paper analyzes transcontinental music relations. It reveals contradictions that are closely linked to our “global” era

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, arts and popular culture labeled as “African” have gained international popularity on a hitherto unseen scale. In the field of music, the digital revolution has amplified the spread of African sounds globally. Electronic music originating in West Africa is hyped in the global pop mainstream under the new genre name “Afrobeats”. Rappers who previously veiled their African origins, are now proudly presenting "African Swag". However, despite all the hype, it turns out to be extremely difficult for creatives based in Africa to translate this international popularization into commensurate livelihood and sustainable artistic flourishing.

Against the backdrop of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork with young instrumentalists from urban Ghana between 2013 and 2021, this paper takes a close look at transcontinental relationships in music production, e.g., with musician-colleagues, producers, managers, and supporters from overseas. The case study traces how these translocal and precarious labor relations affect the musicians’ creativity, livelihood, mobility, and participation in “local” and “global” fields of expressive culture. In what ways can the promises of the recent Africa vogue be turned into improved presents and futures on the continent? The analysis reveals contradictions in transcontinental creative labor relations that are closely linked to some paradoxes of our “global” era.

Paper short abstract:

Spirituality in creative work: How craft entrepreneurs in Ghana cope with precarity Rufai Haruna Kilu, Mohammed-Aminu Sanda & Ana Alacovska University of Professional Studies, Accra. University of Ghana Business School, Accra, Ghana. Copenhagen Business School

Paper long abstract:

Spirituality in creative work:

How craft entrepreneurs in Ghana cope with precarity

Rufai Haruna Kilu a, Mohammed-Aminu Sanda b & Ana Alacovska c

a Department of Business Administration, University of Professional Studies, Accra, b University of Ghana Business School, Accra, Ghana, c Management, Society and Communication, Copenhagen Business School

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how craft entrepreneurs in Africa cope with and navigate precarity widespread in the creative industries. Drawing on in-depth interviews with kente weavers, smock makers and potters in the Northern, Svanna and Ashanti regions of Ghana, we explore the role of spirituality as a significant, but highly ambivalent resource for coping with precarity. In doing so, we elucidate how craft entrepreneurs deploy spiritual narratives as simultaneously enabling and constraining coping mechanisms in profoundly precarious circumstances. On the basis of the analysis of our empirical material, we show how the deployment of spiritual narratives, including the invocation of God and divine spirits, enables craft entrepreneurs to maintain 1) an affirmative sense of purpose; 2) a therapeutic sense of connectedness to beneficent out-worldly powers, and 3) an invigorating sense of community, including care for a shared way of life. Yet, in highly precarious contexts, the mobilization of spiritual narratives, we argue, is also constraining as spiritual narratives help demarcate gender boundaries and exclude women from professionally engaging with craft entrepreneurship while locking craft entrepreneurs on the whole in immobility and dismal working conditions.

Keywords: craft entrepreneurs, spirituality, spiritual narratives, creative work, creative industries, precarity, precarious work, Africa, Ghana

Paper short abstract:

By conceptualizing art as integral to civil society and civil society to art, this paper considers the socio-political potential of artistic handicraft production. Too often this is overseen, especially in 'development' projects that emphasize economic benefits over conviviality and ownership.

Paper long abstract:

In the realm of artistic handicraft production of the 21st century, development and UNESCO agendas, private NGO’s and development actors the Global North often conceptualize artistic handicraft production as part of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), which are debated as potential motor for economic development - especially in Africa (De Beukelaer, 2017).

But, do they really? Or are, as De Beukelaer (2017) suggests, thriving creative industries a consequence, rather than a driver of economic development? And should economic growth be the sole benefit? How do local handicraft artists conceptualize their products, which, historically, were a “vital aspect of living” (Nannyonga-Tamusuza, 2014: 126)?

Taking the questions above as a departure point, the proposed paper draws on findings from my dissertational research, in which I studied the meanings associated with artistic handicraft products among civil society actors in Uganda. In taking a feminist-postcolonial approach, I move beyond dominant concepts of 'art' and 'civil society', and empirically conceptualize them instead. The findings of my research find development work by and large to continue to follow their agendas grounded in epistemologies of the Global North rather than creating space for home grown approaches (Okereke & Agupusi, 2015), which limit the agency of artistic handicraft products to their economic values, which disregard their many social, historical and political functions. Rather than being primarily souvenir art, for many artisans they are, with the words of artist Jackie Katesi: “more of a companion, more of a friend, more of a hope, more of a sister”.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the injunction of art as a lever for social transformation in development programs financing cultural and creative industries in Africa. It will be based on the study of a program carried out by the French Development Agency and the French Institute.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to contribute to the reflection on the integration of cultural and creative industries in development and cooperation policies on the African continent, that has increased since the 2010s. In particular, it focuses on a predominant paradigm in these policies: the injunction of art as a lever for social transformation and economic development. The reflection will be based on a specific case: a program launched in 2020 by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Institute (IF), "Accès Culture", which finances cultural mediation projects aimed at creating "social links" for "audiences far from culture" throughout the African continent, all artistic disciplines included. Beyond this program, AFD, among other institutions, seeks to contribute to the structuring of an economic sector and ecosystems, while emphasizing the social responsibility of artists (Bertho, Gaulier, Le Lay, 2022; Andrieu, 2010). The paper will question the political and ideological expectations carried by these institutions, their "normative frameworks" (Müller, 2012). On the other hand, it will also question how the apparently "apolitical" semantics (Ferguson, 1990) mobilized is perceived by the cultural operators of projects. The analysis will be based on doctoral research begun in 2020, with a fieldwork conducted both with institutions and project leaders and episodic meetings between the former and the latter (in particular a workshop of several days organized in 2022 to exchange around the key notions of the program).

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores how females in Ghana contribute to (re)shaping gendered traditional cultural spaces, highlighting inputs from female master drummers in the creation of sustainable cultural entrepreneurship modules necessary for the achievement of cultural sustainability.

Paper long abstract:

Throughout centuries, the female body has been subjected to a set of fixed and biased rules that have prejudiced their being and most importantly impaired their agency to contributed to the development of traditional drumming in Ghana. This, however, appears to be changing looking at the performance of some women who have risen to the position of master drummers and the key impacts they have and continue to have within the space. Unfortunately, they have received less scholarly attention to expatiate their achievements and contributions to (re)shaping this cultural space. Relying on extensive participatory ethnographic fieldwork, pertinent literature, and relevant theories, I explored to understand how these women, through their lived experiences and accomplishments, had been (re)shaping discourse and narratives within this space. It came to light that these women were creating new spaces and practices which were causing subtle changes to existing gendered status quo within the traditional drumming landscape. They acknowledge their role as key partners in the construction of vibrant and sustainable cultural entrepreneurship modules necessary for the achievement of cultural sustainability in Ghana.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the work of Accra-based all-female Lipstick Band. We argue that even though the narrative of novelty around them can create ambiguities regarding the appraisal of their musicianship, it can also aid their career aspirations, especially in the era of the internet and social media.

Paper long abstract:

Throughout history and across cultures, women have consistently engaged in music production and performance in a range of configurations and expressions. However, their participation has historically been circumscribed by culture-specific gender-norms and stereotypes. Such gendered cultural footprints have adversely affected women’s musical forays within the popular culture space, in terms of training in instrumentation, performance opportunities, visibility, record deals among other opportunities. Even though all-female instrumental ensembles have been performing since the 19th century, only in the reclamation literature of the 1980s and 1990s did they begin to receive due recognition in musical scholarship. In spite of their long struggle to obtain legitimacy in the male-dominated field of instrumental music, all-female bands continue to be perceived with the stereotypical lens of novelty even in the 21st century. In this paper, we examine the work of Accra-based all-female Lipstick Band as creative workers within the larger creative arts scene in Ghana. To that end, we move beyond the narrative of marginalisation to explore the working relationship, motivations and aspirations. We argue that even though the narrative of novelty can create ambiguities around professional appraisal of their musicianship–possibly hampering their ability to assess the quality of their music-making, it can also aid their career aspirations, especially in the era of the internet and social media.

Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how theatre practitioners in Ghana generate, capture, and deliver value in a context of resource scarcity. Analyzing the business models of four theatre companies in Accra, we show how through their creative adaptation to resource paucity they make innovative theatre.

Paper long abstract:

Scholars and practitioners alike often treat art, including theatre, as distinct from commercial relationships, which can make it difficult to understand the commercial relationships that underlie art production. Theatre makers in Accra, Ghana face many challenges, key amongst them being funding and infrastructure. There is very little state support for the industry and few formal venues where plays can be staged. And yet, entrepreneurial theatre makers boldly confront these challenges to make theatre on their own terms and to determine their creative and commercial futures. In this paper, we examine four such theatre makers and the business models that underpin their endeavours. In our empirical study, we used the Business Model Canvas –a widely used tool in entrepreneurship studies, but rarely used in the study of creative business—to understand how theatre practitioners generate, capture, and deliver value. We find that in the case of Accra, the founder is the most important resource the businesses possess, as the companies often rely on the founder’s personal funds, family and friend networks, and reputational resources to operate. We show how the founders make decisions under difficult circumstances and how through their ability to adapt to resource scarcity they create innovative theatre. In this context, the Business Model Canvas is a useful methodological tool for opening discussions on the relationship between theatre and business. Thus, in this paper we make a methodological contribution in addition to an empirical contribution through explaining the functioning of Accra’s entrepreneurial theatre industry.