Olufunmilayo Arewa

George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School, Faculty Member

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Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Arewa’s major areas of scholarly research include music, technology, copyright, film, international and comparative law, entrepreneurship, accounting, and Africana studies.

Prior to becoming a law professor, Professor Arewa practiced law for nearly a decade, working in legal and business positions primarily in the entrepreneurial and technology startup arena, including law firms and companies in the Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston. Before becoming a lawyer, she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS) at the University of Michigan and served as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. and Montevideo, Uruguay.

In 2019, Professor Arewa was a fellow at The Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture” at the University of Bonn, Germany, where she researched “Disruptive Technologies, Digital Colonialism, and the Construction of Commercial Law in Africa.” In 2015, Professor Arewa received a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Faculty Visit Research Grant for a research project entitled Cultural, Legal, and Business Considerations in the Diffusion of Jazz in Germany, a project that is connected to her forthcoming book on the development of global markets for African American music. She served as Vice Chair of the Nigeria Copyright Expert Working Group. She has also worked as a consultant on various projects, including engagements relating to education and scientific and technological capacity in Africa, and as lead consultant on a project examining the feasibility of establishing a venture capital fund in the Eastern Caribbean.

She received an M.A. and Ph.D. (Anthropology) from the University of California, Berkeley, an A.M. (Applied Economics) from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an A.B. from Harvard College. In addition to writing about music, Professor Arewa has studied classical voice for many years.

Professor Arewa’s book, Disrupting Africa: Technology, Law and Development which is based on a decade of archival research about patterns of colonial era law making in former British colonies and the continuing implications of such patterns today, is now available through Cambridge University Press.

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Accounting for Injustice: AFTRA, Work & Singers’ Royalties

Social Science Research Network, 2019

This article examines contractual royalties in the U.S. recording industry. Developing Arewa’s (2... more This article examines contractual royalties in the U.S. recording industry. Developing Arewa’s (2019) research on entertainment industry contract accounting and Stahl’s (2015) research on record industry royalty reform, we aim to shed light on contractual accounting practices in the record industry and the structural asymmetries of power that characterize them. Central to our analysis is the crucial but until now unstudied role played by the Health and Retirement Funds (“AFTRA H&R Funds” or “H&R Funds”) of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (“AFTRA”) in the economic lives of U.S. recording singers. The activities of this benefits system include monitoring and auditing of singers’ compensation and royalty accounts. Archival and other sorts of evidence documenting these activities provide a new and unique window into otherwise obscure accounting and business practices. Music industry royalty accounting practices, such as those revealed in the archival evidence brought to light in this article, highlight potential problems with contractual accounting. Royalty contractual accounting numbers may not be correct or calculated in a transparent or fair way, which results in a situation that leaves significant room for exploitation of a wide range of artists. This article identifies and makes use of neglected sources and types of evidence and suggests avenues of potential future reform.

Constructing Africa: Chinese Investment, Infrastructure Deficits, and Development

PSN: Foreign Direct Investment (Development) (Topic), 2015

Despite recent trends towards robust economic growth in many Sub-Saharan African countries, a num... more Despite recent trends towards robust economic growth in many Sub-Saharan African countries, a number of challenges remain, including those emerging from persistent infrastructure deficits. China has emerged as a key partner to a number of African countries, including in financing and constructing large-scale infrastructure projects. China has become the dominant trading partner with Africa today, with bilateral trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) growing fourfold between 2001 and 2005. Relationships between China and African countries unfold in a context shaped by histories of relationships between African countries and external parties, particularly European former colonial powers, that have far too often been exploitative and unequal. These past interactions have been key elements in the construction of African infrastructure and institutions. Processes of construction of infrastructures in Africa, including institutions and a wide range of physical infrastructures, have bee...

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