WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/research/westminsterresearch Popular fiction television production in Nigeria: Global models, local responses Ogochukwu Charity Ekwenchi School of Media, Arts and Design This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © The Author, 2008. This is an exact reproduction of the paper copy held by the University of Westminster library. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: (http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] POPULAR FICTION TELEVISION PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA: GLOBAL MODELS, LOCAL RESPONSES Ogochukwu C. Ekwenchi A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2008 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the ways in which popular fiction television is produced in Nigeria in the 21st century and through it the investigation of social relations in the industry and the analysis of its products. In so doing the thesis also interrogates the assumptions of social theorists regarding the impact that the globalization of culture is supposed to have on local cultures. Drawing on empirical evidence from fieldwork carried out in Nigeria between February and June 2006 involving participant observation in the location production of a television drama series, semi-structured and unstructured interviews with 15 people in Nigeria’s television industry, the thesis argues that despite some production practices in the industry not yet being, according to the practitioners, up to scratch, Nollywood has also evolved social and institutional structures which are recognisable features of the structure of the television industry everywhere. The thesis also argues that despite its having an industry that is ranked third in the world in terms of output, the West, but Hollywood in particular, retains a strong grip on the imagination of Nigeria’s popular fiction television producers. For a more nuanced account of the impact of the globalization of culture on Nigeria’s popular fiction television industry, however, I propose that we need to go beyond how people speak about what they do, to how they do what they do. Analysis of popular conventions of a less powerful audio visual industry, like Nigeria’s Nollywood, alongside those of Hollywood will help unpack further the nature of the impact that dominant cultures are assumed to have on local cultures. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Globalization, Culture and the Spatial Dialectic...............................................................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Nigeria’s Media Landscape: Background to Popular Fiction Television Production…………………………………………..........................................................32 Chapter Three: Researching Contemporary Popular Fiction Television Production in Nigeria: A Case Study Approach…………………………...............................................61 Chapter Four: Building an Industry’s Social Structure: How Popular Fiction Television is Produced in Nigeria………………………………...........................................................81 Chapter Five: Globalization and the Nigerian Popular Fiction Television Producers: A Case of Ambivalence and Binaries ……….....................................................................112 Chapter Six: Problem Child1, Daddy’s Girl and Discourses of Parenting………………………………………………………………………………..130 Chapter Seven: Pretty Woman, Campus Babes and Discourses of Prostitution……………………………………………………………………………...158 Chapter Eight: There is Hollywood but, then, there is also Nollywood: Assessing the Impact of Globalization of Culture on Nigeria’s Popular Fiction Television……………………………………………………………………………….190 Chapter Nine: The Story of the Research………………………………………………200 Bibliography APPENDIX Appendix A: List of Interviewees Appendix B: List of Audio Visual Materials Appendix C: Acronyms Appendix D: Glossary of Terms Appendix E: Interview Transcripts ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to some institutions and people for the successful completion of this research. I am very grateful to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission for the singular opportunity the Commission gave to me by awarding me a scholarship to undertake a doctoral research in the UK. Your generosity has transformed my life in ways you can not imagine. I thank the great University of Westminster for generously giving me a year’s scholarship and other financial assistance which had meant I could complete my research without incurring any debts. I also thank my university, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, for granting me study leave so I could take up my award. I want to especially thank my heavenly Father, the Almighty God, Author of all knowledge and Fountain of all wisdom for all His help. He provided me with direction and guidance all through this research. I also thank my supervisors, Dr. Winston Mano and Professor Jean Seaton for all their help. From the very first day, you generously invested your time and expert knowledge in helping me complete this thesis. There are a host of other people whose help was invaluable to me during this time: the Research Degrees Director, Mike Fisher, who is always there for PhD students, Maria Way, for her advice and encouragement, Professor Paddy Scannell, for academic advice at the initial stages of this research before he left for University of Michigan, all the lecturers in Communications and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), who, though scholars of international renown in most cases, but could still relate with unsure and inexperienced researchers like myself on such equal footing and treat us with such respect that I could start to believe that I had something to say that such great people would be interested to hear about. Your attitude gave me a lot of confidence. I want to say a special ‘thank you’ to two wonderful people at the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Woburn House, London, Assistant Secretary to the Commission, Dr. Jonathan Jenkins and my former Awards Administrator, Ms Deborah Bennett, whose help with my transfer from University of London’s Institute of Education to the University of Westminster, meant that I could finally realise my dreams of doing a doctoral research in media at one of the best media schools in Europe. I could not have completed this research without the help of some people in Nigeria: Mr. Wale Adenuga, for allowing me to use his company as my research site; Mr. Banjo, for providing me with information about the company while I was in the field and after I had left Nigeria for the UK through phone interviews; my childhood friend, Chudi Okonkwo, for all his moral support and help with data collection under what, in some cases, proved to be very challenging conditions; my beloved nephew, Okwy Ifebi, for his willingness to help in any way I needed his help. Finally, I would like to thank my hometown (Nnewi) people, living in London, who I have come to think of as my ‘local connection’: Tony Osumuo, Arinze Okoli, and of course, my beloved cousin, Chris Udechukwu. Your financial assistance saw me through some of the difficult periods in the course of my research and stay in the UK. DEDICATION This research is dedicated to the three most important women in my life: My beloved grandmother, Queen Ekemma Egbeyiugo Okafor, the wife of Obi (the traditional ruler) of Umudim who everyone simply and naturally called Nne (Mother). Although quite old in 2003 when my Commonwealth Scholarship award came through, and despite that she did not go to school herself, Nne could still appreciate the potential for life transformation that ‘come and study free of charge’ (which was how the word ‘scholarship’ was translated for her in Igbo) had for her granddaughter as she proudly shared the good news with her friends and our relatives at Umudim, Nnewi. Nne did not keep her promise that she would still be there when I return from England as she passed away in 2004, but her strength and spirit were a constant source of inspiration to me throughout this study. My mother, Mrs. Ezumalu Ifebi and my Aunt, Mrs. Azuamaka Udechukwu, from whom I learnt that giving up is never an option whatever the challenge, this work is for all of you. 1 Chapter ONE Globalization, Culture and the Spatial Dialectic 1.0 Introduction/Statement of the Problem This thesis explored the impact of cultural globalization on popular fiction television production in Nigeria. Contrary to the assumptions of homogenization theorists that dominant Western cultural forms, like Hollywood films, have the capacity to homogenize local cultural practices, this research found that resident local ideologies would usually preclude any wholesale emulation of foreign symbolic products. In addition, local popular conventions that might appear as an instance where Nigerian