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Paper short abstract:

This paper seeks to investigate the role of this online tribal proverb contest in the renewal of interest in the language

Paper long abstract:

The Igalas in Nigeria form the dominant tribal group in Kogi State, Nigeria with a population of about three million. The Igalas are ruled by a traditional ruler, the Attah of Igala. The Igala elite and literati of the 1970s to the 2001 demonstrated a preference for the English language and ensured that their children do not speak the vernacular language in the bid to encourage their children to learn the ‘white man’s language, thanks to the Canadian Missionaries who brought education to the area and the effect of the policies of the colonial Masters, notably Lord Fredrick Luggard. In schools in Igala land from the 1970s to the 1990s, any student who spoke the vernacular Igala was shamed by wearing a depreciative placard with word such as, ‘I am the most stupid student of the week.’ This treatment had some impact, Igalas were beginning to lose interest in their mother tongue and to gradually forget many words. However, in recent times, in collaboration with the Attah Igala- the tribal chief, the Ukomu Igala (Igala Voice Group) and the interest of a Catholic Priest now popularly known as Igala Fada-a local social influencer, the creation of Ita Igala (Igala Proverbs) contest on the social media has to a large extent reversed the trend, leading to the creation of Igala cultural festival. This paper therefore seeks to investigate the role of this online tribal proverb contest in the renewal of interest in the language. The study adopts a combination of ethnographic methodologies, depth interview and content analysis to explore the dynamics of the functionality of the Ita Igala contest with the aim to model such a pattern for generating interest in local languages.

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African Women filmmakers are growing in numbers both on the continent and in the diaspora. They are consciously unsettling stereotypical narratives on and about woman and womanhood, initiating a cinema of redress, one which aims at repositioning African woman of the future. How do they do this?

Paper long abstract:

In a previous study, I argued that African films were strategically used in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, to define, shape and stereotype women into a mould which appealed to male gaze and aligned with patriarchal dictates of the society. In the study, I had tried to determine the impact of growing numbers of women filmmakers on the continent, and had concluded that they are countering stereotypical representations of women through narratives of redress. In this present study, I test my deductions and submissions on African women filmmakers. At the 2023 Afrykamera film festival in Poland, I hosted a discussion panel and a series of post-screening question and answer sessions with female filmmakers. In our discussions, we talked about the precolonial, postcolonial and contemporary African woman, with a focus on how films have represented, but importantly shaped her. This study draws insights from important points raised during our interactions to determine how female filmmakers are attempting to use the film medium to define, shape and position African women of the future. This qualitative research conducted within a feminist framework, attempts to establish how the presence of African women filmmakers, on the continent and beyond, is unsettling existing narratives on/about women. Through data collected via content analysis of 6 films, discussions and interviews (in-person and online) with 5 filmmakers, this study discusses how popular narratives about women have been formed and what contemporary narratives, especially those told by women, mean for African women of today and the future.

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Exploring how South African digital influencers aid indigenous knowledge preservation, revealing complexities and ethical considerations in archiving on digital platforms.

Paper long abstract:

This case study delves into the realm of indigenous knowledge archiving within the context of Indigenous Knowledge System Documentation Centers (IKSDCs), libraries, and the National Recorder System in South Africa, examining the impact of emerging digital influencers. In a rapidly globalizing world, preserving indigenous wisdom and cultural heritage faces challenges requiring innovative approaches. This research explores how digital influencers, using online platforms and social media reach, significantly contribute to documenting, disseminating, and preserving indigenous knowledge.

Employing a qualitative research scheme, a multiple case study approach was adopted. Structured online interviews, literature review, and online web resource analysis constituted the data collection methods. The study's population encompassed staff from selected institutions, with purposive sampling targeting coordinators, managers of indigenous knowledge, archivists, curator officers, professional social group administrators, and online resource collection administrators.

The findings reveal intricate dynamics among influencers, indigenous communities, and digital spaces. They uncover opportunities, complexities, and ethical considerations tied to utilizing digital platforms for indigenous knowledge archiving in South Africa. This study’s insights contribute to the discourse on safeguarding and promoting indigenous wisdom in the digital era while honoring cultural integrity and authenticity.

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Beyond the entertainment functions that social media skits serve, they reveal the gendered dimensions in societal interactions, especially within the Nigerian social space. This study examines the cross-sex interactions between male and female characters in select Taaoma’s YouTube skits.

Paper long abstract:

Social media skits allow for linguistic and other forms of engagement. Lately, many Nigerians produce skits where they expose the dynamics of social relations within the Nigerian society. Prominent amongst these skit makers is Maryam Apaokagi, popularly known as Taaooma whose skits on YouTube largely focus on familial relationships. The choice of Taaooma stems from the fact that she is one of the first and leading female skit makers in Nigeria. In spite of this, her works is believed to be under-investigated. This study, therefore, seeks to investigate the forms of cross-sex interactions between the male and female characters in Taaooma’s skits with a view to examining whether men and women use language differently or whether, as commonly argued, men use more assertive language than women. To achieve these aims, the study deploys aspects of Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Visual Discourse Analysis to examine ten purposively sampled skits. Fairclough’s CDA helps to reveal the way language is used to enact gender stratification in the skits while VDA helps to highlight the strength/weakness of the male and female characters portrayed through their kinesics, colours of their clothing and general physical outlook. Preliminary findings indicate that men adopt the ‘boss’ posture while women are usually ‘vulnerable’. It also reveals elements of imbalances in cross-sex interactions in the Nigerian society. The study advances that the stereotypes about men and women are constantly being standardised in discourse through their portrayals on the social media.

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Paper short abstract:

In the age of acculturation, when a culture is being assimilated by another culture as is the case in African society. African youth are gradually forgetting their culture, but, filmmakers, more than any other popular culture custodians possess the ability to preserve African culture for the future.

Paper long abstract:

Acculturation is making African youth gradually forget their culture, some cannot speak their native language fluently, prepare their local cuisines, dress in their local fashion, sing their folk songs, or even make any proverbs. This study looks to assess how some filmmakers are using their films to revive and preserve their culture for future generations. One of such filmmakers is Tunde Kelani, an auteur of Yoruba tradition. The study will evaluate the cultural elements of rituals, traditions, historic sites, cuisines, fashion, music, language, dance, narratives, proverbs, and poetry as they are used in Tunde Kelani's films. Also, this study will appraise how many of his films are available and accessible on digital media platforms. This study is a cultural study, using a qualitative research approach and content analysis of the cultural contents of the films by Tunde Kelani. Auteur theory will also be used to assess the filmmaker through his works to ascertain if he can be truly classified as an auteur of African film.

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By focusing on selected performances by King Kaka, this paper, through Richard Schechner's concepts of efficacy and entertainment, seeks to examine the freedom of expression digital spaces give digital influencers to act as a mouthpiece of the community

Paper long abstract:

The contemporary world is categorized by an increased use of digital technology. Digital platforms have become one of the fastest ways of spreading messages in a very short time. The increased use of digital technology has led to the emergence of digital influencers who not only use digital spaces for entertainment purposes but also to talk about contemporary issues such as politics, unemployment, and mental health. These spaces enable them to openly criticize and satirize society. Just as Ngugi wa Thiong’o views the pen as a powerful means of addressing post-colonial issues, digital influencers such as King Kaka (Kennedy Ombima) use their voice to raise awareness of the grievances and feelings of the community. By focusing on selected performances by King Kaka, this paper, through Richard Schechner's concepts of efficacy and entertainment, seeks to examine the freedom of expression digital spaces give digital influencers to act as a mouthpiece of the community.

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This paper examines ‘Terry Chocolat’s work on her You Tube Channel. I reflect on the ways in which her performance can be viewed as an ‘archival’ process involving popular and New Media to create interactive spaces for ‘re-writing’ histories on postcolonial experiences from ‘below’.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is an examination of ‘Terry Chocolat’s work on her You Tube Channel where she engages her ‘publics’ on Luo cultural identity and its intersections with other kinds of (identity) including national, gender, diasporic and the global. She is an example of an emerging trend in which talented and resourceful professionals, employ new media as a space for the performance of their role as content creators and social commentators in Kenya. By employing digital ethnography, I read the data obtained in relation to three main objectives of the study, namely: i) locating her work within the emerging trends established by other digital influencers on New Media platforms (ii) studying her performance style and its effectiveness in relation to the affordances of New Media (iii) exploring her representations of ‘troubled’ histories and how she engages her ‘publics’ in the exploration of political, economic and social issues in Kenya. Thus in this paper I discuss how Terry Chocolat interweaves between dramatic, cinematic and oral literary modes in her presentations on You-Tube . I further examine how her adoption of various stances and ‘masks’ allow her to cross various boundaries and engage her audiences in the interrogation of various contemporary concerns arising from troubled histories of Kenyan nationhood. Finally, I reflect on the ways in which her performance like that of emerging digital influencers in East Africa can be viewed as an ‘archival’ process involving popular and New Media to create interactive spaces for ‘re-writing’ histories on postcolonial experiences from ‘below’.

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Paper short abstract:

Kiptesot arap Sang, (popularly known after his band as Junior Kotestes) was, arguably, the most prominent artiste singing in Kalenjin language. This paper interrogates how the artiste metaphorises sex in his lyrics to avoid a language that would otherwise offend the sensibilities of his audiences.

Paper long abstract:

By the time he died in February 2015, Kiptesot arap Sang, (popularly known after his band as Junior Kotestes) was, arguably, the most prominent artiste singing in Kalenjin language. As a testament to his popularity, Sang emerged in 2014 as the highest overall earner of royalties of Kenya's Music Copyright Society, beating established artists like Hubert Nakitare (Nonini) and Dennis Kaggia (DNA). I speculate in this paper that the popularity of Sang’s lyrics among his Kalenjin audiences is partly due to his ability to reference sexual themes but subtly camouflage them in innuendo and powerful figurative language. Although romantic love is a prominent theme in Kalenjin popular music references to sexual love are scanty. However, by creatively deploying the linguistic resources of his Kalenjin language, Sang speaks through metonymy, ambiguity, irony, and metaphor to sing sexual love while concealing the vulgar and the profane that is often associated with the kind of popular music that apes the American genre. Using six of Junior Kiptesot Sangs’s top songs, this paper, therefore, interrogates how the artiste metaphorises sex in his lyrics to avoid a language that would otherwise offend the sensibilities of his audiences. I argue that the challenge of deciphering the deep and double meanings the artist achieves for his music through constellation of metaphors is what makes the consumption of this kind of music gratifying and leads to the creation of a fan culture that makes this consumption collective through live call-in programs in Kalenjin language FM Radios.

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This paper traces the celebrity cultures that have accompanied electronic football commentary from the age of analogue radio to digital media practices, culminating in the female social media influencer that arguably appropriates football commentary to perform assertive and ludic gender identity.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is about the transformation of football commentary from the 1980s to the turn of the New Millennium, tracking the gradual evolution of this popular cultural form in the context of available media technology, modes of sport journalism and patronage. It examines the levels of agency and attendant trends of creativity, innovation, and overall cultural and material production that has taken place in the process. The underlying argument is that football commentary in Kenya, in all its forms, has always been appropriated by, and also made to express, the dominant patterns of political economy; and that at different points in time individuals have used and groups have used available media technological affordances to perform commentary as well as (re)construct desired social identities of class and gender. In this light, we compare the popular cultures that thrived in the 1980s and 1990s in the context of radio football commentary, local football and ‘analogue social networking’ with the Millennial celebrity cultures that have been shaped by social media influencers in the age of European football dominance and digital technology.

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This paper examines the growing online platform community of filmmakers and spectators, exploring its implications for the future of the Nigerian film industry. How has the changing screen culture empowered independent content creators?

Paper long abstract:

The global decline in cinema attendance was a subject of considerable interest in film scholarship before the Covid-19 lockdown. Studies reveal that audiences worldwide quickly adapted to the convenience of the mobile platform for screening. The answer to the question of the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on screen culture seems obvious. However, what requires in-depth and careful study is the emerging screen dynamics produced by alternative screens. With the enforcement of lockdown due to Covid-19, Nigerian mainstream filmmakers sought alternatives with global screening platforms such as Netflix, while evangelical filmmakers opted for less complicated self-upload platforms such as YouTube for the release of their films. This article follows evangelical filmmakers and the increasing access gained on YouTube, partly credited to the Covid-19 lockdown. With particular attention to evangelical screen culture, the paper examines the growing online platform community of filmmakers and spectators and its implications for the future of the Nigerian film industry. How has the changing screen culture empowered or enabled the rise and flourishing of independent content creators? What sort of audience is emerging with the increased visibility of platforms? What power dynamics now exist between the audience and screen creators/filmmakers? How are evangelical filmmakers building social capital across platforms? This paper invites us to rethink exhibition spaces. What kind of audience is the YouTube platform breeding? Moreover, what sort of participatory culture exists on this platform? I argue that YouTube platforms allow for some levels of communal interactions and participatory culture absent in traditional cinema settings.

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Paper short abstract:

African stories were told through oral traditions and passed on through generations. Over time, these popular cultural entertainments have evolved into digital format. This study examined the evolution of Yoruba popular culture through drama and cinema from the beginning to the digital period.

Paper long abstract:

For a long period of time, the Yoruba popular culture has been entertaining, engaging and enduring, even as it kept pace with the changing times by adapting to it. In the beginning, it started with folklore storytelling. The major performers of that period were the griots who made that task entertaining and lively by dint of their verbal skills. The stories began to take life forms through the Egungun Apidan at the old Oyo Empire, evolving to Egungun Alarinjo, which were the precursor to the Yoruba travelling theatre troupes. This study examined Yoruba popular culture and its adaptation to technological development. The objectives were to find out whether the Yoruba popular culture is growing or declining and if the digital revolution has a positive or negative impact on it. The study employed the methodology of qualitative analysis. The findings were that the Yoruba troupes have transformed to Yoruba cinema and presently, their digital movies are all part of this generic folklore that stays relevant by adopting the current popular storytelling format. It also found that Yoruba popular culture is on the ascent and thanks to the digitalization of entertainment distribution methods, it is now able to reach everyone that wants it. This study, therefore, concludes that the digital revolution has positively impacted Yoruba culture and ensures its growth.

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This paper examines a TikTok challenge that went viral on Nigerian social media in April 2024, through which women shared memetic reflections on their coming-of-age in visual form. The challenge serves as a lens through which to explore Nigerian notions of female success.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the "Establish" challenge initiated by a Nigerian content creator on TikTok in April 2024. Predominantly women participated, sharing memetic reflections on their coming-of-age in visual form. I will use the challenge as a lens through which to explore how success is embodied by Nigerian women. I argue that the challenge allowed women to present themselves as adult women who had successfully 'established' themselves in society. This is achieved by uploading two contrasting sets of images, representing a younger past version and an older present version of the same person, the latter being far more glamorous than the former. As we will see, the transformation depicted in this way mobilises a series of differentiations that can be translated into each other: younger/older = teenager/mature = thin/voluptuous = poor/rich = busy/leisure = dark-skinned/light-skinned = black/bleached = ordinary/glamorous. According to the captions, “growth” and “glow-up” go hand in hand, or as the deliberately ambiguous sound meme suggests: in order for "Esther", who was "black and broke", to "establish" herself, she had to "bleach" herself.