Prof. Ousseina Alidou has been awarded The African Studies Association 2025 Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize for her latest work, Protest Arts, Gender, and Social Change: Fiction, Popular Songs, and the Media in Hausa Society across Borders (University of Michigan Press, 2024).
In their commendation, the Selection Committee stated that they
…found Protest Arts to be an important book that reimagines the importance of gender to the study of popular arts to highlight how creative works engage with advocacy and position creatives as activists who uplift marginalized voices and open up conversations around difficult topics like gender-based violence, child marriage, and health inequities. [The book] offers a compelling theorization from marginalized perspectives, examining a vibrant collection of artworks and performances to illuminate the capacity of art to challenge dominant elite narratives. The book also makes a significant contribution by complicating assumptions about religion and placing emphasis on intraregional conversations around faith, vulnerability, and social change. This is an innovative book that thinks through the complications of resistance and is deeply attentive to the dynamism of popular culture.
The book provides a model for those seeking to understand the defiance of male domination through locally and regionally inflected feminist perspectives. In addition to showcasing how women artists engage in political work beyond formal politics, it also examines how men articulate their responsibilities in challenging patriarchal structures. The book excels in its detailed exploration and sophisticated analysis of the visual, performative, and lyrical components of artistic expression. Through its study of popular art traditionally seen as mundane, the book demonstrates how women’s artistic innovations serve as vital sites for understanding gendered power dynamics and important engines for social transformation. It was truly a pleasure to read.