In Defense of Nonentities and Celebrities Part 1

I can still picture this event in the theater of my mind. Four women stood over a hot pot of Amala with orogun(turning sticks), five-six other women working gravitationally with pestles over mortars pounding Iyan (yam-flour) while other women were cutting vegetables, okro and varieties of soup they wanted to cook. One woman cautions another lady who seemed to embody the popular saying that "African women don't use measurement when seasoning that they keep pouring salt until the ancestors say stop." When thinking of the idea of seasoning and measurement, it seems the saying is a troupe that obscures the view that scale is not the only way to measure, but maybe instinct is another. I was doing the compulsory unpaid care work of babysitting as a way to give the women room to cook when we heard a less than a one-minute line from the performing artist that threw everyone off for a few seconds. Everything happened so fast, yet we almost passed out. Some people dropped what they were doing and headed toward the party scene, while others were frozen, and by the time the artist finished his verse, we were all hissing.

To be sure, It wasn't the lines that gave us anxiety about what was happening to mum; it was the theatrics with which he said it as though Mum's life or his life was in danger. The line he screamed was, "Mama Seyi! Mama Seyi! Mama Seyi won ti fi idi gba mic lowo mi" ( Mama Seyi, they have used twerking to take the microphone away from me). What was lost to us in that brief moment of frenzy was that beats accompanied the artist's voice, but the way he screamed Mum's name before getting to the last part scared us. The line the artist said was a way we tease Maami occasionally. In retrospect, that was his way of securing attention and getting more people to spray him money. His name was Olalomi. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s in Kaduna and you did not invite that man, people will not reference your party. He was the most prominent artist at the time in KD and played at almost all my siblings' naming ceremonies.

While thinking about fame lately, I have been thinking about dominant ideas of fame and how it shapes who is known and unknown. Who is sung and unsung? Olalomi wasn't a big name like my mother's philosopher Sikiru Ayinde Barrister or her "Twin" (inside jokes) Queen Salawa Abeni. While I acknowledge those who argue about the political economy (in terms of market value but not limited to) of the Alfred Nobel Award, could it be possible that the hegemonic idea of what it means to be known or unknown shaped the conversation about whether the winner of the prize in the category of literature in 2021 was known or not? More so, following some polls on who has heard of him or not before winning the prize. It would seem evident that you don't know someone does not mean that others don't know them. Many people don't know Olalomi, but he was popular within the constellation of those who grew up knowing him. This may be reductive, but it gives room to consider how we determine who is known and not known.

When people ask me what is unique about how I am doing or hope to galvanize others to research African celebrities. Specifically, what distinguishes it from elitist studies. My response will require a more robust answer than I can give in a post. But to put it succinctly, African celebrities studies is not another elitist project. African celebrities study as I envision it is, in fact, a critique of elitism, which, for instance, within the context of history in Nigeria, writes about the Aguda and Saros or other people with normative Christian cosmopolitan identity. African celebrity studies that interest me for my LSA 2023 panel are in the margins. It is in the Ojola and Mutajero that Prof. Saheed Aderinto writes about (visit this link to read more about them. saheedaderinto.com). It is in the Igbo conception of celebrity as Iwewu or person like Simon Odo of Enugu-Ezike, widely referred to as "King Solomon of Africa, "that Kenneth Ugwu presented at LSA 2022. It is the kid on the next block who did not need gatekeepers as much as the generation before him/her/they to blow. It is about theorizing the African conception of fame. One day I will write about how a problematic family friend conceptualized why people flock around Maami. She said Maami has Ori Apensi. I can't confirm or deny that.

I hope that alongside other scholars, we can open up the definition of African celebrities beyond individuals with cosmopolitan identities to other people and groups outside the previous demographic of people we call famous. It is, in fact, to echo and extend Ann Stroller's approach within the context of history/archive to African celebrities' studies to read against the grain but maybe within, around, and even read the grains. My goal is to expand and shift how we define and categorize who is famous. It is to open up the possibility of research fame outside of hegemonic Western capitalist orientation. It is studying it from an expansive and interconnected reality of the diversity of the continent of Africa while remaining conscious of the transformation that has occurred. So I am interested in celebrity cooks, chefs, lawyers to celebrities, live-in help, stylists, fashion designers, backup singers, songwriters, instrumentalists, technical crew, and photographers and their relationship with famous people. What do these people mean in the making of fame, becoming famous, and maintaining celebrity relevance? How might we interpret the economic and socio-cultural dynamics of people in these categories and their relationships with celebrities?

Importantly, although African celebrity studies, as I reflect on this panel, may not be about big names only, it does do not exclude them. Additionally, it is important to mention that African celebrity studies is not an attempt to replicate how celebrity studies have been done in the West; instead, it aims to decolonize it. It is not to dislodge elitist studies in its entirety but to advance the field while opening up new pathways.

For people who wonder why I am doing "mundane" research instead of "serious" scholarship, to those who are recovering Pentecostals( rascals), wondering why nonentities and celebrities come together. The anchor scripture for African celebrity studies is

Peter 2: 10……which in time past were not a people are now people….

Posted on Facebook on October 29, 2024.