Africa in Stereo: Modernism, Music, and Pan-African Solidarity

289 Pages·2014·2.293 MB·English

by  Tsitsi Ella Jaji

Africa in Stereo
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Africa in Stereo
Modernism, Music, and Pan-African
Solidarity
Tsitsi Ella   Jaji
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3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jaji, Tsitsi.
Africa in stereo : modernism, music, and pan-African solidarity / Tsitsi Ella Jaji.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–993637–3 (cloth : acid-free paper)—ISBN 978–0–19–993639–7
(pbk. : acid-free paper) 1. African literature—History and criticism. 2. Modernism (Literature)—
Africa. 3. Music in literature. 4. Music in motion pictures. 5. Comparative literature—
African and American. 6. Comparative literature—American and African. 7. Music—Social
aspects—Africa. I. Title.
PL8010.J335 2014
809´896—dc23
2013014042
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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For my parents, Gail Louise Jaji and Lazarus Musekiwa Jaji.
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{ Contents}
Acknowledgments ix
About the Companion Website xiii
1. Stereomodernism: Amplifying the Black Atlantic 1
2. Sight-Reading: Early Black South African Transcriptions of Freedom 23
3. Négritude Musicology: Poetry, Performance, and Statecraft in Senegal 66
4. What Women Want: Selling Hi-Fi in Consumer Magazines and Film 111
5. “Soul to Soul”: Echolocating Histories of Slavery and Freedom from
Ghana 147
6. Pirates Choice: Hacking into (Post-)Pan-African Futures 193
Epilogue: Singing Stones 2 39
Bibliography 249
Index 261
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{Acknowledgments}

Africa in Stereo began its life as a dissertation at Cornell University, and I had
extraordinarily generous and astute teachers there. I thank my dissertation
committee chair, Natalie Melas, who guided me with critical insight and wry
humor, choreographing the shift ing rhythms of the writing process with a rare
combination of compassion and high standards. During my fi rst semester at
Cornell, Anne Adams introduced me to Senghor’s poem “À New York.” Th at
poem inspired my dissertation, just as Anne’s intellectual generosity and hos-
pitality continue to inspire me. Jacques Coursil has been a treasured model of
how to pursue literature, music, and philosophy in harmony. I thank him, too,
for the prodigious gift of his library when he departed Ithaca. Grant Farred
joined the committee in my fi nal year, and I remain grateful for his guidance
and the example of his elegant work on vernacular intellectuals. In addition,
I thank Hortense Spillers, Barry Maxwell, Steve Pond, Steve Donatelli, Brett
deBary, Pete Wetherbee, Paul Sawyer, and three extraordinary undergradu-
ate mentors, Ama Ata Aidoo, Médoune Gueye, and Sanford Margolis. I am
endlessly grateful for the generosity of Frances Walker in supporting my stud-
ies at Oberlin College and Conservatory. I off er sincere thanks to my editor,
Brendan O’ Neill, and his team; Brent Edwards, Jayna Brown, Suzanne Gauch;
and my anonymous readers for their invaluable counsel.
Th e intellectual camaraderie of my colleagues at the University of
Pennsylvania has made working there a joy. I am deeply grateful to Th adious
Davis for her countless kindnesses, and most especially for reading my manu-
script early in its post-dissertation metamorphosis. I thank many who com-
mented on parts of this in various Penn workshops and seminars: Herman
Beavers, Guy Ramsey, Ania Loomba, Suvir Kaul, Rita Barnard, Carol Muller,
Lydie Moudileno, Salamishah Tillet, Chi-ming Yang, Tamara Walker, Josephine
Park, Bob Perelman, David Kazanjian, David Eng, Bob Vitalis, Cheikh Babou,
Max Cavitch, Deb Th omas, John Jackson, the Race and Empire faculty
group, Africana Studies, and Latitudes reading group. My gratitude also goes
to those at Rutgers, Yale, the University of Rochester, Bryn Mawr, Arcadia,
Case Western Reserve, Wesleyan, the University of London Institute in Paris,
Temple, Princeton, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard’s W. E. B. Du
Bois Institute for the opportunity to share work as it progressed. And I thank
my students, who have inspired me and taught me much, particularly my advi-
sees Khwezi Mkhize, Jennifer Kyker, Petal Samuels, Danielle Bainbridge, and
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