- Anthropology
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4502
John C. McCall
Southern Illinois University, Anthropology, Faculty Member
- Southern Illinois University, Africana Studies, Faculty Memberadd
- Nigeria, Music Cognition, Music, African Film, Embodied Cognition, Anthropology Of Dance, and 29 moreEthnography, Nollywood, Pan Africanism, Film Studies, Dance Studies, Social and Collective Memory, Anthropology, African Studies, African Art History, Visual Culture, African-American Music, African Music, Ethnography (Research Methodology), Ethnomusicology, Popular Culture, Art History, Africa, Postcolonial Studies, Postcolonial Theory, Future Media, Afrocentrism, 'Third Cinema' Theory and Third World Radical Films, financing option for small scale and medium scale enterprises in Nigeria, Nollywood studies, Informal Sector, Informal Economy, West Africa, African cinema, and Niger Deltaedit
- My research focuses on African arts: movies, music, and dance. I am particularly interested in the performance arts a... moreMy research focuses on African arts: movies, music, and dance. I am particularly interested in the performance arts as a form of collective memory essential to the construction of meaning in community life.
Since 2000, I have devoted my attention to Africa's enthusiastic and innovative embrace of digital media, which have made it possible for people of modest means to produce and distribute movies without foreign funding or dependence on the infrastructures of transnational media corporations. Most of this research focuses on the Nigerian video movie industry that has become popularly known as "Nollywood."
I am also mixed up in a few experimental projects in cultural production involving song, dance, and humor.
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Book published by University of Michigan Press. It is available from the publisher at the link above, and from online vendors. It is also available in many research libraries. There is no "pdf" version available. Please don't ask me to... more
Book published by University of Michigan Press. It is available from the publisher at the link above, and from online vendors. It is also available in many research libraries. There is no "pdf" version available. Please don't ask me to send you a copy.
Research Interests: African Studies, Music, Music History, Music Theory, African Philosophy, and 16 moreAfrican History, Anthropology Of Dance, Phenomenology, Shamanism, Sociology of Music, Cultural Memory, Arts, Dance, Experience, Rituals, Folk, The Senses, African Popular Culture, Healing Ceremonies, Beliefs & Values, and Malaysian Magic and Folklore
Motion picture technology developed at the dawn of the 20th century, just as the formal colonization of Africa was launched at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. While it took a few decades for cinema houses to spread in West Africa, by... more
Motion picture technology developed at the dawn of the 20th century, just as the formal colonization of Africa was launched at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. While it took a few decades for cinema houses to spread in West Africa, by mid-century the colonial administrations began to use film as a means for conveying colonial culture to African subjects. For the British and French colonials, film was a means to shape public opinion. Both British and French colonial administrations criminalized indigenous filmmaking for fear of the subversive potential of anti-colonial messages—film communicated in one direction only. When West African nations became independent in the late 20th century, these restrictions vanished and Africans began to make films. This process played out differently in Francophone Africa than in Anglophone countries. France cultivated African filmmakers, sponsored training, and funded film projects. Talented and determined filmmakers in Anglophone Africa also struggled to produce celluloid films, but unlike their counterparts in former French colonies, they received little support from abroad. A significant number of excellent celluloid films were produced under this system, but largely in Francophone Africa. Though many of these filmmakers have gained global recognition, most remained virtually unknown in Africa outside the elite spaces of the FESPACO film festival and limited screenings at French embassies. Though West African filmmakers have produced an impressive body of high-quality work, few Africans beyond the intellectual elite know of Africa’s most famous films. This paradox of a continent with renowned filmmakers but no local film culture began to change in the 1990s when aspiring artists in Nigeria and Ghana began to make inexpensive movies using video technology. Early works were edited on VCRs, but as digital video technology advanced, this process of informal video production quickly spread to other regions. The West African video movie industry has grown to become one of the most prominent, diverse, and dynamic expressions of a pan-African popular culture in Africa and throughout the global diaspora.
Research Interests: African Studies, Film Studies, French Cinema, National Cinemas, West Africa, and 15 moreColonialism, Afrocentrism, French colonialism, Film History, African cinema, Film Festival Studies, Cinema Studies, British Colonialism, Panafricanism, FESPACO, Nollywood, FESPACO, Third Cinema, Nollywood studies, African Popular Culture, and Ousmane Sembene
This article examines Nollywood as a creative industry based in Africa’s informal sector. By definition, the informal sector produces no financial records, so no quantitative economic data are presented. This research utilizes... more
This article examines Nollywood as a creative industry based in Africa’s informal sector. By definition, the informal sector produces no financial records, so no quantitative economic data are presented. This research utilizes ethnographic methods and anthropological analysis to highlight the importance of the video movie industry to Nigerian people, its place in their economic life and its integral role in their culture. Nollywood’s intimacy with Nigerians has been achieved by way of the industry’s distinctive informal system of production and distribution. This same informality prevents the video industry from establishing financial legitimacy. Without the ability to generate capital, the industry is straining against its economic limits. Thus, the cultural success of Nollywood pushes it towards inevitable formalization and uncertain consequences.
Research Interests: African Studies, Development Economics, Development Studies, Film Studies, International Trade, and 19 moreCommunity Development, African Diaspora Studies, Africa, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Rural Development, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Film Production, Informal Economy, African Film, Regional Integration, The Nigerian film industry, Civil Society, African Art History, Nollywood, Informal Sector, Hernando de Soto, Modern African Social and Economic History, Keith Hart, and Preferential Trading Agreements
Research Interests: African Studies, Music, Anthropology, Art History, Film Studies, and 24 morePopular Culture, Postcolonial Studies, Visual Culture, Theodor Adorno, Africa, Afrocentrism, Pan Africanism, Future Media, Adorno's Philosophy of Music, Postcolonial Theory, African-Centered Paradigm, Afrocentricity, African Film, 'Third Cinema' Theory and Third World Radical Films, Adorno's Aesthetic Theory, African cinema, The Nigerian film industry, Nkrumah, Afro-Atlantic visual culture, Nollywood, CHE, Nollywood studies, Cabral, Third world Marxisms/Tricontinental Marxisms (Mao, and M. N. Roy)
"This article examines the rise of vigilantism in southeastern Nigeria. Two opposing discourses on Nigerian vigilantism are examined. The first is characterized by the valorization of vigilantes as heroes in popular Nigerian video movies.... more
"This article examines the rise of vigilantism in southeastern Nigeria. Two opposing discourses on Nigerian vigilantism are examined. The first is characterized by the valorization of vigilantes as heroes in popular Nigerian video movies. The second is represented by a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report denouncing the vigilantes as criminals. My research utilizes ethnographic research to contextualize the video movies as a means toward understanding the ideological gap between these discourses. A close analysis of the Issakaba video series reveals a subtle treatment of the vigilante phenomenon designed to appeal to an indigenous perspective that is cognizant of the inherent risks of vigilante justice but also aware of the limitations of reform strategies such as those proposed by the HRW report.
Résumé: Cet article examine la montée du vigilantisme dans le sud est du Nigeria. Il analyse deux discours opposés sur le vigilantisme nigérien. Le premier est caractérisé par la valorisation des membres de groupes qui s'emparent de la loi pour administrer leur propre justice jusqu'à en faire des héros dans les films vidéo populaires nigériens. Le second est représenté par un rapport récemment publié par Human Rights Watch (HRW) dénonçant les membres des organisations vigilantistes comme des criminels. Ma recherche utilise la recherche ethnographique afin de contextualiser les films vidéo et de les interpréter comme un moyen pour comprendre l'écart idéologique qui sépare ces deux discours. Une analyse approfondie de la série vidéo Issakaba révèle un traitement subtil du phénomène du vigilantisme dans le but d'attirer une perspective indigène consciente des risques inhérents à la justice prodiguée par le vigilantisme, mais sensibilisée aux limites que présentent les stratégies de réforme comme celles qui sont proposées par le rapport de HRW."
Résumé: Cet article examine la montée du vigilantisme dans le sud est du Nigeria. Il analyse deux discours opposés sur le vigilantisme nigérien. Le premier est caractérisé par la valorisation des membres de groupes qui s'emparent de la loi pour administrer leur propre justice jusqu'à en faire des héros dans les films vidéo populaires nigériens. Le second est représenté par un rapport récemment publié par Human Rights Watch (HRW) dénonçant les membres des organisations vigilantistes comme des criminels. Ma recherche utilise la recherche ethnographique afin de contextualiser les films vidéo et de les interpréter comme un moyen pour comprendre l'écart idéologique qui sépare ces deux discours. Une analyse approfondie de la série vidéo Issakaba révèle un traitement subtil du phénomène du vigilantisme dans le but d'attirer une perspective indigène consciente des risques inhérents à la justice prodiguée par le vigilantisme, mais sensibilisée aux limites que présentent les stratégies de réforme comme celles qui sont proposées par le rapport de HRW."
Research Interests: Clinical Psychology, African Studies, Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Sociology of Violence, and 46 moreFilm Studies, Violence, Research Methodology, Ethnography, Violence & Media, Africana, Human Rights, Popular Culture, International organizations, Political Anthropology, International Criminal Law, Conflict, Political Science, Africa, International Human Rights Law, Violence (Anthropology), West Africa, Performance Ethnography, Political Institutions, Violence/Power, Michel Foucault, Political Corruption, African Politics, Fear of Crime, Religion and Violence/Nonviolence, Black Popular Culture, Disaster Management, Popular And Political Cultures Of Memory, African Film, 'Third Cinema' Theory and Third World Radical Films, Cult Movies, Criminal Psychology, Cultural Anthropology, Popular/Folk Magic, African cinema, Cinema and Modernization, Visual and Cultural Studies, Vigilantism, The Nigerian film industry, Peacebuilding, New West African films, Afro-Atlantic visual culture, Nollywood, Corruption, Conflict and Conflict Resolution, and Nollywood studies
An ethnographic introduction to the Nigerian movie industry, written to order for Transition - with directions to make it readable and free of academic jargon.
Research Interests: African Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Development Studies, Film Studies, and 15 moreEthnography, Africana, Popular Culture, Visual Culture, Africa, Modernization, Afrocentrism, THIRD WORLD CITIES, African Film, 'Third Cinema' Theory and Third World Radical Films, Cinema and Modernization, Ethnography of urban spaces, Modernization and third world nation, Nollywood, and Nollywood studies
Research Interests: Biochemistry, African Studies, African Studies, Media Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and 13 moreAfrican History, Traditional Medicine, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Ethnopsychiatry, History Of Madness And Psychiatry, African Film, African Film, 'Third Cinema' Theory and Third World Radical Films, Nollywood, Nollywood, African Spirituality, Nollywood studies, and African Herbal Medicine
Research Interests:
Research Interests: African Studies, Women's Studies, Transgender Studies, Masculinity Studies, Gender and Sexuality, and 12 moreAgency Theory, Theories of Gender and Transgender, Masculinities, Social Organisation (Archaeology), Gender and religion (Women s Studies), Transgender, Marriage (History), Women and Culture, Women and Gender Studies, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, and Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Studies
Research Interests: Sociology of Religion, African Studies, African Philosophy, Africana, Landscape Archaeology, and 28 moreAfrican History, African Religion in Africa and the Diaspora, West Africa, Cultural Landscapes, Landscape History, Africa (Archaeology), Cultural Memory, Collective Memory, African Politics, African American Studies, Philosophy of Time, Death and Burial (Archaeology), Social Memory, Archaeology of Ancestors, Anthropology of Time, Burial Practices (Archaeology), Ancestors (Anthropology Of Religion), Archaeology of Ritual, Africana Studies, Archaeology of burials, Archaeology of slavery, Social organization, African Archaeology, Archaeology of death and burial, Burial Customs, West African Archaeology, Lineage, and Africana Philosophy
Research Interests: Research Methodology, Ethnography, Heuristics, Qualitative Methods (Sociology), Qualitative methodology, and 8 moreQualitative Methods, Ethnographic Fieldwork (Anthropology), Research Paradigm, Ethnography (Research Methodology), Qualitative Research, Qualitative Research Methods, Ethnographic fieldwork, and Ethnographic Methods
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Music, Dance Studies, Dance Studies, Dance Anthropology, Dance Anthropology, and 19 moreAnthropology Of Dance, Anthropology Of Dance, Phenomenology, Shamanism, Social and Collective Memory, Historical Consciousness, Historical Consciousness, Dance History, Arts, Social Memory, Dance, Experience, Rituals, Folk, The Senses, African Popular Culture, Healing Ceremonies, Beliefs & Values, and Malaysian Magic and Folklore
A review of three sources on Nollywood: Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. xii + 147 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22117-9 Franco Sacchi, dir. This is Nollywood.... more
A review of three sources on Nollywood:
Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. xii + 147 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22117-9
Franco Sacchi, dir. This is Nollywood. Produced by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo. San Francisco: California Newsreel, 2007. 56 minutes. DVD.
Dorothee Wenner. Nollywood Lady. New York: Women Make Movies, 2008. 52 minutes / color.
Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. xii + 147 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22117-9
Franco Sacchi, dir. This is Nollywood. Produced by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo. San Francisco: California Newsreel, 2007. 56 minutes. DVD.
Dorothee Wenner. Nollywood Lady. New York: Women Make Movies, 2008. 52 minutes / color.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: African Studies, Art History, Art, Initiation Practices (Anthropology), African History, and 9 moreAfrican Religion in Africa and the Diaspora, African Art History, African Masks, History of Secret Societies, Traditional Secret Societies in Africa, Initiation Rituals, African Art, Chinua Achebe. (Things Fall Apart), and Material Art and Culture of West African Secret Societies, with special interest in Poro groups and their ethnotoxicology
"Other Africas" was on exhibit at the University Museum of Southern Illinois University from January 15 to April 21, 2002. The website version of the exhibit was online from 2002 until it was decommissioned in 2014. Abstract: Critical... more
"Other Africas" was on exhibit at the University Museum of Southern Illinois University from January 15 to April 21, 2002. The website version of the exhibit was online from 2002 until it was decommissioned in 2014.
Abstract:
Critical observers have long noted that museum collections from Africa are composed largely of the spoils of colonial pillage. Thus the Africa we normally encounter in museums—the Africa of masks and ritual objects displayed on walls and in glass cases—is a fetishized Africa of colonial nostalgia. The objective of this exhibit is to offer images of Other Africas, perspectives that lead us away from the desolate and romanticized Africa of the Western imagination toward those places where African modernities are emerging."
Abstract:
Critical observers have long noted that museum collections from Africa are composed largely of the spoils of colonial pillage. Thus the Africa we normally encounter in museums—the Africa of masks and ritual objects displayed on walls and in glass cases—is a fetishized Africa of colonial nostalgia. The objective of this exhibit is to offer images of Other Africas, perspectives that lead us away from the desolate and romanticized Africa of the Western imagination toward those places where African modernities are emerging."
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, African Studies, Gender Studies, Visual Anthropology, and 36 moreIndigenous Studies, Globalization, Museum Studies, Museum Studies, Ethnomusicology, Postcolonial Studies, Africa, Africa, Migration, West Africa, West Africa, Museum Anthropology, South Asian History, Latin American literature, Postcolonial Theory, Latin American History, Art Criticism, Museum Interpretation, South Asian Literature, Representation of Others, Museology, Museology, African cinema, Subaltern Studies, Visual Media, Colonial Discourse, Cinema Studies, Nollywood, African culture, Audiovisual, Critical Studies, Cultural and Social Anthropology, Cine Africano, African Modernism, Cultura Africana, and Modernismo Africano
This file has become corrupted. Please use the pdf version below.
Research Interests:
A skeptical presentation on the meaning of postmodernism.
Research Interests:
This article examines Nollywood as a creative industry based in Africa's informal sector. By definition, the informal sector produces no financial records, so no quantitative economic data are presented. This research utilizes... more
This article examines Nollywood as a creative industry based in Africa's informal sector. By definition, the informal sector produces no financial records, so no quantitative economic data are presented. This research utilizes ethnographic methods and anthropological analysis to highlight the importance of the video movie industry to Nigerian people, its place in their economic life and its integral role in their culture. Nollywood's intimacy with Nigerians has been achieved by way of the industry's distinctive informal system of production and distribution. This same informality prevents the video industry from establishing financial legitimacy. Without the ability to generate capital, the industry is straining against its economic limits. Thus, the cultural success of Nollywood pushes it towards inevitable formalization and uncertain consequences.
Research Interests: African Studies, Economics, Development Economics, Development Studies, Film Studies, and 15 moreEthnography, Community Development, African Diaspora Studies, Africa, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Film Production, Informal Economy, African Film, Civil Society, African Art History, Informal Sector, Film industry, Cultural Industry, Hernando de Soto, and African Cinemas
Research Interests: Sociology, African Studies, Anthropology, Art, Ethnography, and 3 moreAfrica, Multidisciplinary, and Igbo
Research Interests: Clinical Psychology, African Studies, Anthropology, Africana, Conflict, and 15 moreAfrica, African Politics, Black Popular Culture, Disaster Management, Cinema, African Film, Cult Movies, Criminal Psychology, Cultural Anthropology, African cinema, Cinema and Modernization, Corruption, Application, Conflict and Conflict Resolution, and Bakassi Boys
Publikationsansicht. 5142708. The Ohafia war dance as lived experience : history and identity in a Nigerian community / (1992). McCall, John C. (John Christensen). Abstract. Typescript.. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 1992.. ...