DHUM 27A04 - Birth of Sub-Saharan African Cinema: pioneers and early developments (The)
The aim of this course is to trace and contextualize the birth and development of post-Independence sub-Saharan African cinema in the 1960s-1970s. From both a historical and cinematic perspective, we shall examine the ways in which this key period shaped emerging filmmaking trends in Africa, foregrounding the questions of identity and representation.
How did the early African directors represent their realities and societies in a continent hitherto uniquely cinematically represented through the prism of colonial propaganda films, ethnographic cinema and Tarzan-esque fictions?
Alternating the viewing and analysis of a corpus of five emblematic 1960s and 1970s feature films, we shall study the socio-political and cultural contexts of this postcolonial cinema, its influences, themes and aesthetics.
Melissa THACKWAY
Séminaire
English
Required readings:
Exerpts/articles by: Frantz Fanon (On National Culture), Edward Said (Orientalism), Stuart Hall (Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation), Terrance Ranger (The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa), the FEPACI Charter (Algiers, 1974), Chimamanda Adichié (The Danger of A Single Story), bell hooks (Talking Back), Christian Metz (Langage et cinéma)…
As some films may be subtitled in French only, ability to read French.
Autumn 2023-2024
- A presentation in class on one of the films studied during the semester (40%)
- A written review of one of the associated course texts (10%)
- A final written essay (40%)
- Class participation (10%)
Séances et programme *
Séance 1: Introduction
The birth of cinema in independence Africa: historical, political, and cultural contexts.
The (troubled) representation of the African continent in the colonial era; extracts of colonial propaganda films and “Jungle Melodramas” such as King Solomon's Mines…
African independence and the question of representation. Film Glossary.
Séance 2: Alternative Representations
Viewing and discussion of the first sub-Saharan African films: Afrique sur Seine, by P.S. Vieyra (Senegal-France, 1955, 21') and Borom Sarret (Senegal, 1963, 22')
Séance 3: Post-colonial satire
Introduction to and viewing of Xala by Ousmane Sembène
Séance 4: Post-colonial satire II
Analysis of Xala / student presentations: themes, characters, image, sound.
Sembène, “the grandfather of African cinema; influences (Italian Neo-Realism, Soviet Realism, social realism…); and influence (cinéma engagé, "The Sembènian School")
Cinema as “night school”; analysis and critiques of the new elites / acculturation / Euro vs. Afro-modernity
Culture and “Decolonizing The Mind”
Séance 5: Urbanity and Class
Introduction to and viewing of Baara by Souleymane Cissé
Séance 6: Urbanity and Class II
Analysis of Baara / student presentations: themes, characters, image, sound.
Social realism in cinema
The post-colonial city space
Class and power relations
Emancipation / domination
Séance 7: Rural Exodus and embedded spaces
Introduction to and viewing of Kaddu Beykat by Safi Faye
Séance 8: Rural Exodus and embedded spaces II
Analysis of Kaddu Beykat / student presentations: themes, characters, image, sound.
Rural vs. urban lifestyles and practices
Community vs. individual
Rural conditions – rural exodus
Birth of African docu-fiction
Emerging women's filmmaking
Séance 9: Generational Conflicts
Introduction to and viewing of Muna Moto by Jean-Pierre Dikongue Pipa
Séance 10: Generational Conflicts II
Analysis of Muna Moto / student presentations: themes, characters, image, sound.
Generational conflicts
Pre and post-colonial practices: the invention of tradition?
Patriarchy / autocracy
Cinema as metaphor?
Séance 11: Journeys, quests and exilic dreams
Introduction to and viewing of Touki Bouki by Djibril Diop Mambety
Séance 12: Journeys, quests, and exilic dreams II
Analysis of Touki Bouki / student presentations: themes, characters, image, sound.
Emigration and exile: journeys, initiations, quests
The myth of a paradisiacal elsewhere
Hybridity and Afro-modernity
Influences of oral literature
A “Mambetian school”? (symbolism and experimental African cinema)
Semester conclusions.
* For reasons of availability, the films announced may be subject to changes, but the themes of the programme will remain unchanged.
Exerpts/articles by: Frantz Fanon (On National Culture), Edward Said (Orientalism), Stuart Hall (Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation), Terrance Ranger (The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa), the FEPACI Charter (Algiers, 1974), Chimama