Abstract This article examines how three generations of jasare – Zarma genealogists and historian griots from Niger – have responded to the challenges of recording and digitizing their performances, from analogue archives to social media platforms. It explores the tensions between performance and fixation, the transformation and circulation of narratives, and the question of ownership in the context of mediated orality. The first generation resisted state-led archival initiatives in the 1960s. The second adapted their discourse to radio audiences, navigating censorship and self-regulation. Since the death of Jeliba Baaje in 2018, the third generation – no longer active performers – has grappled with the ethical and symbolic stakes of managing digital archives, especially as renewed interest in jasare narratives emerges on platforms such as YouTube and WhatsApp. Drawing on long-term ethnographic collaboration, the article analyses the aesthetic and political strategies employed to preserve control over sensitive narratives in contexts where audience composition is diffuse or unknown. These strategies are situated within broader transformations of patronage systems, memory politics and digital circulation. Ultimately, the article reflects on how oral knowledge systems engage with global regimes of authorship, highlighting the dynamic interplay between tradition, performance ethics and the logics of new media.
Sandra Bornand (Sun,) studied this question.