ReCrEA @Circle.U      

ReCrEA:  Researching creative economies in Africa: sharing knowledge, methods and practices is a collaborative project between King’s College London, Aarhus University and Humboldt University of Berlin. It aims to bring together current research – from a range of disciplines – that explore the value, workings and impact of creative economies in Africa. Research on creative economies (CE) in Africa is limited and fragmented across different disciplines, making it hard for academics to connect and establish shared frameworks and practices. Furthermore, research on CE has been narrowly focused on the Global North and has not placed enough value on cultures, heritage, innovations and ideas from the Global South. So, the proposed project aims to create a network of activities to rebalance this perspective by supporting research on Africa to be shared and made more visible, giving space to PhDs and ECRs (early career researchers) to interact and share ideas.

The project also recognises that CE are essential to innovation, technology and economic development and are cornerstones of sustainable development, community engagement and dialogue across cultures and generations.  The project has 3 objectives:

• create an opportunity for academics across our Universities and Circle U to share their research on CE, prioritising contributions from ECR and scholars from the global majority, including opportunities for mobility amongst the partners.
• create opportunities for PhD students and ECRs to collaborate through online workshops, to present ongoing research, present methodological questions, and reflect on their practice in a supporting and collaborative network.
• publish a brief manifesto summarising some of the challenges researchers face and some of the research questions and themes that need addressing by new research projects and future PhDs.

The activities will include a mix of online-only seminars and 3 hybrid events; all will be accessible and open to everyone.

OUR ONLINE SEMINAR SERIES ARE OPEN TO ALL. REGISTER TO ATTEND ONLINE

FORTHCOMING

Second Seminar: The evolution of Kenya’s animation landscape

Prof Paula Callus, Bournemouth University (UK) and Mr Alfred Muchilwa, Creative Director (Nairobi)

31st July 2025, 3pm UK time

Register here to attend via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_guba2UmdQKuoFu-l62pHzw

Abstract: In 2004, UNESCO East Africa launched Africa Animated!, an initiative aimed at building animation capacity across the Sub-Saharan region. The focus was to design a means to create and support the development of children’s content for television broadcast in a pre-digital or pre-YouTube world. Through a series of four-week artist residencies held in Kenya, Zanzibar, and South Africa, the project trained local creatives in animation techniques, with a focus on producing culturally resonant stories for African audiences (UNESCO, 2005). At the time, Kenya’s creative industry was in its formative stages—characterized by limited access to digital tools, minimal internet infrastructure (Nyabola, 2018), and artists who relied on improvised workflows and community-driven experimentation.

Despite these constraints, many of the early participants, including independent animator Alfred Muchilwa, went on to establish vibrant production networks and contribute to the growth of the animation and digital media ecosystem in Kenya and beyond. Today, Nairobi is home to a generation of digital storytellers producing everything from indie computer games with alien invasions in the city, to animated folktales such as How the Leopard Got Its Spots, satirical puppet shows echoing Spitting Image, Afro-futurist worlds and more recently GenAI-powered visual activism.

This talk, co-presented by Prof. Callus and Alfred Muchilwa—both participants in the original Africa Animated! workshops—offers a longitudinal reflection on the evolution of Kenya’s animation landscape over the past 20 years. Drawing from firsthand experience, case studies, and critical scholarship on African media industries, we trace the creative, political, and technological transformations that have shaped the field. We ask: how have artists adapted to changing platforms, audience expectations, and funding models? And what does the future hold for Kenyan animation in the age of generative AI?

Alfred Muchilwa studied design at the University of Nairobi and developed foundational skills in animation through UNESCO’s Africa Animated! Workshops where he produced several films that were screened in international animation festivals including The Hiroshima Animation Festival for Animation and International TrickFilm Festival amongst others. He later served as a lead animator on Tingatinga Tales which was East Africa’s first locally produced animation series for global audiences. He spent close to a decade teaching multimedia and animation production at The Africa Digital Media Academy in Rwanda, where he helped produce the country’s first locally made animated season for broadcast. Now, as a senior art director, he creates impactful tactical media campaigns alongside a team of talented creative and marketing professionals.

Paula Callus is a Professor at the National Centre for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University. She has lead two AHRC funded research projects, ArtoP: The Visual Articulations of Politics in Nigeria, and ReSpace (Reanimating Contested Spaces): Designing Participatory Civic Education for and with Young People in Kosovo and Rwanda. Her research expertise is in Sub-Saharan African animation, the socially engaged arts and Global South. Callus has worked as a consultant and educator on the UNESCO Africa Animated projects. She was BFX Conference director for two years and was part of an AHRC Network for Development grant, e-Voices, that was looking at marginalization and the use of digital technologies, curating an exhibition, and running workshops with artists. She has also given a number of guest talks at institutions such as the V&A Museum, and is a invited panellist for the Lumen Digital Art Prize and the Maltese Film Commission Grants.

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Third Seminar: Gender and cultural regeneration in indigenous drumming in Ghana: towards a gender-inclusive, regenerative cultural policy rethinking

Dr Madinatu Bello from the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

3rd September 2025, 1PM (BST)

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O-hzDiGJR2SXfMwbhr_DrA

This paper advocates for gender inclusivity in indigenous drumming activities in Ghana, highlighting its significance for cultural regeneration. Indigenous drumming in Ghana, an essential cultural practice, has historically marginalised women due to patriarchal traditions. However, this phenomenon is yet to receive scholarly attention. Drawing on the qualitative approach, the paper relied on the 2004 cultural policy of Ghana, participant observation, and interviews with female master drummers to interrogate gender discrimination in cultural policy and indigenous drumming practices, as well as their influences on the experiences of female master drummers. The goal is to propose a more gender-inclusive, regenerative cultural policy. Findings reveal significant barriers faced by women in participating in drumming, accessing leadership roles, and training in drumming spaces. Although recent shifts indicate growing female participation, especially in urban areas, these barriers persist. Findings further highlight the need for a rethinking of cultural policy to dismantle these patriarchal barriers and promote gender inclusivity, ultimately supporting sustainable cultural regeneration.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O-hzDiGJR2SXfMwbhr_DrA

PAST SEMINARS

First Seminar: Innovation, Indigenous Knowledge and Africa’s Creative Economies

Prof. Enyinna Sodienye Nwauche, Faculty of Law University of Fort Hare, Eastern Cape, South Africa

15th May 2025

Watch the video on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/WH4G68gk620

Read more

In this presentation, Prof. Nwauche reflects on the practice and potential of a sustainable partnership between indigenous knowledge and Africa’s creative economies in addressing Africa’s innovation emergency. In particular, he addresses issues of regulatory incoherence and convergence as a principal factor in addressing Africa’s dismal innovation performance. 

Enyinna Sodienye Nwauche is a law professor at the Faculty of Law University of Fort Hare, East London. He previously taught at Rhodes University Grahamstown, the University of Botswana, and the Rivers State University of Nigeria.  He is a rated NRF scholar and has held fellowship and visiting positions in the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Austria.   

He was Chair of the Coordinating Committee of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (ANCL), a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL), and former Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission. He has to his credit many international peer-reviewed books, including The Protection of Indigenous Knowledge in Africa (Springer 2025).