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History West

Modernization as Spectacle in Africa

edited by Peter J. Bloom, Stephan F. Miescher & Takyiwaa Manuh

contributions by Percy Hintzen, Andrew Apter, Rosaleen Smyth, Aaron Windel, Mhoze Chikowero, Julia Tischler, Gabrielle Hecht, Jean Allman, Nathan Plageman, Christina McMahon, Nana Wilson-Tagoe & Aida Mbowa

Publisher
Indiana University Press
Initial publish date
May 2014
Category
West, Black Studies (Global)
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780253012296
    Publish Date
    May 2014
    List Price
    $46.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780253012258
    Publish Date
    May 2014
    List Price
    $112.00

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Description

For postcolonial Africa, modernization was seen as a necessary outcome of the struggle for independence and as crucial to the success of its newly established states. Since then, the rhetoric of modernization has pervaded policy, culture, and development, lending a kind of political theatricality to nationalist framings of modernization and Africans' perceptions of their place in the global economy. These 15 essays address governance, production, and social life; the role of media; and the discourse surrounding large-scale development projects, revealing modernization's deep effects on the expressive culture of Africa.

About the authors

Contributor Notes

Peter J. Bloom is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is editor (with Ch. Didier Gondola and Charles Tshimanga) of Frenchness in the African Diaspora (IUP, 2009).

Takyiwaa Manuh is Emeritus Professor of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. She is editor (with Catherine M. Cole and Stephan F. Miescher) of Africa after Gender? (IUP, 2006).

Stephan F. Miescher is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is author of Making Men in Ghana (IUP, 2005).

Editorial Reviews

This is a varied collection of fifteen sole-authored chapters on modernization as spectacle, an area that has attracted little research to date . . . [A] good read.Feb. 2016

Africa