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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Humour, orality and media in Zimbabwe
| Panel |
51. Agency and the constitution of publics in Southern Africa
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| Paper ID | 81 |
| Author(s) |
Willems, Wendy
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | In many African countries with media owned by governments, radio, television and print media have often articulated the spectacle of the state through broadcasts of official state visits and annual national commemorations, reprints of official government press releases and playing of state-sponsored songs and jingles. In Zimbabwe, I argue in this paper, jokes constitute important ways in which these mediated state discourses have been circulated, subverted and reworked by viewers, listeners and readers. Recently, these forms of popular culture have also been adopted by private newspapers in Zimbabwe which have carried satirical columns, comic strips and cartoons. This paper discusses the way in which media representations have become part of everyday life, and highlights the inter-relation between humour, orality and media in Zimbabwe. |
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