Translocations of Affirmation

Abstract

This article concerns the media cultures of anticolonial stateless groups. The discussion is based upon the case of the Oromo, an ethno-national group within Ethiopia. The translocal dimensions of media and cultural flows among the Oromo are investigated, with a focus upon the important interlocutory roles of artists, media and cultural workers in diaspora contexts. The article indicates how Oromo people performatively conjoin with and chaotically produce their own mediascapes – at the various sites called the loci of affirmation – in the process of imagining themselves to be members of a global diaspora. An important theme is efforts by consecutive Ethiopian regimes to curb the influence of diaspora mediascapes within their borders.