Dina Ligaga’s new book Women, Visibility and Morality in Kenyan Popular Media is set to make its appearance on March 5, 2020.
Dina Ligaga is an associate professor in the Department of Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She has published in the areas of media and cultural studies, and popular culture in Africa, with a specific focus on Kenyan popular culture. She is co-editor of Radio in Africa (2011) and Eastern African Intellectual Traditions (2012). She is also co-editor of the special issue on ‘Gender and Popular Imaginaries in Africa’, Agenda, 2018.
Ligaga has a new book coming out which has the following blurb;
“Women, Visibility and Morality in Kenyan Popular Media” explores familiar constructions of femininity to assess ways in which it circulates in discourse, both stereotypically and otherwise. It assesses the meanings of such discourses and their articulations in various public platforms in Kenya. The book draws together theoretical questions on ‘pre-convened’ scripts that contain or condition how women can circulate in public. The book asks questions about particular interpretations of women’s bodies that are considered transgressive or unruly and why these bodies become significant symbolic sites for the generation of knowledge on morality and sexuality. The book also poses questions about genre and representations of femininity. The assertion made is that for knowledges of femininity to circulate effectively, they must be melodramatic, spectacular and scandalous. Ultimately, the book asks how such a theorisation of popular modes of representation enable a better understanding of the connections between gender, sexuality and violence in Kenya.
If you want to get your copy of this book you can pre-order it on Amazon. You can also order the title from African Book Collective with your payment going directly to the publisher.
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