Francis Nyamnjoh: Interrogating Barbie Democracy

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Francis B. Nyamnjoh is Professor of anthropology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa
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Main | Chieftaincy and Democracy in Contemporary Africa »

Interrogating Barbie Democracy

Barbie_doll By Francis B. Nyamnjoh

The world is currently hostage to a very uncreative idea of democracy informed by a very narrow idea of what it is to be beautiful, healthy, successful and free. Nowhere is this narrowness better exemplified than in the colossal investment that consumer capitalism has made in slimness, the greatest icon of which is Barbie.

The Africa of 2015 will be more assertive and critical of certain orthodoxies as Africans seek to harness their distinctive creativity, adaptiveness, sociality and conviviality in relationships and encounters. This essay focuses on democracy, a domain in which, paradoxical as it may seem, Africa would have much to teach the rest of the world by 2015.

This image is made and sold aggressively around the globe to be consumed as the ideal to which all must aspire, if they are to emerge from the vicissitudes and drawbacks to the good life. Barbie-like celebrities are recruited to endorse slimming diets, which more ordinary people are then persuaded to follow, and the results varying degrees of disappointment.

Click here to print or download complete article in PDF format

November 14, 2004 in Africa, Democracy & Democratization | Permalink

Tags: Africa, Barbie, Democracy, Democratization, Globalization, Identity & Belonging

Comments

Nice website. Wonderful choice of colours and illustrations. Unfortunately, I have not taken time to read through, but will certainly do so at my leisure time.

Hope "our people" can learn from your "HOT PEN".

Have a great day.

Posted by: Nelson Tawe | May 27, 2005 at 07:11 AM

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