A History of African Popular Culture

Cambridge University Press Popular culture in Africa is the product of everyday life. It is the dynamism of this culture that makes Africa what it is. In this book, Karin Barber offers a journey through the history of music, theater, fiction, song, dance, poetry and film from the 17th century to the present day, from satires created by those living in West African coastal towns in the era of the slave trade, to the poetry and fiction of townships and mine compounds in South Africa, and from today’s East African streets where Swahili hip hop artists gather to the juggernaut of the Nollywood film industry.