1 - Laughter as the Best Medicine: Coping with the Nigerian Tragicomedy

Abstract

Civil society has been defined as a realm of social interaction between economy and the state, made up above all of the personal sphere (particularly the family), the field of associations (principally voluntary organisations), social movements, and types of public communications. It has also been described as the area of social association in society as distinct fromthe state, involving networks of bodies through which society and groups within society speak for themselves in cultural, ideological and political ways. Civil society is within the superstructure, and is related to institutions, forms of consciousness and political and cultural practices. With regard to Africa, there has been a debate about the applicability of the civil society concept to the continent. The negation of its applicability is usually based on the idea that the mostobvious prerequisites for a Western-type civil society (such as a self-confident urban citizenry that has previously achieved some degree of autonomy from the state) are typically missing. That this narrow Eurocentric definition has beenassumed by many illustrates the poverty of mainstream African studies. That conventional Western scholars base theirstudy of Africa on the European experience and on how processes match up (or do not) with their societies, has long beenproblematic, particularly as these are often the gatekeepers of African studies in the West.