The Learner

Muhsin Ibrahim @Muhsin234 I posted a slightly different version of this article in two separate Facebook status updates lately.  I critique and criticise Kannywood. I, however, incidentally promote them that way. Many people, especially those who knew me years ago, find it hard to believe that I ‘defend’ immorality that is the synonym for Hausa film and its makers in the ordinary discussion circle. I laugh at this ‘reasoning’ and move on. No doubt the filmmakers are in the wrong in many ways. But they are not what most of us think. Moreover, we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater, as they say. I understand the burden on Kannywood as an entertainment industry in an Islamicate society. However, their filmmakers should wake up to the reality that film cannot always be didactic and moralistic. While I don’t subscribe to the school of using art for art’s sake, film, as a reminder, is intrinsically an art, a source of amusement. A filmmaker can, though, gloss...

By Muhsin Ibrahim University of Cologne   muhsin2008@gmail.com As I wrote elsewhere, the relationship between cinema and the orthodox religious institutions is often marked by uneasiness if not outright hostility. From its very beginning, the Puritans see the raison d’être of visual art as only to entertain, which means to distract people from their duty to God and ethical undertakings. Until today, the accusation is all the more raging. How filmmakers handle the questions of morality, culture and spirituality is under censorship. Kannywood, the Kano-based, up-and-coming motion picture industry of and by the predominantly Muslim Hausa speaking people in northern Nigeria, is not an exception. It is not news that Kannywood struggles with the culture-war message of several critics who see everything with them as corruption or dilution of the “prestigious” Hausa culture. However, with the ever-expanding rise (encroachment?) of globalisation, I think this feeling is, a...

Muhsin Ibrahim @muhsin234 A few years back, I barely noticed the passing of my birthdays. A few years later, during my postsecondary school days, I began to get a lone reminder of the days: SMS from my bank. That is no longer the case. The day comes with a lot of buzz and fuss. A plethora of “Happy Birthday” messages trickle into my phone, email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc inboxes and timelines. Some close friends call; others walk into my office to express their wishes and prayers. What a change! I am heartily grateful, ladies and gentlemen. But that was not my (our?) culture. It gradually becomes so due to the “sameness” effect of globalization, which conjoins cultures. Today, people go to the extent of writing “Happy birthday to myself” on social media! Celebrating birthday that way is rather a new culture, at least so I believe. It is a novel culture we are willingly adopting today; it was not imposed on us by anyone, lest you think that. Therefore, I don’t outri...

Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com Facebook, or any other social media, is no longer what it used to be: a mere, innocuous social networking site for friending, chatting, sharing pictures and the like. It is, today, a life shaping platform. This and a whole host of other reasons, therefore, call for parents, guardians and all to be (more) wary of how, and of course who, his/her children, wards, younger siblings, etc interact with. I will give three (3) examples. First , the Intern et, in general, is a harbour for amassed pornographic contents. Recently, the Indian government banned viewing of porn contents in their country. But due to pressure and protests, they had to lift the ban. These days, there are many pages for that on Facebook, chat groups on WhatsApp, etc. The kids can be smart but not really smarter. Devise your ways to curtail this via best possible means. While the first danger could easily be detected, the second one is eerily, barely detectable. This is...