The Orange Economy, Nollywood, and Decoloniality: A Critical Appraisal
Keywords:
Coloniality, Decoloniality, Global South, Nigeria, Nollywood, Orange Economy
Abstract
Nigeria’s Nollywood has evolved into a significant cultural and economic force in Africa and the world. It is renowned for its abundant production of movies, ranking second in the number of films produced annually, surpassing Hollywood and trailing Bollywood. In terms of revenue, it ranks third globally. Its popularity has gained international recognition. However, Nollywood has not managed to transcend the coloniality of its being and repertoire. Hence, this article adopts a corrective and emancipatory agenda to present a discourse on the coloniality of the application of the Orange Economy concept to Nollywood as well as the imperative of applying a decolonial epistemic regime to the operations of Nollywood. This is aimed at engendering the transformation along more decolonial and equalitarian lines of the growing exploitative stranglehold on Nollywood by non-state financial entities that exploit individuals within the Nollywood industry.
References
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Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in Feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3178066
Hesmondhalgh, D., Nisbett, M., Oakley, K., & Lee, D. (2014). Were New Labour’s cultural policies neo-liberal? International Journal of Cultural Policy, 21(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2013.879126
Howkins, J. (2013). The creative economy: How people make money from ideas. Penguin UK.
Igwe, C. (2015). How Nollywood became the second largest film industry | British Council. Britishcouncil.org; The British Council/Voices Magazine. https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/nollywood-second-largest-film-industry
Inter American, Duque Márquez, I., & Felipe, P. (2013). The Orange Economy. Inter-American Development Bank.
Jazbhay, A. H. (2021). Domestic and geopolitical complexities of Nigeria-Egypt relations: A decolonial perspective. In O. Tella (Ed.), A Sleeping Giant?: Nigeria’s Domestic and International Politics in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 129–146). Springer International Publishing.
Jedlowski, A. (2013). Nigerian videos in the global arena: The postcolonial exotic revisited. The Global South, 7(1), 157. https://doi.org/10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.157
Klaassen, L., & Ibrahimova, M. (2022, January 3). African film: A booming industry. UNESCO; UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/courier/2022-1/african-film-booming-industry
Krings, M., & Simmert, T. (2020). African popular culture enters the global mainstream. Current History, 119(817), 182–187. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2020.119.817.182
Kuykendall, R. (1993). Hegel and Africa. Journal of Black Studies, 23(4), 571–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/002193479302300409
Lorente, J. G. (2016, December 22). The creative economy: The new el dorado that Europe and Latin America want to lead. IE Insights; IE Insights. https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/the-creative-economy-the-new-dorado-that-europe-and-latin-america-want-to-lead
Mantz, F. (2019). Decolonizing the IPE syllabus: Eurocentrism and the coloniality of knowledge in international political economy. Review of International Political Economy, 26(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2019.1647870
Marston, S. A., Woodward, K., & Jones, J. P. (2007). Flattening ontologies of globalization: The Nollywood case. Globalizations, 4(1), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747730701245608
McCain, C. (2013). Nollywood and its Others: Questioning English language hegemony in Nollywood studies. The Global South, 7(1), 30–54. https://doi.org/10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.30
Mignolo, W. D. (2007). Introduction: Coloniality of power and de-colonial thinking. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 155–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162498
Mignolo, W. D. (2009). Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Freedom. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(7-8), 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409349275
Miller, J. (2012). Global Nollywood: The Nigerian movie industry and alternative global networks in production and distribution. Global Media and Communication, 8(2), 117–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766512444340
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2015). Empire, global coloniality and African subjectivity (p. 53). Berghahn Books.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2020). Global coloniality and the challenges of creating African futures. The Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.35293/srsa.v36i2.189
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Oatley, T. (2019). International political economy: Interests and institutions in the global economy (6th ed.). Routledge.
Obiaya, I. (2021). Nollywood as decoloniality. In W. Mano & V. C. Milton (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication Studies (pp. 245–255). Routledge.
Ogunnubi, O., & Isike, C. (2017). Nigeria’s soft power sources: Between potential and illusion? International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 31(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-017-9258-6
Quijano, A. (2007). Coloniality and modernity/rationality. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 168–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601164353
Restrepo, P. F. B., & Duque Márquez, I. (2013, October 1). The Orange Economy: An infinite opportunity. Publications.iadb.org; publications.iadb.org. https://publications.iadb.org/en/orange-economy-infinite-opportunity
Solutions for Youth Employment. (2020, September). Orange Economy: As a Driver of Jobs for Youth | Solutions For Youth Employment. Www.s4ye.org; Solutions for Youth Employment. https://www.s4ye.org/node/3725
Stelowsha, D. (2015). Culture in international relations: Defining cultural diplomacy. Polish Journal of Political Science, 1(3), 50–72.
Stevenson, D. (2023). Cultural policy beyond the economy: Work, value, and the social (pp. 51–70). Edward Elgar Publishing.
UNESCO, & World Bank. (2021). Cities, culture, creativity. In DSpace. UNESCO, and Washington, D.C.: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35621
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Akomfrah, J. (2019). On the national in African cinema/s: A conversation. In V. Vitali & P. Willemen (Eds.), Theorising National Cinema (pp. 274–292). British Film Institute.
Amana, A. (2020, November 4). Nollywood: An industry with immense potential for investors. African Leadership Magazine; African Leadership Magazine. https://www.africanleadershipmagazine.co.uk/nollywood-an-industry-with-immense-potential-for-investors/
APO Group-Africa Newsroom, & International Monetary Fund (IMF). (2016, January 6). Nigeria—Act with resolve, build resilience, and exercise restraint. Imf-Fmi.africa-Newsroom.com; APO Group-Africa Newsroom, & International Monetary Fund (IMF). https://imf-fmi.africa-newsroom.com/press/nigeriaact-with-resolve-build-resilience-and-exercise-restraint?lang=en
Arthur, T. O. (2010). Glocal Nollywood: The politics of culture, identity, and migration in African films set on American shores. Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation, 25(2), 1–28. https://doi.org/%2010.12893/gjcpi.20
Arukwe, N. O. (2010). Since Equiano: History and challenges of African socio-political thought. University of Nigeria Press.
Arukwe, N. O. (2014). Teaching Emancipatory Postcolonial Knowledge. Journal of Black Studies, 45(3), 180–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934714528706
Arukwe, N. O. (2021). Africa’s contributions to the economy of Europe’s two “World” Wars: De-centering the dominant narrative. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 57(1), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096211054916
Arukwe, N. O. (2022). COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa, “Copy-and-Paste” Policies, and the Biomedical Hegemony of “Cure.” Journal of Black Studies, 53(4), 385–410. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219347221082327
Arukwe, N. O., & Chukwu, S. K. I. (2012). Loss of the people’s voice to imperialism: From suffering of the masses to sex and ‘love’ in contemporary Nigerian music. Nsukka Journal of Musical Arts Research, 1(1), 238–251.
Balaam, D. N., & Dillman, B. L. (2018). Introduction to international political economy. Routledge.
Datta, N., & Hatayama, M. (2020, October 6). Don’t overlook the orange economy: Five reasons why creativity is key for the jobs agenda. Blogs.worldbank.org; World Bank. https://blogs.worldbank.org/jobs/dont-overlook-orange-economy-five-reasons-why-creativity-key-jobs-agenda
De Sousa Santos, B. (2005). General introduction: Reinventing social emancipation: Towards new manifestos. In B. De Sousa Santos (Ed.), Democratizing Democracy: Beyond the Liberal Democratic Canon (pp. xvii–xxxiii). Verso.
Ebere Uwah, I. (2011). The representation of African Traditional Religion and culture in Nigeria popular films. Religion, Media and Politics in Africa, 5(1), 81–102. https://doi.org/10.54561/prj0501081u
Escobar, A. (2004). Beyond the Third World: Imperial globality, global coloniality and anti-globalisation social movements. Third World Quarterly, 25(1), 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/0143659042000185417
Ezeonu, I. (2013). Nollywood consensus: Modeling a development pathway for Africa. The Global South, 7(1), 179–199. https://doi.org/10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.179
France24.English. (2019, July 7). Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry reels in foreign investors. France 24; France24.English. https://www.france24.com/en/20190707-nigerias-nollywood-film-industry-reels-foreign-investors
Gerosa, A. (2021). The hidden roots of the creative economy: A critical history of the concept along the twentieth century. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 28(2), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2021.1933460
Grosfoguel, R. (2002). Colonial difference, geopolitics of knowledge, and global coloniality in the modern/colonial capitalist world-system. In Review 25, no.3 (p. 203). Fernand Braudel Center.
Grosfoguel, R. (2006). World-Systems analysis in the context of transmodernity, border thinking, and global coloniality. Review, 29(2), 167–187.
Haraway, D. (1988). Situated knowledges: The science question in Feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3178066
Hesmondhalgh, D., Nisbett, M., Oakley, K., & Lee, D. (2014). Were New Labour’s cultural policies neo-liberal? International Journal of Cultural Policy, 21(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2013.879126
Howkins, J. (2013). The creative economy: How people make money from ideas. Penguin UK.
Igwe, C. (2015). How Nollywood became the second largest film industry | British Council. Britishcouncil.org; The British Council/Voices Magazine. https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/nollywood-second-largest-film-industry
Inter American, Duque Márquez, I., & Felipe, P. (2013). The Orange Economy. Inter-American Development Bank.
Jazbhay, A. H. (2021). Domestic and geopolitical complexities of Nigeria-Egypt relations: A decolonial perspective. In O. Tella (Ed.), A Sleeping Giant?: Nigeria’s Domestic and International Politics in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 129–146). Springer International Publishing.
Jedlowski, A. (2013). Nigerian videos in the global arena: The postcolonial exotic revisited. The Global South, 7(1), 157. https://doi.org/10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.157
Klaassen, L., & Ibrahimova, M. (2022, January 3). African film: A booming industry. UNESCO; UNESCO. https://en.unesco.org/courier/2022-1/african-film-booming-industry
Krings, M., & Simmert, T. (2020). African popular culture enters the global mainstream. Current History, 119(817), 182–187. https://doi.org/10.1525/curh.2020.119.817.182
Kuykendall, R. (1993). Hegel and Africa. Journal of Black Studies, 23(4), 571–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/002193479302300409
Lorente, J. G. (2016, December 22). The creative economy: The new el dorado that Europe and Latin America want to lead. IE Insights; IE Insights. https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/the-creative-economy-the-new-dorado-that-europe-and-latin-america-want-to-lead
Mantz, F. (2019). Decolonizing the IPE syllabus: Eurocentrism and the coloniality of knowledge in international political economy. Review of International Political Economy, 26(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2019.1647870
Marston, S. A., Woodward, K., & Jones, J. P. (2007). Flattening ontologies of globalization: The Nollywood case. Globalizations, 4(1), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747730701245608
McCain, C. (2013). Nollywood and its Others: Questioning English language hegemony in Nollywood studies. The Global South, 7(1), 30–54. https://doi.org/10.2979/globalsouth.7.1.30
Mignolo, W. D. (2007). Introduction: Coloniality of power and de-colonial thinking. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 155–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162498
Mignolo, W. D. (2009). Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Freedom. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(7-8), 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409349275
Miller, J. (2012). Global Nollywood: The Nigerian movie industry and alternative global networks in production and distribution. Global Media and Communication, 8(2), 117–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742766512444340
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2015). Empire, global coloniality and African subjectivity (p. 53). Berghahn Books.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2020). Global coloniality and the challenges of creating African futures. The Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.35293/srsa.v36i2.189
Newbigin, J. (2010). Creative and cultural economy series ⁄ 1 the creative economy: An introductory guide. In The British Council. The British Council. https://creativeconomy.britishcouncil.org/media/uploads/resources/GuideToolkit_30_withCover_LR.pdf
Nkrumah, K. (1965). Neo-colonialism: The last stage of imperialism. Panaf.
O’Connor, J. (2019). Resources of hope? Creative economy and development in the global South. Ifa. https://doi.org/10.17901/AKBP2.02.2019
Oatley, T. (2019). International political economy: Interests and institutions in the global economy (6th ed.). Routledge.
Obiaya, I. (2021). Nollywood as decoloniality. In W. Mano & V. C. Milton (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication Studies (pp. 245–255). Routledge.
Ogunnubi, O., & Isike, C. (2017). Nigeria’s soft power sources: Between potential and illusion? International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 31(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-017-9258-6
Quijano, A. (2007). Coloniality and modernity/rationality. Cultural Studies, 21(2-3), 168–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601164353
Restrepo, P. F. B., & Duque Márquez, I. (2013, October 1). The Orange Economy: An infinite opportunity. Publications.iadb.org; publications.iadb.org. https://publications.iadb.org/en/orange-economy-infinite-opportunity
Solutions for Youth Employment. (2020, September). Orange Economy: As a Driver of Jobs for Youth | Solutions For Youth Employment. Www.s4ye.org; Solutions for Youth Employment. https://www.s4ye.org/node/3725
Stelowsha, D. (2015). Culture in international relations: Defining cultural diplomacy. Polish Journal of Political Science, 1(3), 50–72.
Stevenson, D. (2023). Cultural policy beyond the economy: Work, value, and the social (pp. 51–70). Edward Elgar Publishing.
UNESCO, & World Bank. (2021). Cities, culture, creativity. In DSpace. UNESCO, and Washington, D.C.: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/35621
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2021). International year of creative economy for sustainable development, 2021 | UNCTAD. Unctad.org; UNCTAD. https://unctad.org/topic/trade-analysis/creative-economy-programme/2021-year-of-the-creative-economy
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2022). Creative economy outlook 2022: Overview: The international year of creative economy for sustainable development: Pathway to resilient creative industries. In www.un-ilibrary.org. United Nations. https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210021418
Published
2023-08-30
How to Cite
Pemberton, C. A. (2023). The Orange Economy, Nollywood, and Decoloniality: A Critical Appraisal. European Journal of Science, Innovation and Technology, 3(4), 137-149. Retrieved from https://ejsit-journal.com/index.php/ejsit/article/view/247
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Copyright (c) 2023 Chantel A. Pemberton
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