Decoloniality and Actional Methodologies in Art and Cultural Practices in African Cultures of Technology
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University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2018 POST AFRICAN FUTURES: Decoloniality and Actional Methodologies in Art and Cultural Practices in African Cultures of Technology Bristow, Tegan Mary http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10848 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow POST AFRICAN FUTURES: Decoloniality and Actional Methodologies in Art and Cultural Practices in African Cultures of Technology by Tegan Bristow A thesis submitted to Plymouth University in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow Copyright Statement for PhD thesis titled: POST AFRICAN FUTURES: Decoloniality and Actional Methodologies in Art and Cultural Practices in African Cultures of Technology by Tegan Bristow (2018). This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. Signed by Author, 25th January 2018 2 Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow Abstract This thesis addresses the presence and role of critical aesthetic practices by cultural practitioners and creative technologists in addressing cultures of technology in contemporary African societies. Nairobi and Johannesburg are used as primary case studies through which a closer understanding of these unique cultures of technology are unpacked. The learning established from the findings of the cases is applied to understanding the concerns of cultures of technology within these and other African contexts. In this, attention is placed on latent neo-colonialism found in the relationship between African cultures and the networked global information economy being led by technology practices. This research starts by responding to a paucity of prior investigation in the field, and thereby aims to identify an ontological framework for Africa’s cultural engagement with technology. The primary research is preceded by an introductory chapter that draws on African knowledge theory and a critique of historical scholarship that exists on African experiences with technology. The primary research is predicated on this critical framework and uses it as a foundation from which to address concerns around contemporary digital and communications technologies and an African cultural encounter with a networked and globalised system. Due to the paucity around scholarship on Africa within this field, the methodological approach evolved as an iterative development between theoretical and empirical research. This methodological development was informed by the theory of decolonising methodologies and was led by culturally responsive methods. Through thematic content analysis of the fieldwork, the identification of key themes impacted the theoretical framing of the research. Not only were new concerns identified, but particular aesthetic mechanisms became apparent in the practices of those interviewed. These brought to light the importance of decolonising methodologies within a cultural practice. This importance led to the development of a responsive exhibition, also titled Post African Futures. The exhibition was held at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in May 2015. 3 Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow Post African Futures as both a framework and an exhibition is central to this thesis’s contribution of new knowledge. This exhibition develops the propositions of the primary research and is therefore instrumental in strengthening a context-sensitive critical position that affords Africans the privilege of contributing to and providing insight into a globalised technology culture and its futures in relation to regions in Africa. 4 Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow Table of Content POST AFRICAN FUTURES: DECOLONIALITY AND ACTIONAL METHODOLOGIES IN ART AND CULTURAL PRACTICES IN AFRICAN CULTURES OF TECHNOLOGY 1 Abstract 3 Table of Content 5 Table of Figures 7 Acknowledgements 9 Author’s Declaration 10 Chapter 1 11 1.1 Introduction: A Guide to Post African Futures 12 1.1.1 Structural Outline 15 1.2 Situating the Research 17 1.2.1 Framing the Research within a Narrative of Scholarship on Africa 18 1.2.2 Questions on the Position of Technology and Culture in Scholarship on Africa 24 1.2.3 Conclusions on Situating the Research 42 1.3 Situating the Author in the Research 44 1.3.1 Within a Personal History 44 1.3.2 Within an Academic and Intellectual Climate of Change 45 1.3.3 On a Wave of Development 48 Chapter 2 52 2.1 Introduction: A Guide to the Responsive Methodological Trajectory 53 2.2 Methods and Methodological Frameworks 55 2.2.1 Decolonising Methodologies 56 2.2.2 Community Orientated and Culturally Responsive Methods 60 2.3 African Cultures of Technology: Knowledge from the Field 64 2.3.1 On Existing Positions 64 2.3.2 In the Field: Interview as Exploration 89 2.4 Post African Futures: Critical Responses 97 2.4.1 An Invitation to Respond: Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Conference 98 2.4.2 An Invitation to Respond: Post African Futures Exhibition 100 Chapter 3 103 3.1 Fieldwork Introduction: A Guide to Nairobi and Johannesburg 104 3.1.1 Choosing Nairobi and Johannesburg 104 3.1.2 African Urbanism as lens on African Cities 107 3.2.1 Nairobi 116 3.2.2 Johannesburg 142 3.3 Shared Trends, Actional Methodologies and Misplaced Afro-Futurism 168 Chapter 4 175 4.1 Introduction: A Guide to Actional Methodologies in Post African Futures 176 4.1.1 Mignolo on Border Thinking, Disobedience and Imagining 177 5 Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow 4.2 Post African Futures 184 4.2.1 Post African Futures at the Fak’ugesi Conference 184 4.2.2 Post African Futures Exhibition 193 Chapter 5 239 5.1 Conclusion 240 5.1.1 Contributions to the Field and Future Trajectories 242 Bibliography 249 Appendix A: Conference Call for Papers 255 Appendix B: Conference Schedule 257 Appendix C: Exhibition Press List 260 Appendix D: Papers Published 262 Bristow, T. (2013). We Want the Funk: What is Afro-Futurism for Africa. 262 Bristow, T. (2015). From Afro-Futurism to Post African Futures. 272 Bristow, T. (2016). Access to Ghosts. 275 Bristow, T. (2017). Post African Futures: Positioning the Globalised Digital 283 within Contemporary Decolonising and Cultural Practices in Africa. 283 6 Post African Futures by Tegan Bristow Table of Figures Figure 1: Aerial photo of Ba-ila settlement, before 1944 & fractal model for Ba-ila village. Source: Eglash, African Fractals website (http://csdt.rpi.edu/african/African_Fractals/) accessed July 2017: Muse de lHomme, Paris. ............................................................................................................................................ 29 Figure 2: An aerial view of the city of Logone-Birni in Cameroon. This is the largest building complex, the palace of the chief, alongside an image of its Royal insignia. Source: Eglash, African Fractals website (http://csdt.rpi.edu/african/African_Fractals/) last accessed July 2017: American Geographic Institute. 30 Figure 3: “The Indigenous Research Agenda”. Source: Decolonising Methodologies (117) (Smith 1999)........... 59 Figure 4: Nairobi Fieldwork Snowballing Diagram .............................................................................................. 117 Figure 5: Mdundo Card, photo by author (2012)................................................................................................ 134 Figure 6: Slum TV, photo from Africalia Project website (http://africalia.be/slum-tv/). ................................... 138 Figure 7: Johannesburg Fieldwork Snowballing Diagram ................................................................................... 143 Figure 8: Photograph of Sorry for Real (2015) by Tabita Rezaire in installation at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg. ........................................................................................................................................... 212 Figure 9: Photograph of Sorry for Real (2015) by Tabita Rezaire in installation at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg. ........................................................................................................................................... 212 Figure 10: Digital reproduction of CUSS Group’s Coming Soon (Change Initiated) (2015). ............................... 213 Figure 11: Photograph of NERVOUSCONDITIONER.LIFE.001 (2015) by NTU, in installation at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg. .............................................................................................................................. 213 Figure 12: Photograph of NERVOUSCONDITIONER.LIFE.001 (2015) by NTU, detail of installation at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg. ............................................................................................................. 214 Figure 13: Digital reproduction of Don’t Shoot (2014) one of two in the series by Jepchumba, at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg. .............................................................................................................................