Skip to content
  • Humanities & Social Sciences

Joseph Oduro-Frimpong (Ph.D.)

Stand-up comic pedagogy informs my teaching. This approach entails having a relaxed but serious classroom setting. Here, I use seemingly mundane experiences to underscore class discussions, illuminate theoretical concepts and connect with key issues. In my classroom, I encourage students “to challenge, engage and question the form and substance of the learning process.” (Giroux 2001: 202).

Media Anthropology, African Popular (Visual) Culture, Urban Ghana, Intercultural/Interpersonal Communication

PhD, Cultural Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (2012).
MPhil, Human Communication (Interpersonal), Central Michigan University (2005).
MA, Information Studies (Archives Administration), University of Ghana, Legon (2002).
BA, English & Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon (2000).

Reviewer
Communication, Culture & Critique (Special Issue: Africa, Media, Globalization)
Journal of African Cultural Studies (Special Issue: Afro-Superheroes)
Legon Journal of Humanities
Professional Membership
African Studies Association (ASA)
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
Ghana Studies Association (GSA)
International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)

2019 – Part of 37 early career award scholars (from a 400-applicant pool) to attend the First Africa Humanities Workshop at Addis Ababa. Workshop sponsored by the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes [CHCI]) – Click to read

2018 Fully funded to participate in a two-day British Academy project “SRG/170376: The Karin Barber Pop-Up Lab”, University of Birmingham.

2018 – Awarded $5000 sub-grant (from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes [CHCI]) towards programming activities for the Center for African Popular Culture, Ashesi University

2016 – Awarded an African Humanities Program (AHP) fellowship for journal manuscript development workshop in Tanzania. The aim of the week-long workshop was to allow senior colleagues from other African universities coach young scholars on technicalities of crafting journal articles for publication.

2015 – Was selected as an ACLS/ASA (African Studies Association) Presidential Fellow to attend and present my research at the 2015 Annual ASA meeting in San Diego. One of the aims of the Fellows Program, established in 2010, is to invite outstanding Africa-based scholars to also spend time at African Studies programs/centers in the U.S.

2014 – Awarded an AHP post-doctoral fellowship, the first of its kind to be won by a faculty of a private university. This fellowship, under the aegis of The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and generously supported by the Carnegie Corporation, allowed me take a year’s leave to focus on completing my research on the role popular media genres in Ghanaian democratic politics. To achieve this objective, I spent three months at Rhodes University and three months at the University of Cape Town.

I am a collaborator (together with eight colleagues from South Africa) on an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded research project titled “Urban Connections in African Popular Imaginaries”. This three-year funded project (2016-2019) is concerned with African popular modes of representation and interpretation, and especially with the ways in which local specificities and global imaginaries are articulated through popular genres. It seeks to engage critically with various knowledge productions that are embedded in local cultural forms. The project’s home is at the Department of English, Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

2007 – Semiotic Silence: Its’ Use as a Conflict-Management Strategy in Intimate Relationships. Semiotica, 167:285-308.

2009 – Glocalization Trends: Examining the Case of Hip-Life Music in Contemporary Ghana. International Journal of Communication, 1085-1106.

2010 – Semiotic Silence in Intimate Relationships. Journal of Pragmatics,43(9), 2331-2336.

2014 – Sakawa Rituals and Cyberfraud in Ghanaian Popular Video Movies. African Studies Review, 57(2), 131-147.

Peer-reviewed Book Chapters

2018(a) – Glocalization and Popular Media: The Case of Akosua Political Cartoons. In Jolanta A Drzewiecka and Thomas K Nakayama, (eds.),Global Dialectics in Intercultural Communication: Case Studies (pp. 143-160). Peter Lang Publishers.

2018(b) – “This Cartoon is a Satire”: Cartoons as Critical Entertainment and Resistance in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. In Peter Limb and Tejumola Olaniyan (eds.), Taking African Cartoons Seriously: Politics, Satire and Culture (133-160). Michigan State University Press.

2014 – “Better Ghana Agenda: On Akosua Cartoons and Critical Public Debates in Contemporary Ghana”. In Stephanie Newell and Onookome Okome (eds.), Popular Culture in Africa: The Episteme of Everyday (pp. 131-154). New York, NY: Routledge.

Encyclopedia Entries

2011 – Music and Dissent: Ghana & Nigeria. In Sage Encyclopedia of Social Movements Media (pp. 346-347). Los Angeles, LA: Sage Publications.

2012 – African Video Films & Political Critique. In Sage Encyclopedia of Social Movements Media (pp. 407). Los Angeles, LA: Sage Publications

2013 – White Supremacists’ Tattoos as Alternative Media. In Sage Encyclopedia of Social Movements Media (pp. 536-537). Los Angeles, LA: Sage Publications.

Book Reviews

2015 – Review of ‘Ghanaian Video Movies and Global Desires: A Ghanaian History’ Cinema Journal: Transformative Works and Cultures, 54(2), 151-154.

2016 – Review of ‘Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa’ Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 32(2), 138-140.

Other Publications

2018 – “Paa Joe @70: On the Intellectual and Sociocultural Relevance of Paa Joe’s Coffins”. In exhibition catalogue for Gallery 1957 show featuring Paa Joe and Elisabeth Efua Sutherland’s performance titled “Akԑ yaaa heko” (One does not take it anywhere) – Click to read

2016 – (co-authored with Anyidoho, N.A., Addoquaye, T.C., Adjei, M., Appiah E., Banin, Y.A., Owusu, A., Torvikey, D.) Shakespeare Lives in Ghana: Roles, Reresentations & Perceptions of Women in Contemporary Ghanaian Society. A Report Commissioned by the British Council Ghana.

2012 – Being Too Known. Dust Magazine, 46-47.

2013 – Ghanaians & Uncomfortable Issues. The New Legon Observer, 2(13), 16-17.

2018 Conferences & Presentations
2018 Chaired a Roundtable Session “Convergences & Divergences in West & East African Popular Cultural Research Traditions”at the African Studies Association Conference in the United Kingdom [ASAUK] (11th– 13thSeptember).
2018: Presented a Paper Titled “Obinim Stickers”: Satire and Miraculous Religious Media in Contemporary Ghana at a 2-day Pre-Conference Event titled ‘The Karin Barber Pop-Up Lab: “Generation and Regeneration’ at (9th-10thSeptember).
2018: Presenting the paper ‘“What a Shock”: On Mediated Narratives of Achievement in Ghanaian Obituary Posters’ atthe Workshop Narratives of Achievement in European and African Contexts, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
2018: Attendeding the workshop African Cities and the Materiality of Suspicion, Lusaka, Zambia. The workshop is organized by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University.  
2018 Co-Chairing (with Nate Plangeman) the Roundtable ‘Ghanaian Popular Culture Studies: A Key Subfield in African Studies’ at theAfrican Studies Association Conference, Atlanta United States.
2016 Conference
Ghana Studies Association’s ‘Global Ghana’ Conference, University of Cape Coast, 6-9th July 2016.
Paper Presented: None.
2015 Conferences & Presentations
58th African Studies Conference, San Diego: 19th -22nd November 2015.
Theme: ‘The State and the Study of Africa.’
Paper Presented: On ‘Political’ Photoshopped Images in Ghana’s Democratic Discourse
 
6th European Conference on African Studies, Paris: 8th -10th July 2015.
Theme: ‘Material Culture of Politics’. Session abstract: Click to read 
Paper Presented: ‘Photoshop Politics in Ghana’s Fourth Republic’.
 
2014 Conferences & Presentations
113th American Anthropological Association Conference, Washington D.C., 3rd – 7th December 2014
Theme: ‘Producing Anthropology’
Paper Presented: “Political Cartoons as Glocal Media” to the panel “Media, Ideology and Power.”
 
57th African Studies Conference, Indianapolis: 20th – 23rd November 2014.
Theme: Rethinking Violence, Reconstruction and Reconciliation
Panel Chair: African Popular Arts and Social Transformation
Paper Presented: “Ahomka Leave: On Akosua Cartoons and Localized Democratic Discursive Practice in Ghana” to the panel African “Popular Arts and Social Transformation”.
 
2013 Conferences & Presentations
6th Annual Linguistics Association of Ghana Conference, University of Cape Coast, 2013. Paper “Better Ghana Agenda?”: On Akosua Cartoons and Critical Public Debates in Contemporary Ghana’.
 
56th African Studies Conference, Baltimore: 21st-24th November 2013.
Theme: Mobility, Migration & Flows
Paper Presented: None.
Invited Institutional Presentations – African and United States Institutions
2015 “Mediations of Cultural Beliefs & Practices in Ghanaian Obituary Posters”. Department
of Anthropology, Rhodes University, South Africa.
2015 “On Ghanaian Cartoons and Popular Politics in Ghana”. Department of English, Rhodes University, South Africa
2015 “This Photoshop Nonsense Must Stop”: On Aspects of Ghanaian Material Politics. Presented at Postgraduate Seminar Series, Center for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town. See report.
2015 ‘Ghanaian Perspective on Media and Citizenship in Africa’ – Media and Citizen Workshop, University of Cape Town. See report.
 
2015 “This Photoshop Nonsense Must Stop”: Mediation of Partisan Political Sensibilities in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University. Click to read
 
2015 “What a Shock!”: On Civic Activism and Resistance in The Black Narrator’s Cartoons. Department of African Languages and Literatures. University of Wisconsin, Madison
Click to read
 
2015 “What a shock!”: On Popular Media and Resistance in Contemporary Ghana’s Democratic Culture. College of Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University. Click to read
 
2015 “On Informal Modes of Civic Agency in Africa” – Institute of African Studies, Columbia University. Click to read.

Curated Exhibitions

2018(a) – Pop-up exhibition of hand painted book covers of significant works in African popular culture at the African Studies Association Conference in the United Kingdom (ASAUK 2018), University of Birmingham.

2018(b)- “Almost True”. This exhibition on African satire spotlighted the works of Michael Soi (b.1972, Kenya) and Bright Ackwerh (b. 1989, Ghana) within a public setting. The exhibition title ironically implies the narratives presented are non-truths, when in fact they are exaggerated recordings of the artists’ personal experiences. The value of satire is often seen to only entertain, however, it is a route to highlight sensitive social, political, religious and economic concerns. Acting as an alternate narrative, satirical work can broadcast the otherwise unmentionable. Almost True highlights the appreciation for satire on a deeper level, presenting it as an authentic genre within contemporary art as well as a source of intellectual value which understands society – http://gallery1957.com/exhibitions/almost-true/
(17th October – 8th November 2015): ‘Buy Africa’: A Celebration of Felabration Posters. Alliance Francais, Accra. Read media coverage.
 
(3rd August- 2nd September 2015): “Married but Available” – An exhibition on Ghanaian hand-painted barbershop and beauty salon signs. Alliance Francais, Accra. See varying media coverage
 
(24th April – 8th May, 2015): “Album Covers Recollection” – An exhibition that showcases cover art on Ghanaian highlife music albums. See flyer cover
 
(March 15 – 5th April 2015): “This Cartoon Is a Satire” – An exhibition on Ghanaian political cartoons featuring Anadan, The Black Narrator,Daavi and Makaveli. Rhodes University Library, Grahamstown, South Africa. Click to read
 
(January 15- 8th February 2015): “This Cartoon Is a Satire” – An exhibition on Ghanaian political cartoons featuring Anadan, The Black Narrator, Daavi and Makaveli. Click to read. See more
 
(20th March -23rd April 2014): Ghanaian Hand-Painted Movie Posters. An exhibition on some of the actual posters (as well as commissioned ones) used to advertise movies from Hollywood, Bollywood and Hong Kong. Alliance Francais, Accra; Alliance Francais, Kumasi.
 
(February-June 2014): Exhibition titled “Leadership” at the Ashesi University Library, which consisted of three paintings of former president Mandela and one piece of the late BBC journalist Komla Dumor.

Senior Lecturer
Humanities and Social Sciences

joduro-frimpong@ashesi.edu.gh

Courses Taught

African Popular Culture
Written & Oral Communication
Text and Meaning
Introduction to African Literature
Introduction to African Philosophical Thought