De l’intérêt de décentrer notre regard : le Nigéria et l’Afrique du Sud dans les séries entre construction et déconstruction des stéréotypes

Abstract

While North American and European series have been the subject of scientific work in the social sciences, series produced in the Global South have aroused little interest from social science researchers. However, serial production in the South is prolific and very diversified, with many soap operas and, more recently, series resuming the format of contemporary Western series with longer episodes grouped into seasons. The serial genre is highly represented in Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and India. Although these productions are very little known in the Global North, I propose here to defocus our gaze as geographers by analyzing the South through the prism of television series. By relying mainly on South African and Nigerian examples, I will seek to show that television series participate in the production of stereotypes, particularly on metropolitan lifestyles among viewers from the South, but also that these series can make it possible to deconstruct stereotypes about the South among Northern viewers.

Keywords

• South Africa
• Metropolis
• TV series
• Nigeria
• Netflix
• Urban studies