Modernization As Spectacle in Africa

Peter J. Bloom is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is editor (with Ch. Didier Gondola and Charles Tshimanga) of Frenchness in the African Diaspora (IUP, 2009).Takyiwaa Manuh is Emeritus Professor of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. She is editor (with Catherine M. Cole and Stephan F. Miescher) of Africa after Gender? (IUP, 2006).Stephan F. Miescher is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is author of Making Men in Ghana (IUP, 2005).

• Introduction: Modernization as Spectacle in AfricaStephan F. Miescher, Peter J. Bloom, and Takyiwaa ManuhPart I. Modernization and the Origins of the Package1. After Modernization: Globalization and the African DilemmaPercy C. Hintzen2. Modernization Theory and the Figure of Blindness: Filial Reflections Andrew ApterPart II. Media, Modernity, and Modernization3. Film as Instrument of Modernization and Social Change in Africa: The Long ViewRosaleen Smyth4. Mass Education, Cooperation, and the "African Mind"Aaron Windel5. Is Propaganda Modernity? Press and Radio for "Africans" in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi during World War II and its AftermathMhoze Chikowero6. Elocution, Englishness, and Empire: Film and Radio in Late Colonial GhanaPeter J. BloomPart III. Infrastructure and Effects7. Negotiating Modernization: The Kariba Dam Project in the Central African Federation, c. 1954-1960Julia Tischler8. "No One Should Be Worse Off": The Akosombo Dam, Modernization, and the Experience of Resettlement in GhanaStephan F. Miescher9. Radioactive Excess: Modernization as Spectacle and Betrayal in Postcolonial GabonGabrielle HechtPart IV. Institutional Training in Nkrumah's Ghana10. Modeling Modernity: The Brief Story of Kwame Nkrumah, a Nazi Pilot Named Hanna, and the Wonders of Motorless FlightJean Allman11. The African Personality Dances Highlife: Popular Music, Urban Youth, and Cultural Modernization in Nkrumah's Ghana, 1957-1965Nate Plageman12. Building Institutions for the New Africa: The Institute of African Studies at the University of GhanaTakyiwaa ManuhPart V. Modernization and the Literary Imagination13. Theatre and the Politics of Display: The Tragedy of King Christophe at Senegal's First World Festival of Negro ArtsChristina S. McMahon14. Re-Engaging Narratives of Modernization in Contemporary African LiteratureNana Wilson-Tagoe15. Between Nationalism and Pan-Africanism: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Theater and the Art and Politics of Modernizing African CultureAida MbowaContributorsIndex

This is a varied collection of fifteen sole-authored chapters on modernization as spectacle, an area that has attracted little research to date . . . [A] good read.Feb. 2016(Africa)