1,720,969 research outputs found
Paradise In My Mind. (film screening and discussion)
No full textPredictions of what might happen in the future are strongly linked with the human imagination. Films allow us to give such imagery a visible form. They enable us to re-enact past events, pre-experience the future and make others learn from them. This is also the goal of this film
Finding a voice - Nollywood inspired filmmaking practices in Switzerland
No full textUnder the name Nollywood a unique video film industry has developed in
Nigeria in the last few decades, which now forms one of the world’s
biggest entertainment industries. With its focus on stories reflecting
„the values, desires and fears” (Haynes 2007: 133) of African viewers
and its particular way of production, Nollywood brings „lived practices
and its representation together in ways that make the films deeply
accessible and entirely familiar to their audience“ (Marston et al. 2007:
57). In doing so, Nollywood shows its spectators new postcolonial forms of
performative self‐expression and becomes a point of reference for a wide
range of people. However, Nollywood not only excites a large number of
viewers inside and outside Nigeria, it also inspires some of them to become
active themselves and make their own films. This effect of Nigerian
filmmaking can be found in many parts of sub‐Saharan Africa as well as in
African diasporas all over the world – including Switzerland (Mooser 2011:
63‐66).
As a source of inspiration, Nollywood and its unconventional ways of
filmmaking offer African migrants a benchmark that meets their wish to
express themselves as minority group in a foreign country. As Appadurai
(1996: 53), Ginsburg (2003: 78) and Marks (2000: 21) assume, filmmakers with
a migratory background have a specific need to express themselves through
media. As minority group members in their country of residence they not only
wish to reflect upon their situation within the diaspora and illustrate
their everyday struggles as foreigners, but to also express their own views
and ideas in order to challenge dominant public opinion (Ginsburg 2003: 78).
They attempt to “talk back to the structures of power” (2003: 78) they
live in. In this process, their audio-visual works become a means of
response and “an answering echo to a previous presentation or
representation” (Mitchell 1994: 421). The American art historian Mitchell,
therefore, suggests interpreting representation as “the relay mechanism in
exchange of power, value, and publicity” (1994: 420).
This desire of interacting with the local public has also been expressed
during a film project of African, mainly Nigerian, first-generation migrants
in Switzerland I am currently partnering in. Several cast and crew members
have expressed feelings of being under-represented, even misrepresented, in
the dominant Swiss media discourse. In order to create a form of exchange
and give themselves a voice, they consequently produce a Nollywood inspired
film and wish to present it to the society they live in. My partnership in
this on‐going film production (which forms the foundation of my PhD field
study) allows me to observe and experience this process. By employing
qualitative media anthropological methods and in particular Performance
Ethnography, I seek to find out more about the ways African migrants
represent themselves as a community through audio‐visual media and the
effect the transnational use of Nollywood has on their form of
self‐representations as well as the ways they express themselves
Medienanthropologische Forschung in Aktion – ein von Nollywood inspiriertes Filmprojekt in der Schweiz
No full textNollywood in Switzerland. A look at the transnational dimensions of Nollywood-inspired filmmaking
No full textThe Nigerian video film industry known as Nollywood forms one of the world’s biggest entertainment industries today. In its stories, Nollywood reflects the values, desires and fears of African viewers and shows them new postcolonial forms of performative self-expression. In that way, it has become a point of reference for a wide range of people. As such, it not only excites a large number of viewers inside and outside Nigeria but also inspires some of them to make their own films. This nascent phenomenon of Nollywood inspired filmmaking is the starting point of my doctoral thesis and this article. By applying the methods of shared anthropology and performance ethnography I study a group of African migrants making their own film in Switzerland
Nollywood in Switzerland. Audiovisuelle Selbst-Repräsentationen afrikanischer Migrantinnen und Migrantinnen
No full textNollywood-Inspired Migrant Filmmaking in Switzerland: Practice, Performance and Meaning
No full textThis book introduces the emerging, but still little-known, phenomenon of Nollywood-inspired filmmaking by African migrants in Europe. Using the unique example of a performance ethnographic case study in Switzerland, it shows how members of the African diaspora represent themselves through audio-visual media and what influence the post-colonial images of the Nigerian video film industry have on their image production.
Drawing on Jean Rouch’s Shared Anthropology and the methods of Performance Ethnography, this book provides an in-depth look at the complexity of migrants’ everyday lives and showcases Nollywood-inspired transnational filmmaking practices. In its refreshing and accessible writing style, it also illustrates the performance ethnographic research process, highlights the pitfalls and challenges of collaborative film projects, and critically engages with fundamental questions of social research in decolonial settings
Nollywood inspires Switzerland – Audio-Visual Forms of Self-Representation by African Migrants
Get PDFNollywood made in Switzerland. Audiovisuelle Selbstrepräsentationen afrikanischer Migrantinnen und Migranten in einem transnationalen Kontext
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