African Luxury: Aesthetics and Politics - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783209933 ISBN 13: 9781783209934

Publisher: Intellect Ltd, 2019

Synopsis

Moving far beyond predominant views of Africa as a place to be “saved,” and even more recent celebratory formulations of it as “rising,” African Luxury: Aesthetics and Politics highlights and critically interrogates the visual and material cultures of lavish and luxurious consumption already present on the continent. Methodologically, conceptually, and analytically, this collection dismantles taken-for-granted ideas that the West is the source and focus of high-end and hyper-desirable material cultures. It explores what the culture of consumption means in Africa in both historical and contemporary contexts, studying diverse luxury phenomena including fashion advertising, reality television, retail, gendered consumption, and gardening to re-center the discussion on existing contemporary luxury cultures across the continent.
 

About this title

About the Author

Mehita Iqani is associate professor in media studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Simidele Dosekun is a lecturer in media and cultural studies at the University of Sussex.

Edition details

• Publisher: Intellect Ltd
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1783209933
• ISBN 13: 9781783209934
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 180
• Editor: Iqani Mehita, Dosekun Simidele