Acknowledgments and Pr eface ixeventually headed a project researching the negotiation of culture through
video movies and Bongo flava music in Tanzania from 2009 to 2011. I
thank the team of researchers—Claudia Böhme, Gabriel Hacke, and Uta
Reuster-Jahn—who made this project a success and from whose work,
insights, and friendship I profited enormously. In Tanzania, we were affili-
ated with the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at the University
of Dar es Salaam. I am very grateful for the kind assistance of its staff
on numerous occasions and thank its consecutive directors, Amandina
Lihamba, Herbert Makoye, Frowin Nyoni, and Imani Sanga. Vicensia
Shule was always ready to share her knowledge of Tanzanian theater and
media culture with me and also facilitated my research in multiple other
ways. Deoglace Komba introduced me to various aspects of life and work
i n Da r es Sa laa m a nd a ssisted me a s a n i nter preter. I a lso owe a g reat ma ny
thanks to Rose Nyerere, who put me up in her house in 2007 and one day
took me along to visit her late father’s residence on the shores of the Indian
Ocean, which I always will remember as an almost mystical experience.
Mtitu Game was always ready to talk about Swahili movie production
and his latest projects; Captain Derek Gaspar Mukandala, aka Lufufu,
introduced me to the “translation” of foreign films during a number of
practical dubbing lessons and subsequent conversations. I thank both of
them. Special thanks are due to Amandus Mtani, who allowed me to ap-
propriate the cover of his Titanic graphic novel for the cover of this book.
My research into the history of African Film, the 1960s photo-novel maga-
zine featuring the adventures of Lance Spearman, also began in Tanzania,
where I was able to buy used copies of the magazine and interview several
of its former readers, including Simon Chupa, Athumani Hamisi, Mike
M a nde, C ha hya Mt i ro, Joseph Mwa mu nya nge, Ha sh i m Na k a noga, R ich-
ard Ndunguru, and Abdul Sawe. Accessing more issues of African Film
magazine was made possible with the help of Randall W. Scott of Michi-
gan State University Library, East Lansing, and Toyin Alade from Lagos,
both of whom swapped copies with me; James Orao was kind enough to
retrieve several issues from the Kenyan National Archives for me.
The last two chapters of this book, which focus on internet-related
phenomena, afforded a certain amount of technical finesse and a new
methodological tool kit. I acknowledge the help of Jan Beek, who joined
me during the initial steps of my exploration of cybercrime in 2008 and