Canvassing the generative

Fela and Olaniyan’s cultural analysis of the African state

Bibliographic Data

ID13048403
AuthorsWale Adebanwi (0000-0001-9791-3436, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume18
Issue2
Pages150-172
Publication date2024-04-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the African Literature Association (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2167-4736 • E-ISSN: 2167-4744
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21674736.2024.2336352
OpenAlexW4394813136
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited17

One of Tejumola Olaniyan's most significant contributions to the analysis of African social formation is his emphasis on approaching the African state as a fundamental "generative canvas" for cultural (re)production. This article engages his thesis in exploring how the state is not only a cultural practice and a site of culture but also a phenomenon that is generative of culture, particularly when culture is approached as central to the conception and practices of the political. I develop this argument through a re-engagement with and reinterpretation of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's lyrics, which Olaniyan has interpreted in useful ways, as some of the most generative means of understanding the postcolonial state. I develop three perspectives extracted from Olaniyan's work, that is, "hermeneutic horizon," "ethics of attention," and "reformative energies," to explore Fela's lyrical theorization of the state/power in postcolonial Africa

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · Generative grammar · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Reinterpretation · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Music History and Culture · Philosophy · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies · South African History and Culture

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