Publications
Articles/Book Chapters:
“Aural History: Musical Memorialization & Pan-African Pedagogies in the Atlantic World,” Global Africa, no. 3, special issue on Pan-Africanism, African Research, and Global Futures (Submitted, Under Review)
“The Past’s Haunting of the Present: Musical Memorializations of Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara in West African Popular Culture,” in Alioune Willane, Babacar M’Baye, and Khadimou Rassoul Thiam (Eds.), Musics, Songs, and Imaginaries of West Africa (Expected Publication Date: 2023).
Book Reviews:
“Book Review: Richard M. Shain’s Roots in Reverse: Senegalese, Afro-Cuban Music and Tropical Cosmopolitanism” in African Studies Quarterly 20, no. 3 (2021): 137-139.
“Book Review: Chelsea Stieber’s Haiti’s Paper War: Post-Independence Writing, Civil War, and the Making of the Republic, 1804–1954.” The Journal of Haitian Studies 26, no. 2 (2021): 106-108.
“Book Review: Msia Kibona Clark’s Hip Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers.” African Studies Quarterly 20, no. 1 (2021): 131-132.
“Book Review: Toyin Falola and Bola Dauda’s Decolonizing Nigeria, 1945-1960: Politics, Power, and Personalities.” Journal of Global South Studies 35, no. 1 (Spring 2018): 174-176.
As Editor:
T.J. Pheto, Botlhodi: The Abomination, A Postcolonial Setswana Novel, Keith R. Phetlhe, trans. and intro., James J. Fisher, Lassane Ouedraogo, and Abraham Zere, eds. (Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa Research & Publishing, 2019).
Conference Papers, Invited Talks, & Panels
7th Annual African American Intellectual History Society Conference (2022) Presentation (Session 2, Panel Visual and Aural Memory Making)
On March 12, 2022, I presented a paper, entitled “Aural History: Musical Memorializations & Alternative Pedagogies in the Atlantic World,” at the AAIHS Conference that had resulted from a mixture of research I had conducted over the years on music and my own experiences in using music in my teaching. I discussed the critiques of education systems offered by musicians in the Atlantic World and how this has informed my own pedagogy.
33rd Annual Haitian Studies Association Conference (2021) Presentation (Session 1F, Panel Freedom and the Arts)
On October 22, 2022, I presented research related to fieldwork I had done in Dakar, Senegal in 2019 and in archives in the US, entitled: “Les Racines des Liberté: Haiti and Black Freedom in the Artistic Imaginary.” Broadly, I discussed the ways in which Haiti has been discussed by artists in the Black Atlantic since the 19th century–which has been primarily as a ‘beacon of freedom’ resulting from the symbol of the Haitian Revolution.
‘It is not enough to proclaim it, we must put it into practice’: Feminist Discourse and Decolonization in Senegalese Artistic Production
On April 20, 2021, I gave a talk as part of Ohio University Center for International Studies’ Spring Research Colloquium on the intersection of feminist discourse and decolonization in Senegalese women’s artistic production. I focused primarily on four artists: Younousse Seye, Mariama Bâ, Sister Fa, and Mati Diop. I argued that Senegalese women artists have historically worked to decenter the West in their art and offer alternatives to Western frameworks of feminism. One implication of this research, which is a part of my dissertation work, is the tendency for discussions on the politics of art in Senegal to focus more on the work of male artists, such as Ousmane Sembène or Youssou Ndour, while ignoring that of Senegalese women. Given the history of political engagement from Senegalese women artists, this is an oversight that my work seeks to correct.
17th Annual UMass-Amherst Graduate History Association Conference (2021) Presentation (Panel: “Print Cultures of Colonialism and Political Power”)
On April 10, 2021, I presented a paper entitled “Revolutionary Pasts and Postcolonial Utopias: The Afrofuturist Texts of José Antonio Aponte, Martin Delany, and Abdourahman A. Waberi,” at the UMass-Amherst GHA Conference. This paper originated in a course on Afrofuturism in popular culture, taught Dr. Akil Houston at Ohio University. Using Ebony Elizabeth Thomas’ concept of the “dark fantastic” (2019) and my understanding of Afrofuturism 2.0 (Anderson and Jones, 2016), I examined three texts from the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries which depicted or discussed revolution and the creation of post-colonial utopias. The importance of this research has been to show how African and African Diaspora artists have imagined alternative pasts and futures for Africa and the Afro-Diaspora, particularly in visual art (Aponte) and literature (Delany and Waberi).
30th Annual British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference (2021) Presentation (Session L, Panel 22)
On February 18, 2021, I presented a facet of my research on decolonization at the British Postcolonial Studies annual conference. Specifically, I examined how “decolonization” has been defined by various intellectuals, artists, and leaders in Africa and the Diaspora from the early twentieth century to the present. I argued that while the process of decolonization has been defined in many ways, there are five broad concerns that the majority of these definitions have: they are concerned with sovereignty, the “colonized mind” (to borrow from Ngugi), culture, gender, and the future. A key conclusion of this work is that decolonization ultimately calls for new forms of governance that represent a break with the colonial and neocolonial past and present. We must continue to critically engage with decolonization if the process is to succeed.
African Studies Association Conference (2020) Presentation (Panel XI-I-9)
On November 21, 2020, I presented part of my Master’s research on the intellectual thought of Thomas Sankara, former President of Burkina Faso (1983-1987), and the Martiniquais theorist Frantz Fanon at the African Studies Association’s annual conference. I argued that Sankara’s ideas relate particularly well to Fanon’s, particularly in their conception of the African Revolution. I concluded that Sankara’s continued popularity calls for a reexamination of his presidency. It is only through studying his time in power that we can better understand more contemporary movements that seek to claim his image.
The Politics of Memorialization in Africa
On November 19, 2020, I presented research on the politics of memorializing Patrice Lumumba & Thomas Sankara in Africa, as part of the Graduate Research Series at Ohio University Libraries. This research began during my undergrad at Miami University, as part of my Honor’s Thesis, and has expanded since I’ve come to OU. A link to the talk can be found here: “Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, and the Politics of Remembrance and Memorialization in Africa”
A critical argument I make: sources that are not the written archive, such as music and other oral sources, can’t be ignored by historians. I also echoed critiques brought by Raul Peck, who investigated the “dark spots” (the gaps) in the colonial archive, pointing to its curation by the former colonizers and the erasure of particular groups or individuals (an argument also made by Marisa Fuentes in “Dispossessed Lives” (2016)). Likewise, Tshibumba Matulu (the Congolese historian-painter, who told the nation’s history through painting) critiqued the Western method of writing history, which often ignored the common person’s point-of-view. Both Peck and Matulu offer new ways to view the archive & discuss how African history is often written from Western viewpoints.
Finally, the critical role of the artist in past & contemporary politics cannot be ignored. I point to the role of bands like l’African Jazz and their song “Indépendance Cha-Cha,” which praised contemporary politicians for their role in the independence movement. In a similar way, artists like Simon Kouka and Keur Gui challenged the Senegalese state in 2012 to assert democracy as part of the Y’en a marre movement.
James J. Fisher 