An important contribution to the debate on forms of civil society in Africa and elsewhere, and to the global literature on dissent.
In
Humor, Silence, and Civil Society in Nigeria, Ebenezer Obadare offers an innovative perspective on the idea and reality of civil society. Mobilizing a wide range of concepts and insights from political science, African studies, sociology, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, communications theory, and international development, Obadare develops a notion of civil society that radically departs from the literature’s axiomatic focus on voluntary civic associations and focuses instead on more informal strategies of resistance, such as humor and silence. Compellingly argued,
Humor, Silence, and Civil Society in Nigeria raises provocative questions on a topic of keen importance for students, scholars, and policymakers.
Ebenezer Obadare is professor of sociology at the University of Kansas. He is coeditor of
Civic Agency in Africa: Arts of Resistance in the 21st Century(James Currey, 2014).
Table of Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: On the Terms of a Debate
A Terrain of Contention
An African Discourse
The Uses of Levity
Siddon Look
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index
About the author
Ebenezer Obadare is Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also a senior fellow at the New York University School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs, as well as a fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute of Theology. His books include Humor, Silence, and Civil Society in Nigeria (2016), Civic Agency in Africa: Arts of Resistance in the 21st Century (2014).
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