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Personal profile
Research Statement
My primary research activities explore the political dimensions of sound and music in international film, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan African cinemas. I am also interested in the aesthetic, cultural and political aspects of ‘world cinema’, and I am currently researching recent transformations in international film distribution and culture. My broader interests include postcolonialism and film, Third Cinema, diasporic cinemas, the national/trans-national, and authorship. Additionally, I am always interested in projects that investigate how cross-cultural and/or cross-disciplinary readings of cinema may inform established debates in film studies.
Achievements
- Director of Graduate Studies, School of Arts, English and Languages (2025-present)
- External Examiner, BA Film, Trinity College Dublin (2024-present)
- AHRC Research Network Grant - two-year project ‘World Cinema On Demand’ (2012-1014)
- External Examiner, BA English and Media Writing, Southampton Solent University (2007-2011)
- Formerly Subject Lead for Film (3 years, 2011-2014)
Research Interests
Sound and music in world film (esp. their political dimensions); sub-Saharan African cinema; cinema in postcolonial contexts; national cinemas (esp. outside Europe and North America); Third Cinema; online distribution of world cinemas.
Selected publications
'Streaming the transmedial and transcultural: contemporary African cinemas and the Netflix viewing environment' in Jaising, S. & Gharabaghi, H. (eds.). Streaming in the Global South, (London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic), forthcoming 2025.
'Netflix and Africa: Streaming, Branding and Tastemaking in Non-domestic African Film Markets' in S. Baschiera and A. Fisher (eds), World Cinema On Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution, (London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic), 2022, pp. 187-282.
World Cinema On Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution (co-edited with Stefano Baschiera). (London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic), 2022.
‘Reclaiming Josephine Baker in the Filmic Ethnomusicology of Djibril Diop Mambéty’, Music and the Moving Image, 12:2, July 2019, pp. 3-19.
‘African Cinema On Demand? The Politics of Online Distribution and the Case of the African Film Library’, The Journal of African Media Studies, 10(3), Sept. 2018, pp. 239-250.
‘Vocal Spaces and Oral Traces: Voice-Over, Orality and Ousmane Sembene’s Early Postcolonial Critique’ in Tom Whittaker and Sarah Wright (eds.), Locating the Voice in Film (London: Oxford University Press), 2016, pp. 209-225.
'Ousmane Sembene: An Aesthetic Appreciation in the Light of HD', Viewfinder 104, 2016.
‘Modes of Griot Inscription in African Cinema’, The Journal of African Media Studies, 8:1, Sept. 2016, pp. 5-16.
‘Scoring African Cinema’ in Blandine Stefanson and Sheila Petty (eds.), The Directory of World Cinema: Africa (Bristol: Intellect), 2015) pp. 41-46.
‘Aristotle’s Plot: A Refusal to “Find” African Cinema?’ in David Murphy and Lizelle Bisschoff (eds.) Africa’s Lost Classics: New Histories of African Cinema (Oxford: Legenda), 2014, pp. 139-145.
‘Between “the Housewife” and the “Philosophy Professor”: Music, Narration, and Address in Ousmane Sembene’s Xala’, Visual Anthropology, 24:4, July-Sept. 2011, pp. 306-317.
‘Funding, Ideology, and the Aesthetics of the “Development Film” in Postcolonial Zimbabwe’, The Journal of African Cinemas, 2:2, Winter 2010, pp. 111-120.
‘Med Hondo’s Sarraounia: The Musical Articulation of Cultural Transformation’, Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, 3:2, Autumn 2009, pp. 195-213.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Projects
- 1 Finished
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R1410CRA: World Cinema On-Demand. Film Distribution and Education in the Streaming Media Era
Baschiera, S. (PI) & Fisher, A. (CoI)
01/08/2011 → 30/11/2013
Project: Research
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Netflix and Africa: streaming, branding and tastemaking in non-domestic African film markets
Fisher, A., 05 May 2022, World cinema on demand: global film cultures in the era of online distribution. Baschiera , S. & Fisher , A. (eds.). New York: Bloomsbury AcademicResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open AccessFile205 Downloads (Pure) -
World Cinema On Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution
Baschiera, S. & Fisher, A., 02 Jun 2022, Bloomsbury Academic.Research output: Book/Report › Edited book › peer-review
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African Cinema On Demand? The Politics of Online Distribution and the Case of the African Film Library
Fisher, A., 01 Sept 2018, In: Journal of African Media Studies. 10, 3, p. 239-250 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)2172 Downloads (Pure) -
Reclaiming Josephine Baker in the Filmic Ethnomusicology of Djibril Diop Mambéty
Fisher, A., Jul 2019, In: Music and the Moving Image. 12, 2, p. 3-19Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)320 Downloads (Pure) -
Vocal Spaces and Oral Traces: Voice-Over, Orality, and Ousmane Sembene's Early Post-Colonial Critique
Fisher, A., 26 Jan 2017, Locating the Voice in Film. Whittaker, T. & Wright, S. (eds.). London: Oxford University Press, p. 209-225 15 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
10 Downloads (Pure)