In this week’s Wednesday colloquium we will watch a short documentary (27 min.) that I co-produced during my doctoral research about the role and reach of artists in the Western Kenyan oppositional city of Kisumu. The documentary presents the life and work(s) of David Weda, alias „Dawe Dawe“, a poet / spoken word artist from Kisumu. Based on the documentary, I will highlight key topics of my dissertation as well as methodological challenges. The theoretical apparatus of discourse analysis developed by Laclau and Mouffe around the concept of articulation (1985) is particularly suitable for analyzing art/ists, as it enables us to take into account the many layers and ways of expression - in both work(s) and the life of an artist - in a situated way. Based on the documentary, however, I discuss some of my own difficulties with the highly complex forms of data collection that such concept requires, and how this collaborative form of knowledge-production has helped me to tackle some of these difficulties.

Program of the Colloquium