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What Makes Africans Laugh?

Reflections of an Entrepreneur in Humour, Media and Culture

by James R. Tumusiime

What Makes Africans Laugh? is a critique of the African's attitude towards indigenous craftsmanship, knowledge and culture, especially in the post-independence era. It is woven around the life of James Tumusiime, who has been a campaigner for African self-reliance in the cultural industry - humour, media and historiography. Although Tumusiime draws many of his examples from Uganda and Kenya, the story is familiar to most people in Africa. This book brings out the practical experiences of a civil servant, the challenges of a cartoonist in a politically sensitive environment, and the struggles to localise humour to a cynical industry. It narrates the drama in starting a media house - the New Vision, a book publishing house - Fountain Publishers, a local-language radio station ñ Radio West, and a museum - Igongo Cultural Centre, all coming amidst lukewarm political support and a sceptical audience.

ISBN 9789970253104 | 234 pages | 210 x 148 mm | 2014 | Fountain Publishers, Uganda | Paperback

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Reviews

‘‘Questioning the African conception of laughter, pitching at the level of culture and knowledge systems, and continuing to invest his life in the cultural industry, Tumusiime has added his name to the small list of Africa’s liberation heroes of the modern times’’

The Monitor, Uganda

‘‘In What Makes the Africans Laugh?, Tumusiime offers not only a ray of hope, but also seeks to question the position of African elites of the post-colonial era, especially about the place of culture and indigenous knowledge systems in modern political and cultural reasoning’’

The Independent, Uganda

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