Take Birmingham to the Curb, Here Comes African Cultural Studies: An Exercise in Revisionist Historiography

HANDEL KASHOPE WRIG T INTRODUCTION: THE TRUE ORIGIN OF CULTURAL STUDIES up as a truism. Even the most cursory cOlnp;an~)on Centre and the Kamirilthu latter that cultural Stu.QIE$ UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 65, NUMBER 2, SPRING 1996 356 HANDEL KASHOPE WRIGHT ::;ec:oncl, while both centres were COI\Ce:me~d. 10(;....,............, ....."""" ...... Centre fell short of the aeltmI.oon HIS.TORICIZING CULTURAL STUDIES AS A SIMON-MEETSFOUCAULT -MEETS-NGUGI KIND OF THING notion the TAKE BIRMINGHAM TO THE CURB 357 forward this In a sense,I undertake iliiica:n contraretro~;pE~cti.ve ot,cuJltural studies as a Foucauldian reversal.4 David Foucauldian is succinct: PO:tntllIlg to existence of the other side that those elements that seem to hold a discourse to~;etl1ler; terms of 358 KASHOPE~GHT h,,,,,,",..,....,yy current Sru.QIE~S if we take the studies started not in the centre orr:aurtgnam but THE PLAY'S THE THING WHEREIN WE'LL CATCH CULTURAL STUDIES AT WORK a"""................... eXcllupJe ae(:rle:Q in mainstream historical dis~co'urf:;e TAKE BIRMJNGHAM TO THE CURB 359 Those of us who marched to Aldermaston and back in the 19505 and establish the New Left Club ... who with Eric HOibst)a""m, who classes for the Workers' Educational Associawith the Fife Socialist who defended I "'~.•• - "u discover that what we were studies. 360 HANDEL KASHOPB WRIGIIT AFRICAN LITERARY AND CULTURAL WRITINGS AS 'ALWAYS ALREADY' CULTURAL STUDIES As I have .,.~,.,rn.a,rI eJlse'Nh,ere 7 works like NICIVITiIf' the Centre offer TAKE BIRMThJGHAM TO THE CURB 361 CONCLUSION: CAN YOU SAY 'AFRICAN CULTURAL STUDIES' WITHOUT BITING YOUR TONGUE? VVJ.'I;...J.J.L~, however. West and little or no ult1erC.narlge Western schools about the h1c+rU''''I7 ...., ... L ...U.'-/ workers lend at most a cultural studies.s 1 2 362 HANDEL KASHOPE WRlGHT outside.tl1 I can I can I African cultural ..'-....~..u..Ft like NOTES describes the work done at Kamiriithu in Detained: A .....v.u....v.u. HeinemannEducational Books in Barrel Pen: NJ: Africa World Press '1"'11"1"'\'\11,1.:01"1 an account and assessment of Vat'lOUlSlv describes Kamiriithu as 'Pc~pular theater as resistance' and drama as national culture.' The SPE~CUIC ae!)lgIlanlon of work done at Kamiriithu as cultural studies is mine. . emlDI()VS the term contravision in the Grain: Texts Pn!;~iJlllitlJ to describe a vision of the purpose of education that 3 TAKE BIRMINGHAM TO THE CURB 363 c01llltered and offered an alternative to the aOlmllla.I1lt, t2ike-n-tlnr·'2Tanh::'o dimensional view of as a SOCla1JLZU1lg the status quo in terms of how individuals are -nriuil,,,"at:.,., discriminated in terms of age, sexual onent:an1on, and Arleen Schenke's Work: A Critical Education is a revisionist examination of work education that corlSLSitertUV cn';Ul€~ng;ea taK:en··rol'-gl~anrea notions of what constitutes pOSlO,on and role of workers in the W()r!erg, 'The Formations of Cultural Studies: An American in tsrrmill1gtlaIlrt. 6 Gibbs's Critical on Wale 11. 7 See 'Would We Know African Cultural Studies If We Saw It?' 8 A heuristic cultural studies in the very title of Wale and Dn Literature and Culture. The work the Centre: The Cultural and an gmlen1mlent cerLSOllShllP of the press in West Africa which also oV'l.... ln1'oc of the press is linked with h~~~""'~'~~ go'velnnn.ertt rE~prless:ion and how these factors lives. Chinua Achebe's and 1965-1987 is for the most a series of essays on it contains elements such as Achebe's ruminations on the role can in pr4Dm,Otl,ng African which make it at least unconventional as a criticism text, and in my view it to be considered a cultural studies text. Of all these makes an reference to cultural studies in his work and even in his case the reference is alEitu1tctly 9 See 'Scattered of Cultural Studies/ in Outside in the and Alan 'What is Transnational Cultural Studies?' 10 Cultural Studies 6:3 from this confest. 11 Morris is "Cultural Studies"? way of KASHOPE WRIGHT WORKS CITED Chinua. and Selected 1965-1987. Ibadan: HeinematUl Educational Books 1988...