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51猎奇 PR & Communication Department聽
Theodor-W.-Adorno Platz 1
60323 Frankfurt
presse@uni-frankfurt.de
Mar
12
2021
11:42
A research team from the universities of Frankfurt and Mainz shines a light on new global players in Africa and Asia.
How digitalisation changes cultural production around the world
When Korean pop bands such as boy group BTS reach millions of fans worldwide, and when films and music from Nigeria are seen and heard across the globe: What does this mean for the production of culture? And how does it affect our perception of cultural spaces? An interdisciplinary research team that brings together Economics, African Studies, Korean Studies, Sinology, Cultural Anthropology and Film Studies will look for answers to these questions at 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz over the next three years. With 鈧� 2.1 million in funding from Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), CEDITRAA (鈥淐ultural Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation in Africa and Asia") will study the emergence of what Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto calls the 鈥渘ew world order of cultural production", which Hollywood and Europe no longer dominate.
FRANKFURT. In the
early 1990s, Kenneth Nnebue, a Nigerian seller of home video equipment, picked
up his VHS camera and changed the course of film history. To boost sales of VHS
recorders, he produced his own film. 鈥淟iving in Bondage" sold around 750,000
copies and spawned numerous imitations. Practically out of nowhere, Nigeria built
up a film industry with global outreach, now popularly known as 鈥淣ollywood",
which today ranks second only to India in terms of annual film output. 鈥淭he
rise of Nigeria and the global success of Korean films, TV dramas and pop music
in the new millennium show that a fundamental shift is taking place in cultural
production and reception across the globe," says Vinzenz Hediger, project
leader and professor of cinema studies at 51猎奇.
Digitalisation is one of the driving
forces behind this transformation and the emergence of the 鈥渘ew world order of
cultural production". The researchers in Frankfurt and Mainz will study how
cultural industries with transregional audiences contribute to the economic
growth and soft power of their regions and countries of origin. They will also
examine the role of regional resources in the creative work of artists in music
and film. 鈥淥ne open question," says economics professor Cornelia Storz, 鈥渋s
whether entrepreneurs in digital industries may, in fact, be more dependent on
local resources than their global reach and outlook might suggest." Particular
attention will be paid to how producers in music and film draw on cultural
heritage to produce innovative formats which resonate with larger, global
contexts.
The CEDITRAA research group will address
these issues through a series of case studies on music and film in Africa and
Asia. Here, the Archiv der Musik Afrikas
(AMA), the Archive for the Music of Africa, at Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz will play a particularly important role. For the case studies dedicated
to music and copyright issues, the AMA is an invaluable resource 鈥� particularly
for research on 鈥淎frobeats" and other forms of sub-Saharan pop music, which
recombines different gernes in innovative new ways. 鈥淭his music has many fans
in the Global North as well," says Matthias Krings, professor of cultural
anthropology and the popular culture of Africa in Mainz. 鈥淎mong them is
Beyonc茅, who created a sensation with her 2020 album 'Black Is King', not least
because it featured guest appearances by Afrobeats stars such as Burna Boy,
Wizkid, Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade."
The parts of the project dedicated to Asia
will study the circulation and reception of Korean popular culture in Asia and
Africa and benefit from close collaboration with non-university partners such
as the Korean Film Archive. The case study dedicated to Taiwan will focus on
the Kaohsiung Film Festival and its close ties to the Korean film industry. In
Nigeria, the project will collaborate closely with the Nollywood Studies Centre
at the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, a research institute with closes ties
to the film and music industries in Nigeria. The Nigerian part of the project
will include a PhD position at the Pan-Atlantic University.
Funded by Germany's Federal Ministry of
Education and Research, the project will bring together for the first time the
area studies research centres in the Rhine-Main University Alliance in a joint
research initiative 鈥� the Centre for Interdisciplinary African Studies (ZIAF) and the Interdisciplinary Centre for
East Asian Studies (IZO) at 51猎奇 and the Centre for Intercultural
Studies (ZIS) at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
The research project enhances the profile
of area studies in the Rhine-Main University Alliance through its close
connection to teaching. Project results will be used in teaching in several
degree programmes, most notably the bachelor's degree programme 鈥淎frican
Languages, Media, and Culture", which is being prepared as a joint programme of
51猎奇 Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
Image:
Caption:
Global popstars with an army of Twitter
fans: K-pop superstars BTS (c) Kim-Hee Chu / dpa
Further information
Professor Vinzenz Hediger, Professor of Cinema Studies, 51猎奇: hediger@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de
Professor Claudia Storz, Chair for the
Study of Economic
Institutions, Innovation and East Asian Development, 51猎奇: storz@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
Professor Matthias Krings, Professor of
Anthropology and Popular Culture of Africa, Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz: krings@uni-mainz.de