This book examines how Ghanaian video films write men and masculinities by addressing how the films portray what it means to be a man in contemporary Ghana. Exploring the cultural ideas and expectations regarding masculinity as constructed by Ghanaian filmmakers, this project identifies the different institutions that encourage particular philosophies of masculinity and the kinds of environments that such institutions create for the performance of gender relations and identities. Drawing upon theories of men and masculinities from both Africa and the West, individual chapters demonstrate that Ghanaian men are not a unified or a homogeneous group. There is no singular concept of masculinity, only different versions of masculinity that continues to shift perspectives. Men and masculinities in the films are constructed, shaped, and maintained from diverse perspectives; these include traditional cultural practices, community standards, and foreign concepts imposed upon the country due to missionary activities and colonialism. The video films thereby mediate life experiences of common people and show how urbanization plays a vital role in post-colonial Ghana.

Post Colonial Identities revisits issues regarding the newer literature within the expansive African heritage of diverse regional and national groupings. It is poised at substantiating the uniformity of Africa in terms of literary and cultural movements, and lending some inter-disciplinary insights on the whole body of literature through twentieth century history.

This book brings together a collection of case studies that explore the relationship between health and masculinity. It covers various topics related to health, such as mental health, sexual health, eating disorders and coronavirus, and offers health-based perspectives on issues such as migration and gender identity, as these relate to masculinities. In exploring these themes, this book addresses a wide range of communicative contexts, including online forums, interviews, advertising, sex education materials, migrant integration classes, and suicide notes. This book will appeal to linguists interested in health and gender (particularly masculinities), as well as scholars in fields such as psychology, media studies, cultural studies, and other humanities and social science disciplines with a focus on discourse.

African Video Movies and Global Desires is the first full-length scholarly study of Ghana’s commercial video industry, an industry that has produced thousands of movies over the last twenty years and has grown into an influential source of cultural production. Produced and consumed under circumstances of dire shortage and scarcity, African video movies narrate the desires and anxieties created by Africa’s incorporation into the global cultural economy. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research conducted in Ghana over a ten-year period, as well as close readings of a number of individual movies, this book brings the insights of historical context as well as literary and film analysis to bear on a range of movies and the industry as a whole. Garritano makes a significant contribution to the examination of gender norms and the ideologies these movies produce. African Video Movies and Global Desires is a historically and theoretically informed cultural history of an African visual genre that will only continue to grow in size and influence.