SOME 500 “MAMA FANS” ATTENDED THE OUTDOOR SCREENING
KIOTA, NIGER
The tour’s first public screening took place across the street from Mama Kiota’s house— under a huge hangar located next to the Kiota Mosque. With lights and ventilator fans
hanging from the rafters, a cement floor, and an electrical system built to accommodate the Mosque’s many public events, the venue was tailor-made for comfort, the climate, and a movie about Kiota’s First Family. We fixed show-time for 9:30pm—after the final evening prayer. By then, all interested parties should be free to attend.
The set-up took about 3 hours. My tech support team brought a professional grade HD projector, indoor/outdoor loud speakers, a recto-verso screen capable of projections in
daylight and at night, as well as a portable electric generator. The Kiota Mosque has a dedicated electrician, who worked closely with my team to make sure that all systems and back-ups were in place. The one thing we couldn’t control was the weather. It’s the middle of rainy season in Niger.
Around 7pm the clouds burst. Lightning and thunder brought soaking rains for a good hour. Since Kiota is a rural town with only one paved street, rain turns its red dirt roads and foot paths into thick mud and water puddles. Fortunately, I had on the logistics with Mama’s personal assistants in advance. One hundred plastic chairs and 3 over-stuffed arm chairs had been hand-carried to the hangar earlier in the day and arranged according to our seating plan.
After the Muezzin’s call, and the final prayer of the night, volunteers carried colorful plastic mats from the Mosque and placed them on the floor in front of the chairs. The remaining covered area—behind, and on both sides of the plastic—provided standing room for several hundred viewers. Roughly 100 additional movie-goers sat or stood on
the steps of the Mosque and watched the images on the rear side of the retro-verso screen. The loud speakers covered the entire area with high quality sound. About 75% of the audience was female. Scores of children came for the show.
As soon as the movie started rolling, little points of light appeared in the darkness beneath and around the screen. It took me a while to figure out that these were cellphones, held high in recording mode for as long as the battery charge lasted. Those who could recorded personal copies of the movie.
I smiled approvingly at this use of cellphone technology to capture and further disseminate bits and pieces of Mama’s message of female empowerment, education and peace. I expect people to make and sell copies of the DVD, and I plan to upload the movie on the Internet, and have it shared on social media sites. I’m also looking to screen the documentary in popular West African public viewing arenas such as video buses and fast food restaurants. My ultimate goal is to get Mama’s message into spaces that can impact popular culture in West Africa. The Kiota screening alerted me to a mode of dissemination I hadn’t considered – the cellphone.
The Kiota audience bubbled with excitement. This was the hometown crowd watching a story about the founders and the ethical pillars of their religious community. They cheered every time video footage of the Founder, the late Cheikh Aboubacar Hassouimi of Kiota, flashed across the screen. They watched and listened attentively to the backstory of the young Oumul Khairy Niasse’s marriage to Cheikh Aboubacar. They knew the words and did sing-alongs with the many Sufi songs. They held forth their hands to receive the on-screen blessings offered by Cheikh Aboubacar and by Mama Kiota.
The only thing missing was Mama Kiota in the flesh. Age 75, and having problems with her knees, she heeded the advice of her protocol team, who assessed it would be too taxing for her to slog through the mud at night. But her daughter Zahara Cheikh Aboubacar was present in full force. Zahara has the most impressive resumé of any female Muslim leader in Niger. Fluent in French, Arabic and 3 African languages, she holds degrees from two universities (the Islamic University at Say–Female Campus, BA, MA and the University al-Qur’an al Karim in Khartoum, MA); serves as one of only two women chosen by the government to sit on Niger’s 20-member National Islamic Council;
and is a popular and charismatic preacher. After introducing me, Zahara worked up the crowd by interspersinjg references from the Qur’an and the hadiths with brief vignettes about her father—Cheikh Aboubacar of Kiota, her mother—Mama Kiota, and her grandfather—the great Sufi Master, Ibrahim Niasse.
A 30-minute open-mike session followed the screening. Most of the comments were what I characterize as “Mama Adulation.” That was to be expected—given the venue. In future screenings, I’ll be looking for evidence that viewers can find a message in the movie that speaks to them personally, and offers strategies for enhancing their own agency. (1)
It was about 11pm when I returned to Mama’s house—exhausted, and ready to fall into bed. I stopped by her room to provide a quick account of the evening’s events, and found her sitting on the floor with Zahara—both with smiles stretching from ear-to-ear. Zahara had been in cellphone contact with her mother and one of her brothers during the entire
screening—providing detailed commentary on events in real-time. Mama was preparing to watch the movie at home. She looked up at me, and tapped the cushion by her side. I understood that meant, sit here—so I did. We watched the movie together, two times, before saying goodnight.
(1) The reference here as to socio-cultural anthropologist Saba Mahmood’s concept of agency as “the capacity to realize one’s own interests against the weight of custom, tradition, transcendental will or other obstacles.” Mahmood, The Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004).
Mama Kiota's Message 