Full Description
In Exit of a Hero, Okechukwu Nwafor explores the cultural, political, and socio-economic implications of photography in commemorative practices in southern Nigeria from the nineteenth century to the present. Focusing on obituary and commemorative photographs of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Lagos to contemporary funeral posters, booklets, and social media posts, Nwafor tracks the historical evolution of the iconic and heroic image. He argues that the quest to produce an ideal memorial body is not just a personal aesthetic choice but a deliberate photographic project that resonates with the Igbo aspirations for heroic achievement.
Exit of a Hero asserts that the visual canonization transforms the deceased from a fallible being to an unimpeachable character who transcends underachievement, imperfection, and failed social performance to emerge as a saintly icon of the Igbo public sphere. In seeking an alternative, hyper-visible public self, social media reclaims the lost hero image of the deceased, reconstituting the contested Igbo public space as a lived reality where heroes and icons are actively and eternally commemorated. Nwafor unveils the creative imaginations of colonial subjects and postcolonial citizens as memorialization has become entangled within the intersecting discursive spaces of print culture and the public sphere.
Contents
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Contextualizing the Public Sphere of Obituary and Commemoration in Colonial Lagos: 1880-1920.
Chapter 3. Memorial Photographs in Nineteenth Century Lagos: of a Cult of Attention and a Robust Visual Culture
Chapter 4. 'Exit of an Icon:' The Publicness of Achievement and Heroism in Obituary Posters from Southern Nigeria.
Chapter 5. The Funeral Brochure's Public Sphere in the Documentation of Heroic and Worthy Lives
Chapter 6. Social Media's Public Sphere and the Heroic Significance of Online Commemoration
Chapter 7. Photographing Igbo funeral: The materiality of its performance
Conclusion
