Blog | Postkolonialismus

This blog post aims to reflect on the ways in which the decolonization of knowledge can be actively pursued through the co-production of research. It focuses on examples from the author’s own research activities in the field of cultural anthropology in a historically marginalized district of Dakar (Senegal). The blog post also discusses the challenges posed by research co-production in terms of methodological issues of validity and legitimacy, as well as challenges that endangered the field research (e. g., power relations among the research participants, the tendency to gain individual control over the project, gender biases that implicitly shape the design and implementation process).

The process of writing and producing a movie plays out in an arena with diverging political agendas. From the production to the final outcome, films about irregular migration from West Africa are often distorted to fit certain narratives and agencies. Ata Messan Koffi, a Togolese researcher, film producer, and guest researcher at the CRC 1265, illustrates this dynamic by shedding light on his conflictual field of research.

In Westafrika boomt ein Unterhaltungsgenre namens Afronovela. Wie in den lateinamerikanischen Telenovelas handelt es sich dabei um romantische Seifenopern, aber eben solche, die in Afrika spielen. Vor allem im Senegal und an der Elfenbeinküste hat sich eine eigene Industrie dazu entwickelt. Die französische Soziologin Séverine Marguin und der kongolesische Regisseur und Filmwissenschaftler Daddy Dibinga Kalamba untersuchen im Teilprojekt C06, wie in diesen Serien gelungenes Leben inszeniert wird.