Zur Ambivalenz des Populärjournalismus in Senegal. Strategische Aneignung und mediale Repräsentation der Hausmädchen

Frank Wittmann

Africa Spectrum, 2003, vol. 38, issue 2, 153-172

Abstract: Cultural Studies have been increasingly accepted in recent years in German speaking humanities. However, it is clear that research in and about Africa is significantly under-represented. This inadequacy cannot be ascribed to a lack of relevance or adequate sub-jects; on the contrary, urban Africa offers a vast reservoir of popular cultural media and practices. Press reports on female domestic workers in Senegal who make a name for themselves with stories on Sex and Crime are an obvious example for this thesis. The research objective of this article which stands in the tradition of appropriation studies within the context of Cultural Studies is the question whether, and in which manner, Senegalese female domestic workers appropriate the popular press and in which way they assess its effects on their reputations and everyday professional lives. The qualitative interviews focus on the self-conception of Senegalese female domestic workers: Do they consider the reported stories as authentic or rather as an invention of a sensation-craving tabloid press? Is there a congruence between the everyday work problems of female domestic workers and the journalistic agenda? Is the image of the profession of the female domestic worker damaged by this lurid reporting? The concluding section of the article brings together the various threads of the argument by discussing the question of what effect a greater consideration of West African mass media would have in the context of Cultural Studies.

Date: 2003
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