"The exhibition focuses on how young people envision their identities in their respective countries: what mental images do they collectively have about their life experiences. Thus, this project seeks to present collective memories from different parts of the world in an exhibition that will promote
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visual culture. It explores the way in which parts of the world presents themselves within a contemporary space. This exhibition therefore aims at giving the younger generation an edge in the visualization and narration of their understanding of the past through various means of artistic expressions. The expectation is that, these students’ works, created and exhibited from a wide and divergent cultural experience would provide some sort of emotional templates and indicators for the understanding of other cultures." (Introduction, page 5)
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"This book Visual Cultures of Africa tells stories of the past, present, and future and how intricately linked cultures and identities are. The book explores the complex histories and discusses how people have used images, objects, and artefacts to describe what is going on in society and give expre
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ssions of their fears, hopes, and resolutions for centuries." (Preface)
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"Chapo Guzmán was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Although he was a well-known criminal, there is a scarcity of first-hand information about his career. This situation raises a question: how did Guzmán become a public figure without having public exposure? This communicative phenomenon is possib
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le because drug cartels have sophisticated propaganda techniques that allow them to challenge the state not only in the military realm but also in the cultural realm. Among other media, these criminal organizations use narcocorridos, a popular music genre, as a medium for propaganda. This article studies, through a narrative analysis of 66 lyrics, how music, as a form of political communication, is used as propaganda. This study found three main narratives in the narcocorridos dedicated to Guzmán: (i) the origins of this drug dealer; (ii) the masculine features that led him to be a global kingpin; and (iii) his genius for corrupting political systems. These lyrics are propaganda because: (a) they spread knowledge in the form of stories about Guzmán; (b) they create a mythology about the kingpin and the narco-world; and (c) they distort reality by picturing Guzmán as a great man and blur reality by suppressing any reference to the drug wars." (Abstract)
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"Superheld*innen sind in der Krise: Gut und Böse, Richtig und Falsch sind nach starken sozialen und politischen Umbrüchen längst nicht mehr klar und eindeutig. Für das Genre ein eklatantes Problem. Religion und Glaube könnten hier Orientierung bieten, verlieren aber - so der gängige Vorwurf -
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ihrerseits immer stärker an Bedeutung in einer säkularen Welt. Die Beiträger*innen des Bandes bieten einen ersten Zugang zu diesem Phänomen und kommen zu dem erstaunlichen Befund, dass religiöse Motivik dagegen ungebrochene Hochkonjunktur in der superheroischen Popkultur feiert. Figuren, Themen, Ikonographie, Symbole: Das religiöse Spielfeld des Superheroismus ist mannigfaltig." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"In this article, we analyze experiences in which Brazilian and Kenyan artivists (artists who are activists) used animation to challenge colonial hierarchies that devalue Global Southern knowledges, histories, and stories. We draw from ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews, and artivists
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f experiences in two animation workshops: (a) Portrait of Marielle, produced with Kenyan artivists in Nairobi; (b) Homage to Wangari Maathai, produced with Brazilian artivists in Salvador. We ask: how can artivist creative practices be used as tools for global movement building, contesting the colonial legacy of fragmented relationships between Global South peoples? We evoke decolonial and standpoint intersectional feminist perspectives to propose an understanding of artivism that considers the specificities of Global South contexts, connecting it to two axes: (a) establishing dialogical spaces and (b) mobilizing memories and histories. Our understanding of South-to-South artivist dialogues results from the ways in which notions of "pluriversality", "incompletness" and "humility", which stem from Latin American and African scholarship are intertwined. When marginalized groups exchange "situated knowledges" and express themselves through artivism from "intersectional standpoints" or "lugares de fala", this can have a binding nature, creating transformative connections between Global South peoples." (Abstract)
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"30 anos de literatura brasileira na RFA: como uma das editoras centrais da Europa do pós-guerra, a editora Suhrkamp, contribuiu e impulsionou a recepção da literatura brasileira no mercado editorial alemão. Através da análise de documentos do arquivo da editora Douglas Pompeu reflete sobre a
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posição marginal da produção literária brasileira na circulação literária internacional, assim como sobre o seus esforços de divulgação para além das fronteiras nacionais. O estudo pode ser resumido como uma pesquisa de cruzamento entre dois espaços literários com valências distintas, mas em contato e movimento constante, no qual editores, agentes, redatores, tradutores e o leitor tomam o protagonismo da instância autor na produção do livro e na legibilidade, traduzibilidade e vendabilidade do produto literário." (Resumo)
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"Media of the Masses investigates the social life of an everyday technology - the cassette tape - to offer a multisensory history of modern Egypt. Over the 1970s and 1980s, cassettes became a ubiquitous presence in Egyptian homes and stores. Audiocassette technology gave an opening to ordinary indiv
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iduals, from singers to smugglers, to challenge state-controlled Egyptian media. Enabling an unprecedented number of people to participate in the creation of culture and circulation of content, cassette players and tapes soon informed broader cultural, political, and economic developments and defined "modern" Egyptian households. Drawing on a wide array of audio, visual, and textual sources that exist outside the Egyptian National Archives, Andrew Simon provides a new entry point into understanding everyday life and culture. Cassettes and cassette players, he demonstrates, did not simply join other twentieth century mass media, like records and radio; they were the media of the masses. Comprised of little more than magnetic reels in plastic cases, cassettes empowered cultural consumers to become cultural producers long before the advent of the Internet." (Publisher description)
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"This study aims to understand the experiences of digital creatives in Kampala, Uganda, through a gendered lens. There is a large gap in the availability of data and knowledge on the digital creative industry in Uganda and this paper aims to address some of these blindspots. To understand these expe
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riences, this body of work explores a number of sector wide concerns through exploratory qualitative research methodologies around issues of access and use of digital technologies by digital creatives, the role of emerging technologies on the sector and finally, the policy ecosystem governing the creative industry in Uganda. The paper also draws from existing literature on the traditional creative industries in Uganda given the limited scholarship on the digital creative industries in the country. Key findings of the paper include a need to clearly define the digital creative industry, which at present is largely informal. Creatives face a number of structural barriers such as negative or harmful perceptions, policies and practices which hinder the growth of the sector. The study also found a significant discriminatory and sexist trend towards women digital creatives. Lastly, the research identifies a number of untapped opportunities which have the potential to leapfrog Uganda's digital creative sector. The paper concludes by making recommendations to different key stakeholders in the sector." (Executive summary, page 1)
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"This report looks at the implications for the Creative Economy of the rapid changes in automated technology and advanced internet communication that came to be known as Industry 4.0. Conservative estimates put the Creative Economy’s contribution to global gross domestic product at about 3 per cen
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t, roughly in line with its contribution to world trade. This contribution is expected to be strengthened by a surge in digitalization and advanced technologies that characterise Creative Industry 4.0. Among the many observations that this report makes, ones that are important from the perspective of sustainable and inclusive development especially that of small developing countries are that: (1) Creative Industry 4.0 can speed-up the transfer of technology; (2) the size of the domestic market will no longer be a limit when it comes to developing a product; (3) new niche market opportunities are emerging. Another key observation is that the availability of adequate technology is not sufficient; it must be made available to stakeholders. The report highlights a series of policy options aimed at harnessing the potential of Creative Industry 4.0 for economic and social development." (Abstract)
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"This volume presents a comparative exploration of Dalit autobiographical writing from India and of Latin American testimonio as subaltern voices from two regions of the Global South. Offering frames for linking global subalternity today, the chapters address Siddalingaiah's Ooru Keri; Muli's Life H
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istory; Manoranjan Byapari and Manju Bala's narratives; and Yashica Dutt's Coming Out as Dalit; among others, alongside foundational texts of the testimonio genre. While embedded in their specific experiences, the shared history of oppression and resistance on the basis of race/ethnicity and caste from where these subaltern life histories arise constitutes an alternative epistemological locus. The chapters point to the inadequacy of reading them within existing critical frameworks in autobiography studies." (Publisher description)
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"This research explored the utility and viability of digital technologies in the production and promotion of critical audio-visual content by creatives. More specifically, it sought to establish regional trends in the creative sector with regard to uptake of technology in the development of critical
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content; highlight policy and regulatory frameworks for digital technologies and their implication to production, promotion and consumption of critical content in East Africa; identify opportunities for policy development and stakeholder engagement in the use of digital technologies in the production and promotion of critical content and provide recommendations to increase uptake of digital technologies for the production of critical audio visual content by makers especially during the COVID-19 pandemic." (Executive summary, page 4)
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"Kunst dient als wichtiges Mittel im Kampf gegen Diskriminierung und stereotype Zuschreibungen. So auch in der kulturellen Selbstbehauptung der Sinti und Roma: Künstlerinnen und Künstler haben zahlreiche Wege gefunden, kreativ auf Marginalisierung und Antiziganismus zu reagieren, sei es in der Fot
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ografie, in der bildenden Kunst, im Tanz, im Film oder in der Literatur. Das kulturelle Schaffen der Sinti und Roma entfaltete eine produktive Wechselwirkung mit der Bürgerrechtsbewegung, gleichermaßen spielt es eine wichtige Rolle in der Erinnerung an die Verfolgung und systematische Ermordung der Sinti und Roma durch das NS-Regime. Für das digitale Pionierprojekt RomArchive wurden zahlreiche wichtige Arbeiten von unterschiedlichen Künstlerinnen und Künstlern zusammengetragen. Diese zweisprachige Ausgabe (Deutsch/Romanes) versammelt zentrale Werke des Archivs und einordnende Begleittexte und spiegelt die Vielfalt des kulturellen Schaffens von Sinti und Roma wider." (Buchrückseite)
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"This book provides an original contribution to current social and cultural theory on Arab social movements by giving a fuller historical and critical treatment of contemporary artistic and cultural production from the region and beyond. Thematically structured and covering culture, media, politics,
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and literary studies, the book uses a range of theoretical material that engages readers in three key ways. First, it adopts a critical standpoint with respect to the term "Arab Spring," recognizing the multiple interpretations and varied geographical, historical, and political realities of the term. Second, its focus on carefully selected case studies - namely, Egypt, Tunis, Syria, and Yemen - adds depth to analysis of the cultural, literary and artistic dimensions that operate fluidly across the Arab world. Third, it presents a methodological case study for the growing community of researchers involved in interdisciplinary education." (Publisher description)
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"Frames and Framing in Documentary Comics explores how graphic narratives reframe global crises while also interrogating practices of fact-finding. An analog print phenomenon in an era shaped by digitalization, documentary comics formulates a distinct counterapproach to conventional journalism. In w
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hat ways are 'facts' being presented and framed? What is documentary honesty in a world of fake news and post-truth politics? How can the stories of marginalized peoples and neglected crises be told? The author investigates documentary comics in its unique relationship to framing: graphic narratives are essentially shaped by a reciprocal relationship between the manifest frames on the page and the attention to the cognitive frames that they generate. To account for both the textuality of comics and its strategic use as rhetoric, the author combines theories of framing analysis and cognitive narratology with comics studies and its attention toward the medium's visual frames." (Publisher description)
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"During the Covid 19 pandemic, a digital transformation happened in all spheres of life, including cultural relations. The DICE Digital R&D Fund emerged in this context as part of a wider Digital Skills Programme, an effort by the British Council to keep the flow of international cultural exchanges
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going. Hence, the overarching question of this research: what can international cultural relations (CR) look like online based on the experience of the fund? [...] The fund has shown that it is possible to create new, strong collaborations and team work digitally, to do so more cheaply and for some at least, also more efficiently. Through their experience in the fund, a sense of a universal ‘we’ developed among many Digital Partners (DPs). They recognised that despite differences from one country to another, people faced similar problems in working for social change and in experiencing the pandemic. Although for many DPs, the experience of the fund did not change how they thought of other cultures, they learnt new things about other countries and sometimes also about their own. This challenged their assumptions about these countries and recognising that they were, after all, stereotypes." (Executive summary, pages 6-7)
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