Smithsonian Libraries African Art Index Project DSI Search this
Type:
Articles
Place:
Africa
Date:
1987
Notes:
One of four commentaries on Karin Barber's paper on popular arts in Africa (see pp. 1-78 of this same issue of African studies review), Cooper seeks to probe more deeply than Barber did the relationships between popular art forms and the shifting urban audiences (consumers) and ultimately what those dynamics can tell us about a particular setting in modern Africa, not about the masses or the populace as an abstract category. Barber, in her response, is in full accord with Cooper's plea for greater historical specificity in examining popular arts, rather than merely looking at them against "a generalized backdrop of colonialism or post-colonialism."
