The reception of Nigerian video drama in a multicultural female community in Botswana

This loosely ethnographic article analyzes the reception of Nigerian videos in a semi-domestic set-up in Gaborone, Botswana. It centres on video-viewing in the context of clients having hair plaited or styled by the author's wife. The sessions allowed for gate-keeping at the level of selection of videos and of informal critical commentary, although various levels of audience expertise contributed to the latter. The video reception is linked to the social conditions of the 'audience', many of whom were formal or informal, female economic migrants. This leads to a textual analysis of the videos with respect to genre, language, gender stereotyping, class analysis, ethnicity, modernity, consumerism and social exclusion. The video sessions provided a discursive space where Batswana and non-Batswana women could discuss, with relative freedom, important issues concerning various types of modern, urban identity.