250 african appropriations
is remarkable, as the commemoration of the German war on the Herero
and Nama (1904–1907) was high on the agenda—in both Namibia and
Germany—after EES came to Germany in 2004, leading to controversial
public debates about Namibian reparation claims (Förster 2010). His-
torical consciousness of the uneasy history of black and white relations
in southern Africa is thus lacking in “Easy” Eric Sell’s attempts to sell his
Africa and his products to German audiences. His account of the his-
tory of Kwaito in the same clip is no less idiosyncratic: while floundering
about in the pool and talking about the foundation of the musical genre
in Soweto, only images of his own performances are shown as inserts,
somehow insinuating that he played a crucial role in Kwaito’s origins.
Though a certain amount of bragging and a lack of humility are common
ingredients of show business, the unquestioned implicitness with which
EES assumes the role of representing Namibia and Kwaito music is per-
plexing. W ho speaks for whom about what and who is not problematized
on ees-tv. Instead, EES seeks to normalize his presence and that of the
“forgotten Germans” of Namibia. It fits into this program that the majority
of the clips on ees-tv portray a Namibia which seems to be full of white
people. EES is thus shown taking a sundowner with German-speaking
friends, surfing dunes with a German-speaking crowd, and so on. If black
Namibians appear at all on ees-tv, they do so only as colorful backdrops.
ees-tv has to be understood as a paratext to Sell’s music videos; a paratext
desig ned espec ia l ly to access Ger ma n aud iences. The puzz l i ng t h i ng about
this particular paratext is that unlike the music videos, where collabora-
tions with black Namibian artists are the norm, it displays a Namibia that
is almost literally whitewashed.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND COSMOPOLITAN ENGAGEMENTSThe internet and social media are infrastructures that afford “cosmo-
politan engagements at a distance” (Woodward and Skrbis 2012: 134). Be-
ing artists and cultural entrepreneurs at once, the three musicians know
how to use these infrastructures virtuously. A ll three connect with their
fans via Facebook and Twitter and navigate networks of followers that
stretch across different continents. As of January 28, 2014, the number of