Dictatorial Aesthetics Colloquia

Sponsored by the Ethnomusicology Working Group and The Duke Africa Initiative, 'Dictatorial aesthetics' will consider performance practices and forms against the backdrop of postcolonial and socialist regimes. On the one hand, it will explore how African leaders stage their power through the performance arts and the effects of doing so. Whether through fantastic elaboration of certain forms or by reigning in others, how have postcolonial states engaged the arts to produce their citizenry and mark their place in the world? On the other hand we wish to consider citizens' on-the-ground creative management of the political culture, musical genres, and consumption practices that African regimes produce. Why sing and dance for a despotic president? What are we to make of the pleasures of animation politique on the one hand and the militarization of popular aesthetics on the other? How does the legacy of African state arts register in today's popular media and cultures of violence and consumption?Participants: Nomi Dave on Guinea (Duke), Michael McGovern on Cote d'Ivore (U. Michigan), Tony Perman on Zimbabwe (Grinell), Bob White on the DRC (U. Montreal).Discussants: Charlie Piot, Louise Meintjes. Please contact Nomi Dave or Louise Meintjes for more information.