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Drawing on the media in several countries on the continent of Africa and in the UK, in this article I explore the different ways in which the media produces and presents visual images of Africa. The various images of Africa have of course been dependent on two main factors: firstly, the development of technology and subsequent access to it; and secondly, the ideology and ethos informing the use of the technology. I begin by considering an unlikely candidate for radical change, the Big Brother Africa programme broadcast on satellite television from South Africa and suggest that it is the very absence of an overt ideology that enables it to have the potential to break the mould of the customary crisis-ridden images from Africa on UK television. I then go on to consider two programmes broadcast on Channel Four in the UK which attempt to confront this 'crisis-ridden' image of Africa. I next consider images produced by African television programme makers, 'video-movie' directors or film makers based in African countries, and which are designed either for the home market or an international one. There are similarities and differences between the distinct technologies; each produces its own images of Africa which are very different. In each case, the state has sought to influence the ideology of the output, but only in the case of television has it been able to impose any substantial process of censoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with the theater performance of Africans. Five stages of the transition from not-acting into acting to describe the range of human behavior that constitutes the presentation of the self in a special way; Details on the three modalities of theater.

States that performing in an African context can be divided into two categories. What are those categories and what do they represent; Identity of performers; What are the key elements; Understanding of African masked performance; Principle categories of characters; Describing audience reaction to masked warrior; Interaction between performers and the audience.

Features how the Tiv people of Nigeria use carved wooden masks and figures in their contemporary puppet and masquerade theater called kwagh-hir. Cultural meaning of masquerade in Africa; Performers of kwagh-hir; History of kwagh-hir; Material forms of kwagh-hir.

This article discusses the issue of media programming in Africa. The dissemination of information and entertainment are two predominant dimensions of media. Radio and television are largely controlled by governments, while film and video-movies have a much greater degree of independence, both in funding and production. In this issue, the author has brought together writers, whose articles on the forms of media inform readers about some of the most innovative media practices in which people take some control of their own lives and where media practitioners respect the non-professional.