Books by John C. McCall
Book published by University of Michigan Press. It is available from the publisher at the link ab... more Book published by University of Michigan Press. It is available from the publisher at the link above, and from online vendors. It is also available in many research libraries. There is no "pdf" version available. Please don't ask me to send you a copy.
Dissertation in Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1992
Articles by John C. McCall
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, 2018
Motion picture technology developed at the dawn of the 20th century, just as the formal colonizat... more Motion picture technology developed at the dawn of the 20th century, just as the formal colonization of Africa was launched at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885. While it took a few decades for cinema houses to spread in West Africa, by mid-century the colonial administrations began to use film as a means for conveying colonial culture to African subjects. For the British and French colonials, film was a means to shape public opinion. Both British and French colonial administrations criminalized indigenous filmmaking for fear of the subversive potential of anti-colonial messages—film communicated in one direction only. When West African nations became independent in the late 20th century, these restrictions vanished and Africans began to make films. This process played out differently in Francophone Africa than in Anglophone countries. France cultivated African filmmakers, sponsored training, and funded film projects. Talented and determined filmmakers in Anglophone Africa also struggled to produce celluloid films, but unlike their counterparts in former French colonies, they received little support from abroad. A significant number of excellent celluloid films were produced under this system, but largely in Francophone Africa. Though many of these filmmakers have gained global recognition, most remained virtually unknown in Africa outside the elite spaces of the FESPACO film festival and limited screenings at French embassies. Though West African filmmakers have produced an impressive body of high-quality work, few Africans beyond the intellectual elite know of Africa’s most famous films. This paradox of a continent with renowned filmmakers but no local film culture began to change in the 1990s when aspiring artists in Nigeria and Ghana began to make inexpensive movies using video technology. Early works were edited on VCRs, but as digital video technology advanced, this process of informal video production quickly spread to other regions. The West African video movie industry has grown to become one of the most prominent, diverse, and dynamic expressions of a pan-African popular culture in Africa and throughout the global diaspora.
Journal of African Cinemas. Volume 4 Number 1: 9–23, Jun 2012
This article examines Nollywood as a creative industry based in Africa’s informal sector. By defi... more This article examines Nollywood as a creative industry based in Africa’s informal sector. By definition, the informal sector produces no financial records, so no quantitative economic data are presented. This research utilizes ethnographic methods and anthropological analysis to highlight the importance of the video movie industry to Nigerian people, its place in their economic life and its integral role in their culture. Nollywood’s intimacy with Nigerians has been achieved by way of the industry’s distinctive informal system of production and distribution. This same informality prevents the video industry from establishing financial legitimacy. Without the ability to generate capital, the industry is straining against its economic limits. Thus, the cultural success of Nollywood pushes it towards inevitable formalization and uncertain consequences.
Film International (FilmInt.), 2007
African Studies Review, 2004
"This article examines the rise of vigilantism in southeastern Nigeria. Two opposing discourses o... more "This article examines the rise of vigilantism in southeastern Nigeria. Two opposing discourses on Nigerian vigilantism are examined. The first is characterized by the valorization of vigilantes as heroes in popular Nigerian video movies. The second is represented by a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report denouncing the vigilantes as criminals. My research utilizes ethnographic research to contextualize the video movies as a means toward understanding the ideological gap between these discourses. A close analysis of the Issakaba video series reveals a subtle treatment of the vigilante phenomenon designed to appeal to an indigenous perspective that is cognizant of the inherent risks of vigilante justice but also aware of the limitations of reform strategies such as those proposed by the HRW report.
Résumé: Cet article examine la montée du vigilantisme dans le sud est du Nigeria. Il analyse deux discours opposés sur le vigilantisme nigérien. Le premier est caractérisé par la valorisation des membres de groupes qui s'emparent de la loi pour administrer leur propre justice jusqu'à en faire des héros dans les films vidéo populaires nigériens. Le second est représenté par un rapport récemment publié par Human Rights Watch (HRW) dénonçant les membres des organisations vigilantistes comme des criminels. Ma recherche utilise la recherche ethnographique afin de contextualiser les films vidéo et de les interpréter comme un moyen pour comprendre l'écart idéologique qui sépare ces deux discours. Une analyse approfondie de la série vidéo Issakaba révèle un traitement subtil du phénomène du vigilantisme dans le but d'attirer une perspective indigène consciente des risques inhérents à la justice prodiguée par le vigilantisme, mais sensibilisée aux limites que présentent les stratégies de réforme comme celles qui sont proposées par le rapport de HRW."
Transition Magazine, 2004
An ethnographic introduction to the Nigerian movie industry, written to order for Transition - wi... more An ethnographic introduction to the Nigerian movie industry, written to order for Transition - with directions to make it readable and free of academic jargon.
Africa Today, Jan 1, 2003
Nigerian video movies are one of the most visible developments of an emergent African culture ind... more Nigerian video movies are one of the most visible developments of an emergent African culture industry that, while participating in global forms, does not take its ideological or imaginative directions from academic or corporate forces from abroad. The emergence of a popular video movie industry in Nigeria reveals a need for critical reevaluation of the fi eld of African cinema. Video movies are now viewed in the homes of millions of Africans who never had access to, or perhaps even interest in, the celluloid fi lm productions of African cinematographers. Produced by self-trained artists, these movies fall outside current paradigms of academic fi lm criticism. This paper examines one such movie as a cultural narrative cited by an Igbo native doctor in an ethnographic interview. Analysis of the movie positions it in relation to the cultural links developed in the interview. These links include an indigenous model of madness, popular representations of global capitalism, and socioeconomic conditions in Nigeria as Nigerians interpret them.
Material Symbols: Culture and Economy in Prehistory, …, Jan 1, 1999
American Anthropologist, 1996
Africa (Royal African Institute), 1996
Anthropology News, Jan 1, 1996
Martin and Meara, Africa, Jan 1, 1995
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: Africa (New York and London: Garland Publishing), 1993
Anthropology and Humanism, Jan 1, 1993
It is generally accepted that ethnographic fieldwork can and should challenge researchers' assump... more It is generally accepted that ethnographic fieldwork can and should challenge researchers' assumptions about the world. However, anthropologists generally avoid the fundamental ontological issues raised by their experiences in the field. This article is an account of my initiation into a guild of traditional healers in the Ohafia region of Igbo-speaking Nigeria. The ceremony was instigated by an ancestral spirit and, indirectly, by a spirit entity named Agwu, with whom I was obliged to make peace. Learning to accept the necessity of interacting with a spirit provided fundamental insights into Ohafia culture and a critical understanding of the implications of ethnographic research.
Passages: A Chronicle of the Humanities (Northwestern University), Jan 1, 1992
Dancing the past: experiencing historical knowledge in Ohafia, Nigeria 2/9 quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi... more Dancing the past: experiencing historical knowledge in Ohafia, Nigeria 2/9 quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text---idx?c=passages;view=text;rgn=main;idno=4761530.0006.006 10/26/12 Dancing the past: experiencing historical knowledge in Ohafia, Nigeria 3/9 quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text---idx?c=passages;view=text;rgn=main;idno=4761530.0006.006
Book and Film Reviews by John C. McCall
H-AfrArts, H-Net Reviews, 2012
A review of three sources on Nollywood:
Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeri... more A review of three sources on Nollywood:
Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. xii + 147 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22117-9
Franco Sacchi, dir. This is Nollywood. Produced by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo. San Francisco: California Newsreel, 2007. 56 minutes. DVD.
Dorothee Wenner. Nollywood Lady. New York: Women Make Movies, 2008. 52 minutes / color.
American Ethnologist, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2002
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
American Ethnologist, Aug 1, 1997
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . This content downloaded from 131.230.73.202 on Fri, 5 Sep 2014 00:11:55 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions (p. 10). All the contributors are specialists in social organization and symbolic anthropology, and all present rich materials from extensive fieldwork in lowland South America, insular Southeast Asia, or Madagascar. The editors have put together a superb introductory essay that not only critically surveys the anthropological literature on houses and "house societies," but also deftly integrates the subsequent contributions. The essayists include Roxana Waterson, who has already published a landmark volume on the anthropology of architecture (The Living House: An Anthropology of Architecture in Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1990); in this collection she provides a critique of the notion of "house societies" through a probing comparative look at Indonesian societies in which the house dominates as a physical structure and as a grouping of kin. The other contributions consist of splendid case studies and critical reflections on the utility of Levi-Strauss's concept in portraying social order among the Zafimaniry (Maurice Bloch), the Kelabit (Monica Janowksi), the Langkawi Malays (Janet Carsten), the Makassarese (Thomas Gibson), the Lio (Signe Howell), the Tanimbarese (Susan McKinnon), the Carib-speaking communities of Guiana (Peter Riviere), the Mebengokre Kayap6 (Vanessa Lea), and the eastern Tukanoans (Stephen Hugh-Jones). Owing to the wealth of ethnographic material and to the finely honed analyses and critiques,
American Ethnologist, Vol. 22, No. 4, 1995
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
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Books by John C. McCall
Articles by John C. McCall
Résumé: Cet article examine la montée du vigilantisme dans le sud est du Nigeria. Il analyse deux discours opposés sur le vigilantisme nigérien. Le premier est caractérisé par la valorisation des membres de groupes qui s'emparent de la loi pour administrer leur propre justice jusqu'à en faire des héros dans les films vidéo populaires nigériens. Le second est représenté par un rapport récemment publié par Human Rights Watch (HRW) dénonçant les membres des organisations vigilantistes comme des criminels. Ma recherche utilise la recherche ethnographique afin de contextualiser les films vidéo et de les interpréter comme un moyen pour comprendre l'écart idéologique qui sépare ces deux discours. Une analyse approfondie de la série vidéo Issakaba révèle un traitement subtil du phénomène du vigilantisme dans le but d'attirer une perspective indigène consciente des risques inhérents à la justice prodiguée par le vigilantisme, mais sensibilisée aux limites que présentent les stratégies de réforme comme celles qui sont proposées par le rapport de HRW."
Book and Film Reviews by John C. McCall
Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. xii + 147 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22117-9
Franco Sacchi, dir. This is Nollywood. Produced by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo. San Francisco: California Newsreel, 2007. 56 minutes. DVD.
Dorothee Wenner. Nollywood Lady. New York: Women Make Movies, 2008. 52 minutes / color.
Résumé: Cet article examine la montée du vigilantisme dans le sud est du Nigeria. Il analyse deux discours opposés sur le vigilantisme nigérien. Le premier est caractérisé par la valorisation des membres de groupes qui s'emparent de la loi pour administrer leur propre justice jusqu'à en faire des héros dans les films vidéo populaires nigériens. Le second est représenté par un rapport récemment publié par Human Rights Watch (HRW) dénonçant les membres des organisations vigilantistes comme des criminels. Ma recherche utilise la recherche ethnographique afin de contextualiser les films vidéo et de les interpréter comme un moyen pour comprendre l'écart idéologique qui sépare ces deux discours. Une analyse approfondie de la série vidéo Issakaba révèle un traitement subtil du phénomène du vigilantisme dans le but d'attirer une perspective indigène consciente des risques inhérents à la justice prodiguée par le vigilantisme, mais sensibilisée aux limites que présentent les stratégies de réforme comme celles qui sont proposées par le rapport de HRW."
Pierre Barrot. Nollywood: The Video Phenomenon in Nigeria. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. xii + 147 pp. $22.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22117-9
Franco Sacchi, dir. This is Nollywood. Produced by Franco Sacchi and Robert Caputo. San Francisco: California Newsreel, 2007. 56 minutes. DVD.
Dorothee Wenner. Nollywood Lady. New York: Women Make Movies, 2008. 52 minutes / color.
Abstract:
Critical observers have long noted that museum collections from Africa are composed largely of the spoils of colonial pillage. Thus the Africa we normally encounter in museums—the Africa of masks and ritual objects displayed on walls and in glass cases—is a fetishized Africa of colonial nostalgia. The objective of this exhibit is to offer images of Other Africas, perspectives that lead us away from the desolate and romanticized Africa of the Western imagination toward those places where African modernities are emerging."