Except from Dr. Samuel Andrews’ SJD
dissertation April 2018.
*(available also at) 1 OAU L.J. 217, 225-29
(2018).
[D] Renegotiating ‘AfroNdise’ Creative
Landscape
[1]
Background
This Chapter coins the term ‘AfroNdise’ to describe Africa’s indigenous cultural cinematographic
works.[1] ‘AfroNdise’ is derived by
merging the word ‘Afro,’ a reference
to African or black culture and ‘Ndise,’
an Ibibio term for film, picture and spectacle.[2] The Ibibios are an ethnic
community in the South-South region of Nigeria.[3] Chapter Five uses AfroNdise and Afrollywood interchangeably.
Nollywood introduced a unique indigenous creative genre
to other parts of Africa. Across Africa, Ghanaians refer to their movie
industry as, Ghallywood.[4] South Africa’s movie industry is either
Joziwood, Jollywood, or Vollywood, it is categorized based on the genre and how
it relates to a thematic analysis.[5] In Kenya, filmmakers refer
to the contemporary genre of movies as Kennywood.[6] This Chapter descriptively
refers to Africa and black cultural creative film industries as ‘AfroNdise.’
The international creative communities led by the United
Nations have initiated several treaties to regulate the use and compensation
systems of cultural materials.[7] This Chapter will examine the efforts of
UNESCO and WIPO, to adopt a legal regime that is globally acceptable for
protecting cultural proprietary rights of indigenous people and traditional
societies.[8]
The recent Marvel and Walt Disney Studio’s production of
‘Black Panther’ creates a renewed
interest in the debate of the proper value or compensation that African
communities deserve, for the use of their folklore, art craft, fashion designs,
songs and sacred creation in a derivative cinematographic work.[9] The movie, ‘Black
Panther’, made box-office record by earning more than $400 million within ten
days of its release in the U.S. and $700 million overseas in two weeks.[10]
The movie depicts a fictional Central or Eastern African
nation, Wakanda, with abundant reserves of a rare mineral deposit, Vibranium.[11] Wakanda is a technologically superior country
that was not colonized by any Western Nation. Vibranium, has a ubiquitous
technological superiority that sets the country above its neighbors.
T’Challa, who succeeded his father to be the leader of
Wakanda, wanted to continue the kingdom’s isolationist policies that he taught
kept them safe. However, Erik Killmonger, the King’s cousin questioned
T’Challa’s legitimacy to the throne and had a contrary vision as to the use of
Vibranium. Killmonger sets in motion
plans to claim the throne from T’Challa and control the mineral resource. He
envisaged that Vibranium could be used as a tool to change the political and
economic power structure of the world.
[2] ‘Wakanda’: Cultural Anachronism &
Cinematographic Appropriations
Professor Arewa contends that ‘borrowing’ certain African
cultural works in the context of a commercial exploitation and for profit, just
as the song, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, may cross the line into appropriation
of creative culture.[12] Expounding further on
Professor Arewa’s argument, this chapter contends that on the backdrop of
Western colonist exploitations of African resources, coupled with the
competitive advantages enabled by advanced digital technology.[13] Western creators,
traditional communities in Africa and other places should create a new
intellectual property regime.[14] This can be achieved by
renegotiating with traditional communities in Africa and other continents that
recognize the exploitative intersection of a “borrowed” African creative culture,
folklore, artwork, songs, sacred institution and native fashion designs.
The movie ‘Black
Panther’ depicts and uses both fictional and non-fictional African creative
contents.[15]
For example, Wakanda’s elite female guard draws on the traditions of Kenya,
South Africa and Namibia.[16] Another example for purposes of Intellectual
Property law intervention is Wakanda’s king, T’Challa, wearing a tunic with an
embroidered collar similar to those worn by Yoruba men in Nigeria.[17] The producers of “Black Panther,” perhaps for legal and artistic reasons, created a derivative art
by combining cultures of different African ethnic communities into a new form
of fictional African culture or art.[18] The cultural anachronism
however does little to shield the appropriation of the inherent cultures that
forms the basis of the screenplay.[19]
[1] See Jyoti Misty & Jordache A. Ellapen, Nollywood’s Transportability: The Politics and Economics of Video Films
as Cultural Products in Global
Nollywood: The Transnational Dimensions of an African Video Film Industry
46-69 (Matthias Krings & Onookome Okome, eds., Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2013).
[2] See Ibibio-English Online Talking Dictionary, http://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/ibibio/?fields=all&semantic_ids=&q=film
[3]
See Susannah Walker, Black is Profitable: The Commodification of
the Afro, 1960-1975, 1 Enterprise & Society 536-564(2000); See also, Gregory U. Rigsby, Afro-American Studies at Howard University:
One Year After, 39 J. Negro Edu. 209-213 (1970); This thesis also
refers to Afrondise as “Afrollywood.”
[4] See Carmela Garritano,
African Movies and Global Desires: A Ghanaian History 1, 154-194 (Center
for International Studies; Ohio University Press, 2013).
[5]
See Jyoti Misty & Jordache
A. Ellapen, supra, note 219 at 55-60.
[6] See George Issaias, East
Africa: The Start of a Booming Film Industry? True Africa (December 15, 2015),
https://trueafrica.co/article/east-africa-the-start-of-a-booming-film-industry/;
see
also Frankline Sunday, Kenya’s
Film Industry is in Revival Mode, Standard Digital (October 6, 2015), https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000178722/kenya-s-film-industry-is-in-revival-mode.
[7] See Wendy Wendland & Jessyca V. Weelde, Digitizing Traditional Culture, WIPO Magazine (June 3, 2008), http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2008/03/article_0009.html ; see
also World Intellectual Property Organization, Indigenous Community Goes Digital with High Tech Support From WIPO,
WIPO Media Center: Press Releases (August 5, 2009), http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2009/article_0030.html; see generally, Olufunmilayo Arewa, Cultural Appropriation: When ‘Borrowing’ Become Exploitation, The
Conversation (June 20, 2016), https://theconversation.com/cultural-appropriation-when-borrowing-becomes-exploitation-57411; see
also https://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-conversation-africa/cultural-appropriation-wh_b_10585184.html
; see e.g. §§ 5.6 [A], [B],[C] supra, at 241-251.
[8] See § 5.6 [A], [B], [C] supra at 241-251.
[9] Id.
[10] See Elahe Izadi, ‘Black
Panther’ Keeps Smashing Records, Exceeding Box-Office Expectations and Making
History, The Washington Post, (February 25, 2018), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2018/02/25/black-panther-keeps-smashing-records-exceeding-box-office-expectations-and-making-history/?utm_term=.44934949e52f ; see
also Andrew Chow, “ Tomb Raider”
Can’t Topple ‘Black Panther’ at Box Office, New York Times (March 18,
2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/18/movies/black-panther-box-office-tomb-raider-i-can-only-imagine.html
(reporting that black Panther, the movie earned $605million domestically and
$1,2 billion globally five straight weeks after its official release).
[11] See Elahe Izadi, supra
note 228.
[12] See Arewa, supra, note
225.
[13] See Negativland, Two
Relationships to a Cultural Public Domain,
66 L. & Comtemp. Problems 239-62
(2003).
[14] See Paul Kuruk, The Role of Customary Law Under Sui Generis
Frameworks of Intellectual Property Rights in Traditional and Indigenous
Knowledge, 17 Ind. Int’l & Comp.
L. Rev. 67 (2007).
[15] See Mallory Yu, ‘Black Panther, Costume Designer Draws On ‘The Sacred Geometry of Africa,’
NPR.org (Feb. 16, 2016), https://www.npr.org/2018/02/16/586513016/black-panther-costume-designer-draws-on-the-sacred-geometry-of-africa
[16] Id.
[17] See Zeba Blay, From Zamunda
to Wakanda: How ‘Black Panther’ Reimagined African Style, Huffington Post
(Feb. 16, 2018), https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-black-panther-reimagined-african-style_us_5a7730e0e4b01ce33eb3e6d5
[18] Id.
[19] See Jelani Cobb, “Black
Panther” and The Invention of “Africa,” The New Yorker (February 18, 2018),
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/black-panther-and-the-invention-of-africa
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