ABSTRACT
Anthropological representations have been the object of heated debates, notably in post-colonial contexts. In 2013, the author was confronted with the task of presenting Nollywood, the prolific Nigerian film industry, at the Theater Neumarkt to an audience who were little familiar with these debates. A short time previously, the most important Swiss newspaper had written that Nollywood films had spread the idea that human organs are necessary in occult rituals. The author used a strategy developed by African cinema narrators, often referred to as ‘VJs’. They present Indian or U.S.-American films to African audiences by commenting on what the audience might perceive as a ‘strange’ cultural practice. The author presented a film on advance-fee fraud starring Nkem Owoh, whose skill performing how global entanglements impact on bodily practices is conspicuously sophisticated. Owoh acts a poor Nigerian who successfully defrauds a greedy businessman from Switzerland because he refers to stereotypes, such as the chief of a tribe who does not know what do with the oil found on his territory. The author draws attention to Owoh’s performance of African modernity and analyses her strategy of presenting Nollywood.
