Spotlight On: Akosua Adoma Owusu

A few weeks ago, our team had the honor and pleasure of connecting with transnational filmmaker and producer Akosua Adoma Owusu. The avant-garde artist works in Ghana, the US, and in Europe making films that reflect the genre of “personal cinema.” Over the past several years, Owusu’s work has garnered prolific attention from a range […]

On the “Archival Sliver” and Audio-Visual Africa, Part 2

Last week, we summarized South African archivist Verne Harris’s notion of the “archival sliver”, the belief that archives are only capable of capturing “a sliver of a sliver of a sliver” of the past (65). Harris developed his argument with reference to the apartheid regime in South Africa, citing instances in which government institutions expunged

Spotlight On: Anita Afonu

Earlier this week, we connected with Ghanaian documentary filmmaker Anita Afonu. Though she is young, the artist’s prolific career has already gained worldwide recognition. Some of her acclaimed documentary work includes African Maestro (2015), a portrait of the life and work of ethnomusicologist Prof. Kwabena Nketia; and Perished Diamonds (2012), a film about “the rise

On the “Archival Sliver” and Audio-Visual Africa, Part 1

The Audio-Visual Africa project is rooted in a recent archival movement toward championing social memory and representation within the archival record. Advocates for social memory and social justice present Africa as a compelling case study due to its long history of authoritarian rule, warfare, and colonialism. One of the most influential figures in this conversation is

What’s with the African Audio-Visual Archive?

Our project centers on the creation of an archive of African audio-visual materials, ranging from photographs and cinematographic images to videos and sound recordings. Two questions about the project may immediately come to mind. 1. Why Africa? Africa, the source of all humanity–and, by extension, the humanities–is a continent always defined by change and innovation.

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