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The hybridization of African identities in African filmInocencio, Jessica Lynn January 2007 (has links)
This paper traces the construction of African identities in A Reasonable Man (South Africa 1999), Chikin Biznis: The Whole Story (South Africa 1998), Fools (South Africa/France 1997), Hyènes (1992), Le cri du coeur (Burkina Faso/France 1994), Pièces d'Identités (France/Congo/Belgium 1998), Une couleur café (France 1997), and Xala (Senegal 1975) based on an analysis of race, ethnicity, tradition, modernization, Westernization, and cultural hybridity theories; as a way of contextualizing African history in general, this paper also explores the significance of colonialism, postcolonialism, and forms of neo-colonialism. I argue that nineteenth century perceptions of “race” that arose during the Enlightenment era are mistaken. Instead, African identities presented in film should be re-conceived based on concepts of ethnicity and culture and not simplistic racial constructions—for example “white,” “black,” or “mulatto” to name a few—since such interpretations inevitably surrender to problematic analysis. However, I also contend that neither a typical conception of fixed identities nor cultures can be applied to the understanding of contemporary African identities expressed in African film. The conception of African identities can and ought to be reconsidered as a fluid, social construction based on changing historical phenomena. As an alternative, I suggest that tradition, modernization, and Westernization processes contribute to the overall fluidity of contemporary African identities, which can be elucidated by cultural hybridity theories. Therefore, I ultimately propose that the hybridization of African identities is specifically linked to forms of modernization and Westernization—the practice of Western medicine, beliefs in monogamy, and entrepreneurial aspirations—that have also been filtered through traditional African value systems such as polygamy, traditional healing, patriarchy, communitarianism, and traditional religions within various African communities depicted in African film. Thus, a fixed “African” category that we strive to define—against either Western or African points of reference—is actually neither a fully Westernized nor entirely African distinction but a hybridized identity of traditional, modernized, and Westernized elements.
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Between hotel mama and petrol station manager: the represatations of women's realities in a selection of African filmsO'Reilly, Kevin Joseph January 2008 (has links)
The roles that women perform as depicted in African films are often dictated to by the type of society they find themselves in. At first glance traditional societies can be seen as oppressive because of the presence of certain cultural practices. Alternatively modern urban settings appear to offer women authority and empowerment through employment. However, with a closer examination one sees that the situation is not so simplistic. Such is the case when certain traditional practices that are deemed oppressive through a Western perspective, are still found in urban societies. Films on the subject of African women have to be cautious not place their characters in stereotypical roles. Therefore, it is not enough to merely portray African women as ‘oppressed’. African films that engage in a feminist critique need to present ‘realistic’ portrayals of African women. Such characters are layered and complex. The film Faat Kine (2000) depicts such a character in the authoritative protagonist Kine. The film La Vie est Belle (1987) examines the issue of polygamous marriages and patriarchy from the point of view of two African women living in France. Touki Bouki (1973) examines two young characters living in Senegal and questions the possibility of escape from ones circumstances. Traditional practices such as polygamous marriages are explored in Xala (1975), and Finzan (1989) explores cultural practices such as forced marriages and female circumcision. This treatise will consider women and work in both traditional society and urban settings. African feminism will also be investigated for the purpose of exploring common social perceptions of women in Africa.
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Women in African cinema : an aesthetic and thematic analysis of filmmaking by women in Francophone West Africa and Lusophone and Anglophone Southern AfricaBisschoff, Lizelle January 2009 (has links)
This study focuses on the role of women in African cinema – in terms of female directors working in the African film industries as well as the representation of women in African film. My research specifically focuses on francophone West African and lusophone and anglophone Southern African cinemas (in particular post-apartheid South African cinema). This research is necessary and significant because African women are underrepresented in theoretical work as well as in the practice of African cinema. The small corpus of existing theoretical and critical studies on the work of female African filmmakers clearly shows that African women succeed in producing films against tremendous odds. The emergence of female directors in Africa is an important but neglected trend which requires more dedicated research. The pioneering research of African-American film scholar Beti Ellerson is exemplary in this regard, as she has, since the early 2000s, initiated a new field of academic study entitled African Women Cinema Studies. My own research is situated within this emerging field and aims to make a contribution to it. The absence of women in public societal spheres is often regarded as an indicator of areas where societies need to change. In the same sense the socio-political and cultural advancements of women are indicators of how societies have progressed towards improved living conditions for all. Because the African woman can be viewed as doubly oppressed, firstly by Black patriarchal culture and secondly by Western colonising forces, it is essential that the liberation of African women includes an opportunity for women to verbalise and demonstrate their own vision of women’s roles for the future. The study analyses a large corpus of films through exploring notions of nationalism and post/neo-colonialism in African societies; issues related to the female body such as health, beauty and sexuality; female identity, emancipation and African feminism in the past and present; the significance of traditional cultural practices versus the consequences and effects of modernity; and the interplay between the individual and the community in urban as well as rural African societies. Female filmmakers in Africa are increasingly claiming the right to represent these issues in their own ways and to tell their own stories. The methods they choose to do this and the products of their labours are the focus of this study. Ultimately, the study attempts to formulate more complex models for the analysis of African women’s filmmaking practices, in tracing the plurality of a female aesthetics and the multiplicity of thematic approaches in African women’s filmmaking.
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The dual world metaphor and the 'struggle' in selected South African and African films (1948 to 1996)Ntsane, Ntsane Steve 03 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The terminology used in segregationist discourse that South Africa is a combination
of 'first world' and 'third world' elements has been appropriated from an international
discourse about problems of world-wide socio-economic development. The terms are
used to describe the sophisticated metropolitan areas inhabited by highly developed
whites and simple, backward, isolated, rural regions occupied by undeveloped or
underdeveloped blacks. However, in South Africa this dual world metaphor, which
has socio-political implications that have brought great misfortune to blacks, was
institutionalised by apartheid, with the consequences that blacks have expressed their
resistance in what became known as the 'struggle' against the dualist system.
Selected South African and African films whose themes have a bearing on such a
socio-economic system are explored in this thesis. A supplementary exploration of
films dealing with the theme of the 'struggle', which has become a metaphor for the
'generations of resistance', has been undertaken by means ofa detailed analysis.
The interpretation of 'development' in this thesis finds a link betweeen the dualist
paradigm, the perpetuation of poverty and the migratory labour system. The peculiar
relationship which the 'struggle' has had with the cultures of black people, in which
there is a mutual influence between the 'struggle' and the nature of these cultures, is
explored in the relevant films.
However, this thesis offers no solutions, but exposes a VICIOUS system which IS
threatening to gain world ascendency. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die terminologie gebruik in die segregasie-diskoers tot die effek dat Suid-Afrika 'n
kombinasie van 'Eerste Wêreld' en 'Derde Wêreld' elemente is, is oorgeneem uit 'n
internasionale diskoers wat handeloor wêreld-wye sosio-ekonomiese ontwikkeling. Dié
terme word gebruik om die gesofistikeerde metropolitaanse areas bewoon deur hoogsontwikkelde
blankes en eenvoudige, agterlike, geïsoleerde, landelike streke beset deur
onder- of on-ontwikkelde swartes te beskryf. Maar in Suid-Afrika is hierdie dubbelwêreld
metafoor - met die sosio-politiese implikasies daarvan wat tot groot ellende vir
swartes aanleiding gegee het - deur Apartheid geïnstitusionaliseer, met die gevolg dat
swartes hul weerstand uitgedruk het in wat bekend geword het as die 'struggle' teen
dierdie dualistiese sisteem.
'n Keur van films uit Suid-Afrika en die res van Afrika, die tema's waarvan betrekking
het op hierdie sosio-ekonomiese sisteem, word ondersoek in hierdie skripsie. 'n
Bykomstige ondersoek na films wat handeloor die tematiek van die 'struggle', wat
metafories geword het vir die 'generasie van weerstand', is by wyse van 'n meer gedetaileerde
analise uitgevoer.
Die interpretasie van 'ontwikkeling' in hierdie skripsie ontbloot 'n verband tussen die
dualistiese sisteem, die voortsetting van armoede en die sisteem van trekardbeid. Die
besonderse manier wat die 'struggle' met die kulture van swart mense verhou, waarin
daar 'n wedersydse beïnvloeding tussen die 'struggle' en die aard van die kulture
plaasvind, word ondersoek in die relevante films.
Hierdie skripsie bied egter geen oplossings nie, maar ontmasker eerder 'n wrede sisteem
wat dreig tot wêreld-oorheersing.
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