Selling Subversion: An African City and the Promise of Online Television

Abstract

When An African City, an online television series produced in Ghana, debuted in 2014, the show immediately garnered a following, both within Ghana and abroad. The success of An African City demonstrates not only the capacity for independent filmmakers to reach global markets in the digital age, but by subverting dominant narratives about Africa it also suggests that, under certain conditions, creating counter-hegemonic narratives can be economically successful. Using Bourdieu’s theory of practice as an analytical framework, we examine how the creators of the show use various forms of capital to produce a commodity that can circulate within the global marketplace. At the same time, we also examine how the transnational nature of the show also determines the degree to which its creators can disrupt western discourses about Africa.