ABSTRACT
Chapter 7, ‘Methodologies: Histories, Archives, and Fictions’, appraises the capacity of photography to readjust stereotypical representation: it features works from the African continent, such as the trans-African project Invisible Borders, that challenge reductive historical narratives associated with colonialism. It discusses attitudes to photojournalism by young African photographers who attempt to ‘decolonise’ photography. With reference to theorists Achille Mbembe, Felwine Sarr, and Homi K. Bhabha and to Afro-futurism, the chapter discusses the concern to understand preconceived values in order to envisage new and different perceptions about Africa and its diaspora. It features two distinct methodologies: first, extending the possibility of ‘potential history’ discussed in Chapter 6, Sammy Baloji, and Emeka Okereke attempt to redraw history using archive, montage, and multi-perspectives to explore what has been distorted, historically and psychologically; in contrast, works by Athi-Patra Ruga, Zanele Muholi, and Omar Victor Diop are examples of a political imaginary and confrontational aesthetic that revision representation using performance, fictional staging, and fantasy.
