Post-colonial African Culture

That cultural productivity in Africa has grown despite the problems commonly associated with it should not be a surprise. The social and political issues raised above have, and continue to, act as stimuli for creative processes, and the results have many different forms. Whilst forms of music such as Nigerian emancipatory message songs, and fiction by writers such as Chinua Achebe deal directly with social issues, other forms of artistic output, such as West African `hiplife` music, or Nigerian soyayya novellas have incorporated various external influences and are less polemical. The important point however is that economic decline, poverty, and so on, as well as the over-arching processes of globalization and increasingly electronic connectedness, mean that African culture can almost always be evaluated in the context of social issues. It is my argument that, whether consciously or not, the artist always reflects to a degree the circumstances within which the art is produced, and so the African problems described above have impacted on African cultural output. There are several very obvious examples of cultural output which is a result, or bears the impact of, the various problems described by Appiah - an instance of this is the proliferation of rap in various East African countries, notably Kenya and Tanzanian. Several artists have expressed anti-capitalist or anti-structural adjustment views in their songs, a clear example of the stimulus of economic problems on creativity. For example the `Hard Blasterz Crew` from Tanzania released a record containing the lines: "We`re behind in development, / Because of being thrown aside." Through the adaptation of a largely American art form, African rappers can confront local societal issues - the addition of drums and African inspired beats, and the use of local languages (which I will discuss further later) allow rap to deal with "the reality of here." In Nigeria, the peculiar influence of Indian cinema has led to the development of the soyayya novella, which often addresses societal issues and is reflective of a generational divide within areas of Nigerian society. Predominant in the Hausa cultural canon, soyayya are small books which deal with male-female relationships, whose popularity is derived to a large extent from that of Indian films in Northern Nigeria. Soyayya writers mimic the narrative styles of Indian films (which use the structure of religious epics), but use these plots to create a discourse over Hausa conceptions of gender relations. They criticize forced marriage and the increasingly materialistic nature of romance, and create a utopia, the opposite of Hausa ideals. Soyayya are another example of the societal conditions in which the artist works, and the global dissemination of art, influencing an almost didactic cultural product specific to Africa.

Another interesting area of cultural diversity provoked by local conditions is the combining of English or French with a local language in works of literature and music - this reflects on the attempts of local artists to mould an identity and distinctive voice out of the postcolonial era. Kenyan writer David G. Maillu has a reputation for writing "trashy and low brow" (Chris Wanjala) romantic fictions since the 1970s, and limits his themes to six key ones he claims reflect popular concerns. Despite these criticisms, Maillu has received praise for his innovative use of both Swahili and English in his novella `Without Kiinua Mgongo` (WMG). In WMG, Maillu joined English vocabulary to the Swahili syntax, which allowed "a creativity beyond conventional linguistic borders"; by mixing the two together the bilingual community within Kenya were provided with a uniquely original piece of literature, and one which was partially a product of the impact of colonialism, and dealt with the contemporary theme of corruption within government.

Musicians have also combined English with local languages in unique ways - Kenyan rappers use Luo in songs to distinguish their style from Congolese music, and as part of their attempt to establish a modern identity rooted in tradition. Similarly Nigerian artists such as Flavour combine English with a local language. It has been complained that some artists use local languages badly, and pronounce them in such affected English accents that they become incomprehensible - Ogova Ondeyo makes this criticism of the parts of `Zannaziki` songs sung in Kikuyu. Despite this, these efforts are similar to those of Maillu, if not quite so technically innovative, in that they attempt to position local cultural output as distinct, imparting the locality on forms of music which have roots outside Africa. They are reflective of globalization, and the rapidly increasing reciprocal flow of information and culture between Africa and other continents.

Indeed this global spread of culture has in itself sparked counter arguments from artists in Africa concerned at what they see as the restrictive nature of potentially homogenizing cultural forms such as rap and hip-hop. The Kenyan groups `GidiGidi MajiMaji` sings of the West "mentally enslaving" young Kenyans through the spread of both consumer goods and forms of music that breed materialism. In their song `Mayie` they sing that "In the present situation we are slaves." Certain Nigerian musicians have also noted the pervasive influence of Western art forms, and have detected what they see as a negative impact on contemporary Nigerians. In a country where the advent of South African digital television provider DStv in the mid-90s opened young Nigerians` eyes to MTV, VH1 and so on, there has been a reduction in traditionally vibrant forms of music, notably emancipatory message music. A proponent of this art, Charles Oputa, characterized the situation as one of increasing homogeneity - "a lot of my colleagues don`t want to rock the boat." The increased availability of media forms which disperse external forms of culture in Africa has therefore not solely led to an adaptation and reworking - it has led to criticism, and by implication, to outright mimicry from some quarters.

Perhaps one example of a dearth of variety and innovation in African cultural output can be seen in certain areas of hiplife music, a popular genre in West Africa. Originally a development of a longstanding musical variety, highlife, hiplife was a product of increased access to electronic production equipment, and of increased interaction with largely American hip-hop records. Although early hiplife artists skillfully integrated existing tropes from highlife into their work, increasingly hiplife has become generic, totally electronic, and lacking in any musical signifier of African cultural tradition. Artists such as Ruff and Smooth, and Nana Boroo produce catchy, danceable tunes, but with no distinction from lots of American or British output. These artists often openly copy American artists` dress sense, wearing brash jewellery and driving SUV`s in an identical manner - the music video for Ruff and Smooth`s hit song `Beautiful` includes shots of them signing in front of an Audi, whose badge is prominent. Hiplife, a genre that began as an attempt to meld together distinctive cultural forms, has increasingly become a copycat genre, and an illustration of the potential negative effects of globalization on African cultural output.

However, in far more instances, African cultural products are the result of interaction and tension resultant from the issues mentioned by Appiah, or by conceptions of global hierarchies. Weiss points out that African cultural output often tries to define an identity in relation to the "neo-liberal" world order, by which he largely refers to inequality and poverty seen as a result of capitalism, structural adjustments or corruption. He cites the example of the vinyozi (barbershops) of Arusha in Tanzania, which not only offer hair-cutting services, but a means of accessing varied media and cultural forms. Here young men gather and are exposed to global music, news and "celebrities", which inform their own worldview - for example the notorious US division between East Coast and West Coast rap is fully understood in Tanzanian youth culture, with the majority expressing support for the West Coast.

The fact that the most often cited reason for this preference is that West Coast rap is "harder" suggests at the creative process undertaken in the vinyozi of Arusha. It sees young males in the urban setting come together, exchange ideas and discuss issues away from the influence of women. The names of these vinyozi are almost exclusively English (examples include `Boyz 2 Men`, and `2J Barberhouse`.), but they are often referred to as `kijiwe` which is a Swahili word meaning grindstone, and as `baraza`, which are meeting places, many situated near mosques in Arusha. The cumulative effect of these influences is arguably the attempted creation of a distinctive urban identity - at once the vinyozi are conduits to global media, and display pictures of US celebrities with distinctive haircuts, and they are places for males to escape women, a fantasized social environment without females with linguistic links to traditional social practices. "Fantasy is a social practice" wrote Arjun Appadurai, and with the vinyozi one can see this to be the case, as various forms of culture are consumed in an environment where traditional gender roles can be reinforced, despite the realities of day to day life in Arusha.

What is seen as traditional in many African societies is often asserted by certain sections of the artistic community in response to the impingements of global entertainment. In the case of the vinyozi, many of which feature paintings of famous bald US celebrities, there is no open copying of these styles, and indeed there is a strong preference for beards, traditionally associated with the prophet Muhammad. Similarly, Maillu, though linguistically innovative in his mixing of Swahili and English, actually advanced fairly conservative views during his career. He emphasized the value of patriarchy for instance, and the restoration of communal wholeness through loosely defined customs. Tanzanian musicians, particularly those of the Bongo Fleva genre, regularly sing of the need for "a beautiful woman to live with me, to have children with." and so on, advocating traditional male-female roles. Here one can see that the response to societal conditions, and the expanding influence of external cultural forms is not always a positive adaptation - it is sometimes the case that local cultural output can be stimulated by a rejection of novel values and a restatement of tradition.

To return to the question, Appiah posits the social and economic problems he lists as potential inhibitors to cultural production in Africa, when in fact they are part of a wider system which stimulates cultural activity. The global capitalist system, which largely maintains inequality between African states and those of the "developed world", also facilitates greater interaction between Africans and entertainment and culture from around the world. These conditions spur on African artists who act as a bridge between cultures, as people with influence over interpretations - they operate in what Samper calls "luminal spaces of culture." Even when it may appear as though cultural products are not critical of or reacting to social conditions, they are the result of the circumstances in which they were produced. Nigerian music in the late 1990s became increasingly concerned with sex and wealth, contrasting to earlier overtly political messages - this does not mean records do not reflect social conditions. Aspects of US `hip-hop` stylings were infused into Nigerian music videos and lyrics, reflective of a society open and aspiring to American attitudes towards lifestyle.

In conclusion, African cultural production must be reviewed in the context of the financial inequality between large parts of the continent and other "developed" nations. From the aspirational nature of hiplife music, to the attempts of East African rappers to engender a sense of urban belonging, there are areas of African culture where the aim seems to be creating a fantastical alternate reality for the consumer. Weiss claims that distance must be maintained from the fantasy in order to maintain the pleasure derived from imagining such a lifestyle - he uses the example of Arusha youths not replicating famous American haircuts as evidence for this. But certainly some artists, notably hiplife singers, openly copy and covet the ostentatious signs of wealth that are normally associated with American artists.

However African culture is not always about fantasizing about wealth and lifestyles difficult to attain - the soyayya of Nigeria are an example of the use of imported cultural modes to inform contemporary African artists. The authors take Indian narrative structures, but use them to create discourse over Nigerian social questions - they do not so much idealise Indian male-female relations as much as use them as a starting point for a distinctly Hausa discussion. There is also the restatement of `traditional` values in response to globalization, and a perceived homogenizing effect on local cultures - the work of Maillu, of the few remaining Nigerian emancipatory artists such as Fela Kuti, and of Kenyan mungiki dialogues about the role of females are all examples of this. In summary then, African culture clearly remains vibrant, but not in spite of social and economic problems, and the tension between local and global issues, rather because of them.