SECOND SMC MEDIA AND CULTURE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2013 (NIGERIA)
Theme: “African Media and Popular Culture: A Future of Possibilities”
Date: 14 – 16 August, 2013
Venue: School of Media and Communication
Pan-African University
Lagos, Nigeria
Keynote speakers: Prof. Karin Barber (University of Birmingham, UK), Prof. Isidore Diala (Imo State University, Nigeria), Prof. Stephanie Newell (University of Sussex, UK), Prof. Dele Layiwola (University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
In plural ways, the media in Africa have been central to the processes of (popular) cultural production and circulation on the continent and even beyond. The media have, therefore, been telling the continent to the world, imagining and re-imagining it in new and innovative ways. This process has been immensely helped by new media technologies such as digital and satellite television/radio, the internet, mobile telephony, and social media platforms all of which have participated actively in mediating and structuring the idea of the popular in African cultural studies.
This conference, therefore, intends to negotiate the focal role of African media in relation to popular cultural expressions on the continent. In doing so, the conference seeks to interrogate the very episteme of “the popular” and how it embeds African media practice(s). In particular, what are the constitutive cultural categories that are implicated in the popular? Indeed, how popular is the popular? In what dimensions do the popular intersect with, contest or even undermine official or high culture? Are there possibilities that the popular can become unpopular in the popular imagination? Is “popular” culture synonymous with “pop” culture? How do the media function in the production and circulation of popular cultural commodities? In what ways do the media shape popular culture and is in turn shaped by popular culture? What are the complexities and peculiarities that challenge the relations between the media and popular culture in Africa? In what practical, pro-active ways can individuals, the academia, industry, governments, corporate citizens and non-governmental organisations intervene in enhancing the synergy between the media and popular culture in Africa? How can this relationship be sustained into the future?
These and other allied issues will form the fulcrum of discussions during this international conference. Sub-themes include, but are not limited, to the following:
• Media and popular culture: Theoretical/conceptual issues
• Africa and the politics of (popular) culture
• Africa in the African media and popular arts
• Representations of Africa in the world media/arts
• The media and African cinematic/filmic traditions
• New media and popular cultural expressions
• The idea of the popular in the oral arts
• Popular musical cultures in the media
• Football/sports as popular culture
• Fashion/entertainment media as popular culture
• Interfaces between literature and popular arts
• The media and youth cultures in Africa
• The popular in Africa and cyber-cultures
• African popular arts in a glocal context
• Stand-up comedy as popular culture
• African Indigenous languages/literatures and popular arts
• African indigenous dances and the notion of the popular
• Diasporic influences on African popular culture
• African popular culture and the educational curriculum
• Popular culture and the knowledge economy in Africa
• The media, popular culture and (new) religion in Africa
• The future of African media/popular culture
Interested participants should send in 250-300 word abstracts or panel proposals with their biographical details: full name, institutional affiliation, e-mail and telephone numbers on or before 30 May, 2013. Owners of successful abstracts will be required to submit full papers by 30 July, 2013. The subject of the mail should be “Media and Culture Conference 2013” and be addressed to: Vivian Adeoti –vadeoti@smc.edu.ng, and Tope Falade – tfalade@smc.edu.ng
Convener: Dr. James Tar Tsaaior (SMC, Pan-African University, Nigeria)
Fausses annonces de bourses pour la Suisse: Un candidat témoigne MASTER RESEARCH PROGRAM CLIMATE CHANGE and ENERGY at the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
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