Conference Presentations

Select Media and Cultural Communication Presentations

Some of these have been published, but usually in shorter forms. These papers are the full-length versions. Many of the papers revisit the same argument about the history and structure of visual media in northern Nigeria. This is understandable as requests were repeatedly made by conference organizers for this information, although tailored to specific conferences.

1. [2015] Youth and Popular Culture in northern Nigeria. Paper delivered at the Hausa der Kulturen der Welt/House of World Cultures, Berlin Germany, on Thursday 6th September, 2015.
2. [2015] The Influence of Hindi Film Music on Muslim Hausa Popular and Religious Music. Paper delivered at the Hausa der Kulturen der Welt/House of World Cultures, Berlin Germany, on Thursday 6th September, 2015.
3. [2015] The City at the Edge of Forever – Archiving and Digitizing Arabic Sources on the History of Kano, Nigeria. Paper presented at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), University of Hamburg, Germany, 13th August 2015.
4. [2013] Veiled Voices: Islam, Women and Degrees of Visibility in Muslim Hausa Popular Singing. Paper presented at the International Conference on Testing and Contesting Regimes of Visibility, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology/Institute for African Studies University of Cologne, Germany, 3-5 July 2013.
5. [2013] Prophetic Wrath: Prophet, Visuality and Power Control in Northern Nigerian Popular Culture. Paper presented at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa on 4th March 2013.
6. [2013] Poetic Barbs: Angst, Voter Mobilization and Urban Musics in Kano State 2011 Elections. Paper presented at the 1st National Conference on Perspectives on Elections and the Challenges for Democracy in Nigeria, organized by the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria on 9th January 2013. Download
7. [2013] An Ethnographic History of Kanywood – The Hausa Video Film Industry. Paper presented at the Kano State Film Festival, 18th March 2013, Kano, Nigeria. Download
8. [2012] Al-Hausawi, Al-Hindawi: Media Contraflow, Urban Communication and Translinguistic Onomatopoeia Among Hausa of Northern Nigeria. European Union Visiting Professor Guest Paper Presented to the University of Warsaw, 10th May, 2012, Department of African Languages and Cultures, University of Warsaw, Poland.
9. [2011] The Beggar’s Opera: Muslim Beggar-Minstrels and Street Oral Poetry Theater in Northern Nigeria. Paper presented at West African Research Agency’s International Conference, Saharan Crossroads: Views from the South, held at Hotel Tenere, in Niamey, Niger Republic from July 7 to July 10, 2011.
10. [2011] Muslim Religious Extremism, Radicalization and Militancy in Northern Nigeria – Analysis of Insurgency Video Texts. Presented at Roundtable Methodology Workshop on Religion, Conflict and Democracy in Northern Nigeria, organized by Centre for Peace Initiative and Development (CPID), Jos, held at Nevilla Hotel, Kaduna, 12th November 2011, Download
11. [2011] Interdicting Images in the Islamicate Public Sphere: Sensuality and Spirituality in Figurative Representation in northern Nigerian Popular Culture. Commissioned paper presented at the Scientific Dahlem Conference Freie Universität Berlin, Germany from March 19th to 27th, 2011.
12. [2009] Transgressing Boundaries: Reinterpretation of Nollywood Films in Muslim Northern Nigeria. Paper presented at the Conference on Nollywood and Beyond: Transnational Dimensions of the African Video Industry held at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, May 13-16, 2009.
13. [2009] Short-Circuited: Traditional Muslim Hausa Music and the Threats of Transnational Technopop in Northern Nigeria—Strategies for Survival and Preservation. Paper presented at the conference, «Why safeguard our musical heritage for the future? » an academic and cultural conference, under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, Abu Dhabi, October 3rd and 4th, 2009.
14. [2009] Hell on Earth: Media-Mediated Urban Sexuality and Islamicate Popular Culture in Northern Nigeria. Guest Lecture presented at the Center of Competence on Africa, Centre for African Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland, on 18th February 2009.
15. [2009] Hausa Video Films – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Intellectualizing Hausa Video Films in Retrospect. Discussion/lead paper presented at the International Workshop on Hausa Home Video Films with the theme of Controversies, Sanity and Solutions in the Hausa Home Video Industry, held at Kongo Conference Center, Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, from 13th to 15th August, 2009. Download
16. [2009] “Bosho” War: 9/11, Global Media and Local Visual Re-Interpretations in Muslim Northern Nigeria, Paper presented for “Remedializations of Global Events” workshop/conference, the University of Cologne, Germany, November 19-21, 2009,
17. [2008] North of Nollywood, South of the Sahara: Cultural Dynamics in the Marketing of Hausa Video Films. Discussion Paper for Presentation at the 2-day conference on Nollywood: Challenges of Production, Entertainment Value and International Marketing Strategies, held at the Pan-African University, Lagos, Nigeria from Friday 18th to Saturday 19th July 2008. Download
18. [2008] Media Technologies and Literary Transformations in Hausa Oral Literature. International Workshop on “Transporting Oral Literatures Between Media, Cultures and Languages”, at Afrika-Asien Institute (AAI), University of Hamburg, Germany, 29th November, 2008.
19. [2008] Eastward Ho! Cultural Proximity and Eastern Focus in the Hausa Literature. International Workshop on “Transporting Oral Literatures Between Media, Cultures and Languages” Afrika-Asien Institute (AAI), University of Hamburg, Germany, 30th November, 2008.
20. [2007] Transnational Influences and National Appropriations: The Influence of Hindi Film Music on Muslim Hausa Popular and Religious Music. Paper presented at the Congres des Musiques dan le monde de l’islam, World Conference on Music in the world of Islam, Assilah, Morocco, 10th August 2007.Download
21. [2007] The Transnational Express: Moving Images, Cultural Resonance and Popular Culture in Muslim Northern Nigeria. Public Lecture Presented at Barnard Forum on Migration, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, United States, November 7, 2007. Download
22. [2007] Arab Images in African School Curricula – A Study of the History of Learning and Contemporary Schooling Systems in Northern Nigeria. Paper presented at the Symposium on Mutual Perceptions Between Africans and Arabs in School Curricula held at Arewa House, Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna, from 21- 23 May 2007, and sponsored by Institute Culturel Afro-Arabe (Afro-Arab Cultural Institute), Bamako, Mali. Download
23. [2005] Read to Reel: Transformation of Hausa Popular Literature from Orality to Visuality. Paper presented at the 24th International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors, held on 11th-12th November, 2005 at the Murtala Muhammad Library Complex, Kano. Download
24. [2005] Divergent Similarities: Culture, Globalization and Hausa Creative and Performing Arts. A Paper presented at the International Conference on Literature in Northern Nigeria, Department of English and French, Bayero University, Kano, 5th-6th December, 2005. Download
25. [2004] Loud Bubbles from A Silent Brook: Trends and Tendencies in Contemporary Hausa Prose Fiction. Paper presented at “Janheinz Jahn Symposium on African Language Literatures: Production, Mediation, Reception”, held at the Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Universität Mainz (Johannes Guttenberg University), Mainz, Germany, 18th November 2004. Download
26. [2004] Enter the Dragon: Shari’a, Popular Culture and Film Censorship in Northern Nigeria. Guest Paper presented at the Institute für Afrinkanishe, University of Köln, Germany, 15th November, 2004. Download
27.  [2001] Tarbiyar Bahaushe, Mutumin Kirki and Hausa Prose Fiction: Towards an Analytical Framework. Department of English and European Languages Seminar, 23^rd January 2001.