The political press in southern Ghana and southern Nigeria: nationalism, visuality and professionalisation, c. 1937 – 1966

Thesis

The present study of pictorial journalism in West Africa offers a pioneering analysis of the circulation and interpretation of newspaper photographs published in Ghana and Nigeria, during the period of anticolonial struggle and interparty competition, between 1937 and 1966. More specifically, this thesis examines how journalists and politicians adapted and appropriated newspaper photographs to their needs by captioning, selecting and aligning them with articles. While these images had travelled across numerous transnational and intraimperial information networks, their frequent use by editors and journalists in Ghana and Nigeria highlights the relationships between global connections and local adaptations. Such photographs have previously been overlooked by historians focusing on West Africa during this period, yet, as this study aims to demonstrate, they serve as invaluable sources, shedding light on the processes of elite self-understanding and identification in this context. A historical analysis of the development of pictorial journalism advances the understanding of material and ideological processes in the use of newspaper photographs, which are essential to the understanding of the emergence of an anticolonial public sphere and counter-culture in these countries.

Authors: Kunstmann, R

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: West Africa; transnational; media history; history; Ghana; visuality; print cultures; Nigeria; information circulation; photography; nationalism,; newspapers
• Subjects: History; African History; Media History; Transnational History