Joseph Oduro-Frimpong

Assistant Professor, Media Anthropology

Department of Arts and Sciences
Ashesi University College
joduro-frimpong@ashesi.edu.gh or odurofrimpong@gmail.com

Professional Bio
Dr. Joseph Oduro-Frimpong holds a PhD in cultural anthropology from Southern
Illinois University, Carbondale. His research focuses on African popular media
practices. He has curated a number of exhibitions on political cartoons, Ghanaian
hand-painted movie posters, Ghanaian barbershop signs. His 2018 curation at
Gallery 1957, titled ‘Almost True’ highlighted the works of Michael Soi (Kenya)
and Bright Ackwerh. He has held teaching positions at Saint Louis University,
Missouri and Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.

Areas of Interest
Popular culture, visual culture, urban Africa, mediation,
intercultural/interpersonal communication

Publications
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

 2014. Sakawa Rituals and Cyberfraud) in Ghanaian Popular Video-Movies.

African Studies Review (September issue).
 2011 Semiotic Silence in Intimate Relationships. Journal of Pragmatics
43(9), 2331-2336.
 2009 Glocalization Trends: Examining the Case of Hip-Life Music in
Contemporary Ghana. International Journal of Communication, 1085-
1106.
 2007 Semiotic Silence: Its’ Use as a Conflict-Management Strategy in
Intimate Relationships. Semiotica 167:285-308.

Peer-reviewed Chapter (Edited Volume)

 2018. ‘This Cartoon is a Satire: Cartoons as Critical Entertainment &

Resistance in Ghana’s Fourth Republic’. In ‘Taking African Cartoons
Seriously: Politics, Satire and Culture’ (Peter Limb and Tejumola Olaniyan
[Michigan State Press]).
 2018. ‘Glocalization and Popular Media: ‘The Case of Akosua’s Political
Cartoons in Contemporary Ghana’. In Global Dialectics in Intercultural
Communication (Jolanta A. Drzewiecka and Thomas Nakayama [Peter
Lang Publishers])
 2014. “Better Ghana Agenda: On Akosua Cartoons and Critical Public
Debates in Contemporary Ghana. In "Popular Culture in Africa: The
Episteme of Everyday (Stephanie Newell & Onookome Okome
[Routledge])

Encyclopedia Entries
  2011 - Music and Dissent: Ghana & Nigeria (Sage Encyclopedia of Social
Movements Media).
 African Video Films & Political Critique (Sage Encyclopedia of Social
Movements Media).
 White Supremacists’ Tattoos as Alternative Media (Sage Encyclopedia of
Social Movements Media).

Other Publications

 2011 Review ‘Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa’

Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 32(2), 138-140.
 2008 Ghanaians & Uncomfortable Issues. The New Legon Observer 2 (13).

Research Summary
My research investigates Ghanaian popular media (e.g. political cartoons, video-
movies, popular music, obituary posters). I am particularly interested in how
such tangible formats not only (re)-mediate cultural ideas and beliefs but also
engage in socio-political issues. My research appears in the edited volumes:
Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media (2011) and Popular Culture in Africa:
Episteme of the Everyday (2004). My journal articles appear in International
Journal of Communication, and African Studies Review. I am currently completing
a manuscript on Ghanaian visual culture.

Awards & Honors

Member, International Communicology Institute
Member, Global Media Research Center, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.