Mass Media and Leisure in Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Mass Media and Leisure in Africa
Author:	Ambler, Charles
Year:	2002
Periodical:	International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:	35
Issue:	1
Pages:	119-136
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	leisure mass communication cinema Literature, Mass Media and the Press History and Exploration Historical/Biographical literature
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097369
Abstract:	Video dens and theatres have become ubiquitous features on African landscapes, both rural and urban, during the last decade. Imported films, especially action films, dominate the markets, but in West Africa, and in particular in Nigeria and Ghana, substantial industries have emerged that produce films directly on video. This essay identifies a number of the critical questions raised by the explosion of video in contemporary Africa to explore the longer history of mass media as a vehicle for leisure activity. It argues that the historical experience of African audiences, looking for leisure in reading, attending films, listening to the radio, and now watching videos, is that media are subject to appropriation and that the consumption of media has to be understood inside a much broader conception of leisure activity. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]