Signal and Noise

“Signal and Noise is an engaging work that should generate substantial interest with scholars working in African Culture Studies, Urban History, and Media Studies alike.” — Brian Hochman, Callaloo

“Signal and Noise is well grounded in that subgenre of contemporary anthropology concerned with the relationships between media and religious and cultural imaginaries and noted for its theoretical interests. The book’s distinction in this regard is in the manner it foregrounds infrastructural technologies as constitutive of everyday life in Kano, both in the colonial context and in the age of the transnationalization of media.” — Akinwumi Adesokan, Research in African Literatures

“[A] fascinating historical ethnography.” — ISIM Review

“Brian Larkin's Signal and Noise marks an important intervention in the field of Film and Media Studies because it de-emphasizes a longstanding focus on the unity of cinematic articulation and enunciation in favor of examining the effects of cinema on infrastructure and reception in a well-defined cultural context. . . . This is an important book that challenges readers' previous understandings of the relationship between film and media and delves deeply into the context of Nigerian history and urban culture.” — Peter J. Bloom, Cinema Journal

“Larkin demonstrates a daunting erudition and brings this knowledge to bear in a series of often highly stimulated theoretical interjections.” — Charles Ambler, Journal of African History

“This book provides a rare insight into the introduction of many technologies, including radio and the cinema, to Africa during the colonial period.” — Margaret Cassidy, Media International Australia

“This is a rare book. Stuffed full of Larkin’s anecdotes and observations of Kano and written with clarity, its academic innovations and arguments are easy to digest. And pictures! Nearly every chapter has some visual accompaniment from Larkin’s collection of Nigerian movie posters, radio ads, and photos from the field. Anyone interested in media, Nigerian film and video, the history and fate of the postcolony, or the informal yet global economies of contemporary city life will appreciate Larkin’s insights.” — Zachary Hooker, Bidoun

“[A]n impressive study. . . . The study represents a door-opener into a wider analysis of the ways in which various parts of the urban society, from colonial times until most recently, negotiate technical and economic changes, create meaning, develop modes of coping and resistance and local cultural styles beyond a simple adaptation to new technological projects.” — Tilo Grätz, Social Anthropology

“A true intellectual tour de force, Signal and Noise should have a major impact on the way we understand Africa in the contemporary period.”
— Kenneth W. Harrow, African Studies Review

“Larkin has developed a richly researched study of media cultures in Nigeria. Equipped with language skills and a nuanced understanding of local Muslim religious practices and traditions, Larkin offers a vivid account of the emergence of modern Nigerian media infrastructures. . . . Signal and Noise inspires new ways of thinking about what media technologies are, how they have emerged in different ways in different parts of the world, and how local and national Nigerian actors have contended with the forces of the global media economy.” — Lisa Parks, Cinema Journal

“Larkin’s work is impressive in its theoretical and analytical depth, rich empirical details, and astute observations and summaries about cinema and modernity in urban Nigeria. This work is as much a development communication project as it is an anthropological study or a cinema studies project. . . . [T]he book makes excellent reading for students and scholars in a series of disciplines and sub-disciplines, including international and development communication.” — Sujatha Sosale, Global Media Journal

“This insightful, highly stimulating, and well-written book examines how media technologies entered into 20th century northern Nigeria society, and how their initial association with colonial rule, and also their material qualities and the cultural possibilities they enabled, transformed public and social life in sometimes unexpected ways. . . . [A] highly innovative study of colonial and postcolonial urban culture in Africa. It also makes it a highly welcome contribution to scholarship on modernity and postcoloniality, on media and public culture, and to analyses of global media forms and consumption. It will fascinate a wide range of readers, granting stimulating analytical insights into the place of media in urban life.” — Dorothea E. Schulz, American Ethnologist