AFRICAN FILM AND
VIDEO IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES CURRICULUM
Table of Contents
A. Background
Articles
B. Film Entries
Allah Tantou 1
Aristotle’s Plot 2
Battle of Algiers 3
In Darkest Hollywood 4-7
Emitai
Sambizanga 21
Sankofa
Selbe 22
These Hands 23
Touki Bouki 24
Warrior Marks 25
Wend Kuuni 26
Women with Open Eyes
Yaaba 28
Yeelen 29-30
C. Film Distributors
D. Appendices -
Africa Online
I. Electronic Discussion Groups
II. Internet
Resources for Africa and African Studies
A. BACKGROUND
ARTICLES
1. Ukadike,
N. F. (1993). Introduction. In M. Diawara (ed.), Black African Cinema. New York: Routledge.
2. Harrow, K. (199?). Introduction: Shooting Forward. Research In African
Literatures: Special Issue on African Film.
3. Harrow, K. (199?). Women and African
Cinema. Matatu: Journal for African
Culture and Society.
B. FILM AND VIDEO
GUIDE
ALLAH TANTOU, 1991
62 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director: David
Achkar
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price:
$195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
This film confronts
the immense personal and political cost of human rights abuses common to some
evolutionary governments in post-independent Africa. Filmmaker David Achkar accomplishes this by following the life of
his diplomat father, Marof Achkar, who became a political prisoner in Sekou Touré’s
Guinea during the late 1960s.
Critique
“Allah Tantou is the first African
film to confront the immense personal and political costs of the widespread
human rights abuses on the continent.
It follows filmmaker David Achkar’s search for his father, his father’s
search for himself inside a Guinean prison and Africa’s search for a new
beginning amid the disillusionment of the post-independence era. One of the most courageous and controversial
films of recent years, Allah Tantou speaks in an unabashed personal voice
not often heard in African cinema.
The life of Marof
Achkar can be seen as emblematic of much recent African history. In 1958, his countryman, Sekou Touré
declared Guinea the first independent French African colony and became a hero
of Pan-Africanism. Marof Achkar, a
leading figure in the Ballets Africans, served as U.N. ambassador for the new
government. In 1968, Achkar was
suddenly recalled, charged with treason and vanished into the notorious Camp
Boiro prison. His family was exiled
and, only after Touré’s death in 1984, did they learn of his execution in 1971.
In a cinematic
tradition which has privileged the calm collective voice of the griot, Allah
Tantou speaks with the fragmented, uncertain rhythms of the individual
conscience. Achkar juxtaposes diverse,
sometimes contradictory texts -- documentary, newsreel, dramatizations, photos,
journals -- to deny us a single, authoritative narrative space.”
(Critique quoted
from California Newsreel’s Library of African Cinema. 1995-96 Catalog.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film is suited
for college level instruction. It
considers the topics of African politics, post-colonialism, and African
history.
ARISTOTLE’S PLOT,
1996
71 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director: Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Distributor: JPB Productions
Purchase Price: $295.00
Synopsis
This feature film
examines the trials of African movie-making in a humorous, and critical,
manner.
Critique
“In a southern
African town, a group of wanna-be gangstas hangs out at the Cinema Africa,
subjecting themselves to megadoses of the latest actions fests. They’ve taken the names of their screen
gods: Van Damme, Bruce Lee, Nikita,
Saddam, and the leader Cinema. Africa of Hollywood, replacing
Schwarzenegger with Sembene. The
government is indifferent and the gangsta won’t come quietly, so he takes
matters into his hands and becomes a vigilante for an indigenous film culture.
In its combination
of critical questioning and anarchic glee, Aristotle’s Plot harks back to
Godard, but with a sense of humor all its own.
Instead of working toward the end of cinema like Godard, Bekolo just
wants a new beginning and a decent middle.”
(Critique quoted
from article by Cameron Bailey, Toronto Film Festival Catalogue)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film is suited
for college level courses in African Studies, Film Studies and Post-colonial
Studies.
BATTLE OF ALGIERS,
1966
123 minutes in
French with English subtitles
Director: Gillo
Pontecorvo
Distributor: Macmillan Films
Purchase Price: $59.95
Rental: This film can be rented from some commercial
video stores.
Synopsis
A story
reconstruction in documentary style of Algerian resistance to the French
between 1954 and 1957.
Critique
“This powerful film
is a documentary-style reconstruction of the Algerian rebellion against the
French between 1954 and 1957. It
focuses on the FLN guerrilla underground and the tactics used by the French to
destroy it. Flashbacks show the rebels’
terrorist campaign and the escalation of torture, murder and destruction on
both sides. A dramatic example of the
tragedy of violent revolution. It is
useful in a larger study where alternatives to violent social change are
presented. Sympathetic to the FLN, the
film makers portray them as underdogs fighting valiantly for social justice,
because of this the film may produce support among viewers for terrorism.”
(Critique quoted
from War and Peace Guide 1980, pp. 75-76.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film might be
used in a college level course on the historical political situation in Africa
and The Middle East. It might also be
used in a college level course on Recent African History or World History.
IN DARKEST
HOLLYWOOD: CINEMA AND APARTHEID, PARTS I AND II, 1993
57 minutes in
English
Director: Peter
Davis and Daniel Riesenfeld
Distributor: Villon
Films
Purchase Price: 2 x
56 minute videos, $390.00
Synopsis
In Darkest Hollywood
examines
the role of cinema during the reign of apartheid in South Africa. A mosaic of clips from feature, documentary
and propaganda films with commentary by writers, directors and actors, this
film looks at the film makers whose films fought to destroy, and in some cases
supported, apartheid.
Critique
The following is an
except from an H‑NET BOOK REVIEW,
published by Afrlitcine@h‑net.msu.edu
(October, 1997) on the book on which the film, In Darkest Hollywood, is based.
Peter Davis. In Darkest Hollywood: Exploring the Jungles of Cinema's
South Africa. Athens/Randburg, South Africa: Ohio University
Press/Ravan Press,
1996. vii + 214 pages. Pictures, filmography, bibliography,
articles, reviews, index. $19.95
(paper) ISBN 0‑8214‑1162‑4 (Ohio articles, reviews,
index. $19.95 (paper) ISBN 0‑8214‑1162‑4
(Ohio University Press); ISBN 0‑86975‑443‑2
(Ravan Press).
Reviewed for H‑Afrlitcine
by Maureen N. Eke <Maureen.N.Eke@cmich.edu>, Central Michigan University.
In the Introduction
to his book, In Darkest Hollywood, independent filmmaker Peter Davis states: "This book is about the power of
cinema, and about the devastating
impact of a generic 'Hollywood' that is constantly protesting that it is apolitical, even while it stamps
stereotypes and
projects behavior
that is as profoundly political as it is influential." Davis's critique of Hollywood focuses on
what he perceives as the legendary film
industry's influence on South Africa's popular culture. Davis, however, resists using the term
"cultural imperialism," stating that "people everywhere were not
coerced into going to the cinema," but
"eagerly allowed themselves to be seduced into an addiction that
is well‑nigh incurable"
(4). But, since Davis likens
Hollywood's "eagerly allowed
themselves to be seduced into an addiction that is well‑nigh incurable"
(4). But, since Davis likens
Hollywood's overwhelming presence in South Africa to empire building, one
wonders whether the same explanation of "voluntary seduction" could
be used to explain European colonization of Africa. The colonized must have "eagerly allowed themselves to be seduced" into a state of
subjugation. This framework would make
for an interesting and invigorating reading of cultural domination.
Davis argues that
Hollywood's representation of Africa replicates European imperialism in Africa, because Europe's
"literature of empire that had come into being during the nineteenth
century found its second wind in the cinema" (2), beginning with those
made in "the earliest years of the century to the latest." Most of these films "emphasized the
supremacy of the white race, directly and indirectly justifying conquest. Imperial and the white race, directly and
indirectly justifying conquest.
Imperial and racist images,
messages, codes, cyphers, attitudes and behavior were copied
indiscriminately" (2). "Up to
the present time, Hollywood perpetuates the ethos of empire" (2), he
adds. Consequently, Davis insists that,
like Western subordination of Africans even in stories about themselves, Hollywood's portrayals of Africans
placed them only at the periphery of the story. Africa, Davis says, "was a vast hunting ground for the white
man, and when Hollywood seized on Africa, this was the Africa it offered"
(2). In Hollywood's Africa, "the
pictures of the native people are scarcely distinguishable from those of the
animal trophies" (2).
But Davis is not
interested in exploring Hollywood's representation of Africa, that is, the
continent. His study is narrowly‑focused, specifically on the impact of Hollywood on
black South African culture and
the "creation" of black South Africa by subsequent film makers
through and the "creation" of black South Africa by subsequent film
makers through Hollywood's eyes.
Consequently, Davis' "principal concern is with an image‑bank relating to South Africa,
especially the way that black South
Africans have been presented on film, how the image‑bank changed
(or significantly failed to change) during this century" (5). Furthermore, the study is not a "comprehensive history of cinema
depicting that country [South Africa]."
It is rather a study of "selected genre films," the author
asserts. Also, the study does not
include Afrikaans cinema or African‑language film, because those
"categories are relatively
narrowcast."
Davis' book provides
a detailed documentation and discussion of the history and often unexplained
ideology behind several films about black South Africans and South Africa. The book explores nearly ninety years of film making which has transformed South
Africa's popular culture. Using a combination of archival research and
interviews, Davis unearths both the personal visions and politics of the film
makers, the actors, as well as the interpersonal relationships and conflicts
that developed during filmmaking.
Although the book occasionally reads like a popular magazine, especially
when Davis delves into the private lives of the film makers, much of the
information he provides about the historical and political conditions under
which the films were made is not readily available to the novice of South
African cinema. The filmography at the
end of the book identifies about ninety‑one films discussed, beginning
with the D. W. Griffith's "The Zulu's Heart" (1908), which according
to Davis is the earliest Western‑made film about South Africa, to
"The Power of One," the latest and a conflation of "Rocky"
and Robinson Crusoe.
From the inception
of cinematic production in and about South Africa, the film producers and directors were whites
(either expatriate or South the film
producers and directors were whites (either expatriate or South African), while
black South Africans and expatriate blacks were always cast in the roles of
characters, a role which Davis describes as "adjuncts to whites." Despite this unequal relationship between the producers and
actors/actresses there were a few periods which held out a ray of hope for the emergence of black South African
"voice," or presence in the cinema.
In the chapter "Towards a Black cinema in South Africa: The Promise of the 1950s," Davis asserts that the 1950s saw various
experiments in "black cinema"
articulated through a foregrounding of "African" thematic
concerns and actors/actresses. For instance, Africans began to play central
roles in feature‑length entertainment films. He credits this development to the efforts of three "outsiders": scriptwriter Donald Swanson and actor Eric Rutherford who formed
a triad with Gloria Green, the daughter of a
efforts of three "outsiders":
scriptwriter Donald Swanson and actor Eric Rutherford who formed a triad
with Gloria Green, the daughter of a wealthy South African Jewish family. These "outsiders" interrogated
established Hollywood and white South
African cinema traditions, which relegated
Africans to the margins, locating them off‑focus on the screen or
almost outside the frame of the
picture. According to Davis, these
"outsiders" asked, "why
not [have]...a feature film, a full‑length entertainment film, with African actors?'" (22). Conceding that "it is certain the film
they made, 'Jim Comes to Jo'burg,' was made with a particular kind of liberal
sensibility, a kind that today is sometimes despised" (21), Davis cautions, however, that "it is equally
certain that without it, an important
part of South Africa's black heritage would be totally lost to succeeding generations" (21). His application of "black
cinema," however, is problematic. He assumes that an African thematic content and an all‑black cast signify "black
cinema," even if the directors and producers all‑black cast signify
"black cinema," even if the directors and producers are white. The "new" cinema is defined as
"African cinema" because, at
the time, black South Africans were "thrilled" to see themselves
and their culture represented on stage,
even when such representations "upgraded" Hollywood's earlier images
of the culture.
A similar muddying
of terms is also evident in the discussion of "buddies," Davis' term
for the friendships and collaborations which developed across the color line in
the films produced outside South Africa
in the 1960s and later. These
interracial friendships which developed despite the increased racial divisions
within South Africa are noticeable in films such as "Dingaka" (1964),
"The Wilby Conspiracy" (1975), "The Gods Must be Crazy"
(1980), "Cry Freedom" (1987), and "A Dry White Season" (1989) to mention only a few. Davis explains that the cross‑racial
friendship existed only in a "fictive South Africa that bore little (1989)
to mention only a few. Davis explains
that the cross‑racial friendship
existed only in a "fictive South Africa that bore little resemblance to reality" (61). He adds that "the stories showed a
South Africa where black/white
friendship existed, by misrepresenting the harsh facts of real South African
life" (61).
Ironically, the
seemingly collaborative interracial environment which the films depicted were
often ruptured by the intrusion of the political and social realities of
apartheid South Africa into the lives of the black cast members. Many of the black South Africans and
expatriate blacks experienced various forms of racial discrimination, ranging
from denial of accommodation in hotels
to police harassment. Even as these
actors and actresses were being recognized internationally, apartheid South
Africa was denying their humanity. In
addition, these black artists did not have
the power to write or direct stories about their people.
On the contrary, in
his concluding remarks, "A parting of the ways," the power to write
or direct stories about their people. Davis perceives an improvement in the
representation of black South Africans since D. W. Griffith's "The Zulu's
Heart" (1908). These improvements
are evident especially in films produced by white South Africans. He cites
"Shaka Zulu" (1986), "The Gods Must be Crazy"
(1980), and "Mapantsula" (1988) as examples of films which end with
choices for the Africans, pointing out that the choices made "are not
those that whites in the films would
prefer" (189). These choices,
according to Davis, suggest "an advance in the way South Africa and its
black inhabitants were perceived, at least by white South African film‑makers"
(190). Certainly, while
"Mapantsula's" anti‑apartheid
message may be appealing, the other two films generally draw harsh criticisms
from audiences, although Davis seems to
suggest otherwise. Interestingly, while
admitting that "Shaka Zulu" appropriated the old stereotypical divisions of Africans into the
"Savage Other" and "Faithful
Servant," Davis identifies this film as a "progressive"
representation of Africans, because Shaka was "endowed with a personality,
as opposed to making him a cipher."
Truly, the film's representation of Shaka as a corrupt, dictatorial,
maniacal, and bloodthirsty leader would make an ideal prototype for African
leadership and identities in future films!
The film was the project of the South African Broadcasting Corporation,
which under the apartheid government engaged in various forms of media
propaganda for the then South African government. Davis' conclusions also seem to accept the refashioned
"Noble Savage" or "Man Friday" of "The Gods Must be
Crazy." We are invited to laugh
and overlook the old exotic images of Africa‑‑wild animals,
landscapes, strange and warring peoples for the sake of entertainment,
especially, when the "Noble Savage" is given a personality and
choice. One can not resist wondering
about the impact of Jamie Uys' closeness to the apartheid hegemony on his
construction of the Africa and Africans seen in his film.
Structurally, the
book is divided into several chapters, although it is often unclear whether or
not Davis meant these divisions as chapters.
The chapters are occasionally
separated by a collection of photographs of actors, film makers, and shots from
some of the movies under discussion. In
spite of these minor structural and perspectival weaknesses, the book is an
invaluable resource of information on films about South Africa, especially
those films which now may be archived or lost.
In addition, Davis' interviews
with several of the film makers, as well as his insightful discussions of the
histories which inform both the subject matter, tone, and perspectives, help to
foster more comprehensive interpretations of some of these familiar films. Above all, this book, insightful discussions
of the histories which inform both the subject matter, tone, and perspectives,
help to foster more comprehensive interpretations of some of these familiar
films. Above all, this book, indeed,
reveals the overwhelming presence of Hollywood in South Africa's cinema
culture. In general, In Darkest
Hollywood is also a commentary on the consumption of Hollywood and American
popular culture by many African national governments and their citizens.
Copyright (c) 1997
by H‑Net, all rights reserved.
This work may be copied for non‑profit educational use if proper
credit is given to the author and the
list. For other permission, please contact H‑Net@h‑net.msu.edu.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film might be
used to provide background information to the teacher using African film in the
classroom. The film could also be used
in film studies or communications courses.
EMITAI, 1971
101 minutes Diola
and French with English subtitles
Director: Ousmane
Sembene
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Purchase Price:
$175.00
Synopsis
Emitai is a historical
film set in the final days of WWII. The
film depicts a conflict between the French colonialists and the Diola ethnic
group of Senegal. It is the Diola women
who initiate the resistance.
Critique
“ ‘Film should be a
school of history,’ says Ousmane Sembene of Senegal, widely considered the
father of African cinema. ‘We have to
have the courage to say that in the colonial period we were sometimes colonized
with the help of our own leaders.’
Sembene made these
statements concrete with the 1971 premiere of Emitai, his visually rich
and complex drama set in the Diola
society of rural Senegal. Perhaps the
ideas struck too close to home. The
film was immediately banned in Senegal, indeed throughout Africa. Emitai tells the story of key incidents
that took place in French colonial Senegal during the Second World War. The film centers on attempts by the colonial
administration to impose a new rice tax in a Diola village and the resistance
that followed. The community becomes
divided over what strategy to take. The
traditional elders are backed into a corner and humiliated, while the village
women adopt new tactics and take strong action. In a series of startling and vivid scenes, visions of the gods
appear to the elders, while in another part of the village women rapidly
organize and hide the substantial rice crop.”
“Based on his own
screenplay, Emitai was Sembene’s third drama and the film that launched
his world reputation. But reaching an
international audience was not his aim.
Rather he wanted to communicate directly with the Diola society. he is proud that the villagers ‘were happy
to hear that there was a beautiful language for them.’ The film is not about the elders, or the
women, the act of resistance, the cruelty of the French or the leading
characters. It is all these at once,
touching on economics, social structure, religion and culture. The pace may be slow for those of us raised
on Hollywood action, but there is a richness of gesture and a symbolic language
that holds the attention of any audience.”
(Critique quoted
from a review by Peter Steven in New Internationalist, February 1996, p.
33.)
FOR FURTHER READING
Cham, Mbye. “Art and Ideology in the work of Ousmane
Sembene and Haile Gerima.” PresenceAfricaine
129.1 (1984): 79-91.
Ghali,
Noureddine. “An Interview with Sembene
Ousmane.”
Film and Politics in the ThirdWorld. Ed. John D.H.
Downing. Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 1987.
Peters,
Jonathan. “Aesthetics and Ideology in
African Film: Ousmane Sembene’s Emitai.”
African
Literature in Its Social and Political Dimensions. Eds. Eileen Julien, Mildred
Mortimer, and Curtis
Schade. Washington, DC: Three
Continents Press, 1986.
Vieyra, Paulin
Soumanou. “Five Major Films by Sembene
Ousmane.” Film and Politics in the
Third
World. Ed. John D.H. Downing. Brooklyn: Automedia, 1987.
IN THE CLASSROOM:
This film can be
used in college level African History, Anthropology, or Women’s Studies
courses.
FEMMES AUX YEUX
OUVERTS (Women with Open Eyes), 1994
52 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director: Anne-Laure
Folly
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price:
$195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
This film profiles
contemporary African women in four West African countries: Burkina Faso, Mali,
Senegal, and
Benin. We meet a woman active in the
movement against female genital mutilation, a
health care worker
educating women about sexually transmitted diseases, and business women who
describe how they
have set up an association to share expertise and provide mutual assistance.
Critique
“Femmes Aux Yeux
Ouverts
is visually quite stunning and makes economical use of its 52
minutes to cover
many aspects of the roles of African women.
Although it begins with a poem by a
Burkinaabe women and
in Burkina Faso, by the end of the film the viewer has also seen footage from
Mali, Senegal, and
Benin. It is organized thematically by
titles flashed on the screen. Most of
the
women speak French,
with English subtitles provided. The
subjects covered include female genital
mutilation (Burkina
Faso), forced marriage and lack of property rights (Burkina Faso), AIDS, the
struggle against
poverty (Senegal, Mali, Benin), and political participation for women (Benin,
Burkina Faso). The narration is multi-vocal, often from
activists involved in amelioration of various
aspects of women’s
situations. Although most of these
activities come from the elite, a non-
condescending view
of the situation of poor women is presented in many contexts; men are heard
from occasionally;
and the point is made firmly by a market woman that by discriminating against
women “man is
destroying himself.” The tone varies
from anger to dispassionate observation,
depending on the
speaker. Many of the women are
eminently quotable, and there is significant
footage from the
1991 revolution in Burkina Faso, along with an interview with a participant
whose
daughter was killed
in the women’s demonstration that was a key event. Also included is an
extended interview
with Mali’s first female governor (of Bamako), who does some of the narration.
The film therefore
has historical ramifications in several aspects, but ... it is an unintentional
historical document,
not a historical documentary.
(Review by Claire
Robertson. American Historical Review 101.4 (Oct 1996): 1142-1143.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in college level Anthropology, Sociology, and Women Studies classes.
.
FINYÈ (The Wind),
1982
100 minutes In
French and Bambara with English subtitles
Director: Souleymane
Cissé
Synopsis
This film depicts
the romance of two young students in Bamako, Mali: Bah and Batrou. Bah comes from a poor traditional family,
while Batrou’s father is the governor, a cruel man who strives to prevent his
daughter from building a relationship with Bah. The governor, Sangaré, tampers with Bah’s high school exams and
ensures his failure. This leads to
student demonstrations of protest.
Critique
“In 1980 in Mali,
the student protest movement was brutally suppressed by the military
regime.
The student demonstrations
in Finyé, sparked by the governor’s tampering with student test scores,
refers back to this historical reality.
Cisse juxtaposes the optimism of the students with the corruption and
violence of the military regime.
Although it is clear that the older generation has power, the film
suggests that it is the next generation who offers hope for the future.
The tension between
the traditional and the modern overwrites the generational conflict. Kansaye, Bah’s father, confronts the
governor and demands the release of his son.
Kansaye invokes the power of tradition and the power of the ancestors to
support him. The spirit of the
ancestors warn him: “Our sciences have left us, the divine forces have
abandoned us too; do as your own intuition and own initiative tell you.” Nanyse burns his traditional costume as an
act symbolic of his release form the binds of tradition. He joins the student movement and the two
generations join in a common struggle.
The film leaves us with a hopeful projection into Mali’s future.”
(Critique from Schissel, Howard. “Kicking Karate out of the Cinema.” New African September (1983): 43-44.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in African Studies, History, Political Science, or Post-colonial Studies
college courses.
FINZAN, 1989
107 minutes in
Bambara and French with English subtitles
Director: Cheik
Oumar Sissoko
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price:
$295.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
In Bambara, finzan
means “rebellion,” a most fitting title for this story of two women steadfastly
resisting tradition. After the death of
her husband, Nanyuma refuses to bow to traditional protocol by marrying her
brother-in-law. The younger Fili tries
to escape the ritual of female circumcision.
Sissoko deftly balances widely divergent points of view: the determined
struggle of some women, the obedient tolerance of others, and the bewilderment
of men lost in these times of transition.
The film subtly illustrates relations and conflicts between men and
women, women amongst themselves, and finally the small community and the
powerful state.
Critique
“Finzan is an impassioned
cry for the emancipation of African women.
It is one of the boldest examples of socially engaged filmmaking to come
out of Africa in recent years. Malian
director Cheick Oumar Sissoko has skillfully designed a film which raises the
most urgent issues of rural life in a style accessible to every villager. Finzan opens with graphic images of
birth and motherhood -- its pain, its tenderness, its strength. Finzan is about birth, African women
giving birth to their own freedom.
Director Cheick Sissoko extends the traditional meaning of finzan,
“a dance for the heroes,” by making a filmic tribute to African women.
At its most basic
level, Finzan is the story of a woman who says no, no to the men who try
to control her life. Nanyuma, a young
widow, resists when her brother-in-law, Bala, the village buffoon, claims his
traditional right to “inherit” her as his third wife. “Wife inheritance” is a common practice in
West Africa, retaining a widow and her children as the property of the
husband’s family. Nanyuma escapes to
her parents’ home where her mother shelters her but her father forces her to
leave. She flees to the city and finds
it no more enlightened; she is kidnapped and returned to the village. But a group of the local women support
Nanyuma’s rebellion, threatening the structure of male privilege in the
village.
A parallel story
focuses on one of the most controversial issues in Africa -- clitoridectomy
also called “female circumcision” or “excision.” While health workers warn of the dangers of fatal infection,
hemorrhaging and infertility, local tradition holds that circumcision
discourages extramarital sex by attenuating women’s sexual drives. Fili is a young city woman sent to Nanyuma’s
village by her conservative father to “protect” her from urban vices. When the villagers discover she is not
circumcised, they insist on performing the ritual, even though Fili’s mother
bled to death in childbirth and her doctor has advised against the
operation. Fili’s “difference”
threatens the sexual identities of the villagers, especially the women, who
attack her brutally.
Finzan presents a complex
view of tradition. Sissoko shows that
it can empower the villagers to rebel against the businessmen and corrupt
district commissioner who try to force them to sell their millet at a low
price. In Africa it is common for
speculators to stockpile grain to resell to villagers at exorbitant prices in
time of drought or famine. On the other
hand, defending the tradition of male privilege represents a futile “return to
the sources,” a loyalty that weakens and divides rather than unites
society. The film’s final images show
the village’s fragmentation. Fili is
rushed to the hospital and an unknown fate; Nanyuma and her children flee to a life
of exile.
In contrast to the
films of some Western ethnographic film makers, Sissoko does not romanticize
the process of change. He shows it as a
violent rupture like birth itself. For
Sissoko the modernization of African cannot be partial, limited to one sex or
one class; it must involve the total emancipation of society.”
(Critique quoted
from Manthia Diawara’s article “Finzan: A Dance for the Heroes.” California Newsreel Library of African Cinema 1995-96 Catalogue, pp. 7-9.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
Finzan can be used for
studying Rural Sociology, Anthropology Women in Development, African Studies,
and Cinema Studies. It may be useful for all Sociology classes.
LE FRANC, 1994
45 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director: Djibril
Diop Mambety
Distributor: California Newsreel
Purchase Price: $195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
Djibril Diop Mambety
has already produced two feature-length masterpieces of African storytelling, Hyenas
and Touki Bouki. Now in Le Franc, he begins a trilogy of
short films, Tales of Little People, whom he describes as,
"the only truly consistent, unaffected people in the world, for whom every
morning brings the same question: how to preserve what is essential to
themselves."
Critique
“Mambety uses the
French government's 50% devaluation of the West African Franc (CFA) in 1994 as
the basis for a whimsical yet trenchant parable of life in today's Africa. For
the millions of people impoverished by this devaluation, the national lotteries
became the only hope for salvation. Mambety symbolizes the global economy as a
game of chance, which the poor are compelled to play, though the odds are
heavily stacked against them.
The hero of this
tale (and perhaps Mambety's alter ego) is Marigo, a penniless musician living
in a shanty town, relentlessly harassed by his formidable landlady. He survives
only through dreams of playing his congoma (a kind of guitar) which has been
confiscated in lieu of back rent.
At the end of his
luck, he buys a lottery ticket from the dwarf Kus, the god of fortune, and
glues it to the back of his door under a poster of his hero, Yaadikoone, a
legendary Senegalese Robin Hood. When he wins, Marigo begins a harrowing
odyssey across a Dakar of trash heaps, dilapidated buildings and chaotic
traffic. Stumbling along under the unwieldy door, he seems to carry the burdens
of an absurd world on his shoulders. Played with slapstick gusto by the gangly,
rubber-legged Dieye Ma Dieye, Marigo is both comic and poignant, a Senegalese
Charlie Chaplin.
Marigo is told the
ticket has to be removed from the door so he carries it down to the shore so
the waves can wash it off. He is, of course, swamped in the surf and loses the
ticket, only to discover it pasted to his forehead. In the last shot, Marigo is
seen exulting on a barren rock, as the breakers which opened the film continue
to crash around him. We, the viewers, are left to decide if he is a symbol of
hope or its ultimate futility.”
(Critique quoted
from California Newsreel’s Online Catalogue.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film could be
used in college level literature, History, Political Science, or Film Studies
courses.
GUELWAAR, 1993
115 minutes in Wolof
and French with English subtitles
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Synopsis
Guelwaar is a trenchant comic
portrait of contemporary Africa. The
story revolves around the mysterious death and disappearance after death of
Pierre Henri Thioune-Guelwaar, a political activist, philandering patriarch, and
pillar of the local Christian community.
Critique
To the horror of his
fellow Christians, it is discovered that the body of Pierre Henri Thioune,
called Guelwaar, the Noble One, was misidentified and mistakenly buried in a
Muslin cemetery. This sets off a
tempest of bureaucratic red tape, family
conflicts, and religious factionalism, culminating in a tense standoff at the
disputed grave site.
Sembene is a master
storyteller. This film demonstrates his
mastery of free-flowing, digressive, richly variegated structures. It is many films in one: comedy, political
allegory, social satire, family drama, and, at the end, thunderous indictment
of the twin evils of homegrown African corruption and neocolonial Western aid.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in college level courses that consider international development and
contemporary African politics.
HARVEST: 3,000
YEARS, 1975
138 minutes in
Amharic with English subtitles
Director: Haile
Gerima
Distributor: Mypheduh Films
Purchase Price: $34.99
Synopsis
This film is a
dramatization of a peasant family’s struggle for survival on the farm of a
wealthy landowner in Ethiopia.
Critique
In its depiction of
Ethiopian peasant life and the struggle to survive, Harvest: 3,000 Years is
unique and excellent. The use of a
fictionalized, ethnographic style allows the audience to become involved with
the family portrayed and to understand their needs and aspirations. Though the filmmaker espouses a specific
political viewpoint, this viewpoint does not measurably affect the accuracy of
the lifestyle presented. The
photography combines with a slowly paced editing style to reflect the centuries
of long struggle expressed by the title.
Some background information may be necessary for certain audiences.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in anthropology, history, political science, sociology, and film studies
courses. The film should be preceded or
followed by background of Ethiopia on land tenure and social sciences.
KEITA: THE HERITAGE OF THE GRIOT , 1995
94 minutes in Jula
and French with English subtitles
Director: Dani
Kouyati
Distributor: California Newsreel
Purchase Price: $195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
Keita creates a
unique world where the West Africa of the 13th Century Sundjata Epic and the
West Africa of today co-exist and interpenetrate.
Critique
“Director Dani
Kouyati frames his dramatization of the epic within a contemporary boy from
Burkina Faso, learning the history of his family. During the film, Mabo and his
distant ancestor, Sundjata, engage in parallel quests to understand their
destinies, to "know the meaning of their names." In so doing, Keota
makes the case for an "Afrocentric" education, where African
tradition, not an imported Western curricula is the necessary starting point
for African development.
Both ancient and
modern storylines are initiated by the mysterious appearance of a hunter, a
passerby representing destiny who intervenes at strategic moments to propel
Sundjata and Mabo on their journeys. The hunter both foretells the birth of
Sundjata to the Mandi court and, eight centuries later, rouses Djiliba (or
Great Griot) Kouyati to go to the city and initiate young Mabo into the secrets
of his origin. The Kouyatis have always served as the Keotas' griots, bards
(jeli) belonging to a discrete Mandi caste or endogamous occupational group,
who alone perform certain types of poetry and divination.
The griot's arrival
creates tension in the Keota household especially between Mabo and his mother
and his school-teacher, who stand for a Westernized lifestyle ignorant of
African tradition. Mabo becomes so caught up in the griot's story that he stops
studying for exams, day-dreams in class and eventually skips school to tell the
story to other boys.
The film pointedly
contrasts the moral depth of the griot's teachings with the sterile, culturally
irrelevant facts which constitute Mabo's "Eurocentric" education. For
example, the griot first comes upon Mabo while he is studying the Western "creation
myth," Darwin's theory of evolution, of a universe ruled only by chance
and the "survival of the fittest." In contrast, Mandi myth holds that
human history is suffused with purpose and that every person has a particular
destiny within it. By listening to The Sundjata Epic present-day Mandi
listeners like Mabo can perceive the working out of destiny in history and see
their own lives as part of a continuing narrative flow.
The Sundjata Epic,
which Mabo hears recounts the life of Sundjata Keota (sometimes spelled
Sundiata or Son-Jara Keyta,) the man responsible for turning his nation into
the great Malian trading empire. Set in the early 13th century, the epic
provides the wide-spread Mandi people a legend explaining their common origin
and subsequent division into castes or clan families. An oral recitation of the
complete poem with musical accompaniment can last close to sixty hours. But,
this film, like most performances, recounts only a part of the epic, here the
events surrounding the birth, boyhood and exile of Sundjata. (This corresponds
to lines 356 to 1647 in the standard translation, Johnson, John William. The
Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition, Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1992.)
Sundjata's quest,
like Mabo's, requires the successful reconciliation or integration of two types
of power represented by his paternal and maternal lineages. His father, Maghan
Kon Fatta Konati a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, has brought barika or
law and progress to human society. In contrast, Sundjata's mother, Sogolon, and
his grandmother, the Buffalo Woman of Do, rely on pre-Islamic occult powers or
nyama. Their potentially disruptive effect on human civilization is symbolized
by their habit of turning into ferocious animal "doubles."
Sundjata himself,
hexed at birth by his mother's co-wife, must crawl across the earth, scorned as
a "reptile." A Mandi proverb explains: "The great tree must
first push its roots deep into the earth." When the climactic moment
arrives for Sundjata to walk erect like a man, he tries to lift himself up with
a seven-forged iron rod, symbolizing man-made technology. Even this cracks
beneath his strength, so the hunter reappears and instructs Sogolon to fetch a
supple branch of the sun tree which has the nyama to hold Sundjata's weight.
Thus, the hero must harness natural and supernatural powers to fulfill his
heroic destiny.
In the film's final
scene, the griot disappears and for the first time Mabo directly confronts the
hunter; after hearing the epic, he is finally in touch with his destiny. At
this point, the stories of the two Keotas intersect; history and legend, event
and destiny have been brought into alignment. Indeed, in making this film, Dani
Kouyati (who shares the name of the griot) succeeds in fulfilling the "meaning
of his name." He has used a quintessentially 20th century invention,
motion pictures, to insure that The Sundjata Epic is passed on as an inspiring
force in the lives of young Africans everywhere.”
(Critique quoted
from California Newsreel’s Online Catalogue.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in African literature and African history courses at all levels.
LA VIE EST BELLE
(Life is Rosy), 1986
85 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director: Ngangura
Mweze and Benoit Lamy
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price:
$59.95
Synopsis
La Ville Est Belle tells the story of
a poor rural musician who realizes that to succeed in today’s commercial music
world he must go to the city and break into radio and television. In Kinshasa he uses his wit and talent to
win a beautiful wife, trick his greedy boss, and succeed in singing his “theme
song” on national television.
Critique
“To many people in
Africa and around the world, Zaire is synonymous with contemporary Africa music
at its best. Musical legends like
Franco, Tabu Ley, Papa Wemba, Tahala Muana and Mbila Bel have successfully
blended traditional forms with Western instruments and technology to create the
most influential music in Africa. Kinshasha,
the sprawling capital of over 4 million people, can claim to be the capital of
African music. La Vie Est Belle, the
first major feature form Zaire, capitalizes on the vibrant Congolese musical
scene and one of its real superstars, Papa Wemba, Le Roi de la SAPE. (SAPE stands for Société des Ambianceurs et
des Personnes Élégantes, the Society of Good-timers and Fashionabel
Folk). But the Congo is also
known as a country with unparalleled experience of colonial brutality at the
hands of Belgium and of neo-colonial suffering under one of Africa’s most
ruthless autocrats, Mobutu Sese Soko.
Richly endowed with mineral, agricultural and other natural resources,
the Congo has potentially one of the strongest economies in Africa. Yet the majority of Congolese live in abject
poverty.
This inheritance of
oppression has given birth to a post-colonial urban culture rooted in
survival. Individual resourcefulness,
wit and daring provide the only chance for self-advancement in the face of an
all-powerful state and chaotic urban life.
Zairians have appropriated the French slang term. Systeme-D or debrouillez-vous
(“fend/hustle for yourself.”) La Vie Est Belle is a joyous hymn to
debrouillardise Congolese style.
The film borrows
from traditional Congolese farce the figure of the charming trickster, the
defenseless less ingenue, the neglected wife and the gullible husband to
explore the cruelties and joys of life in Kinshasa. Kuru (Pap Wemba) uses an elaborate series of deceptions to win a
young woman, Kabibi, back from his boss Nvuandu, and to achieve his dream
of “playing electric” in his boss’
club. Kabibi tricks her “husband”
Nvuandu into helping her lover Kuru start his band. Mamu, Nvuandu’s first wife, helps match up Kuru with her rival
Kabibi to win back her husband.
Diviners play a key
role in the film - though it’s never clear whether through supernatural agency
or human gullibility. With the odds
against them, the Congolese have a passionate faith in the power of the occult to
improve their chances. The diviner’s
remedy for Nvuandu’s impotence (that he must marry a virgin but not have sex
with her for thirty days) is the linchpin for the whole comedy. The diviner symbolizes the successful union
of traditional village values with the new urban setting. At the film’s triumphal climax, Kabibi, the
diviner and the traditional dancers join Kuru and his modern band on stage in
front of live television cameras.
La Vie Est Belle can be enjoyed as
comedy but must be questioned as social commentary. For example, the film perpetuates harmful stereotypes of African
women. Kabibi exists only as a pretty
reproductive apparatus for Nvuandu and a fantasy object for Kuru. The film ridicules Mamu’s women’s
association or sorority, the Mazic, as a coven of loose liberated women. Mamu, who seems to have the entrepreneurial
skill to be independent, returns in the end to being Nvandu’s obedient wife.
We can also ask in
what sense La Vie Est Belle is an African film. At the insistence of the funders, the film
was co-directed by a Belgian, Benoit Lamy.
But it was scripted and co-directed by a Congolese, Ngangura Mweze who
had previously directed a highly acclaimed documentary on Kinshasa, Kin
Kiesse. Does this explain why the
film’s plot seems patterned after a French farce or a 40s “screwball comedy”?
Does the film
reproduce in African dress the same old “rags to riches” myth so long
propagated by Hollywood films? Does it
try to persuade people they can make it through native talent and street smarts
rather than fundamental changes in the social system? Is this just escapism and wish fulfillment Zairian style? But we can also ask if this makes La Vie
Est Belle any less an African film?
After all, it was immensely popular with African audiences. Perhaps La Vie Est Belle is - for
better and worse - an example of an indigenous African commercial cinema.”
(Critique quoted
from an article by Mbye Cham, Professor of African Literature and Cinema at
Howard University titled “La Vie Est Belle: “Getting Over” Zairian
Style.” California Newsreel’s
Library of African Cinema. 1995-96
Catalog.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
La Vie Est Belle can be used in
African Studies, Ethnomusicology, Popular Culture, and Cinema Studies courses.
LUMUMBA: LA MORT DU
PROPHETE (Lumumba: Death of a Prophet
), 1992
69 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director: Raoul Peck
Distributor: California Newsreel
Purchase Price: $195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
This film reviews
the life of Patrice Lumumba, first president of Zaire (now Democratic Republic
of
The Congo).
Critique
Lumumba: la mort du
Prophete
offers a unique opportunity to reconsider the life and legacy of one of
the legendary
figures of modern African history. Like Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba is
remembered
less for his lasting
achievements than as an enduring symbol of the struggle for self-determination.
This deeply personal
reflection on the events of Lumumba's brief twelve month rise and fall is
a
moving memorial to a
man described as a giant, a prophet, a devil, "a mystic of freedom,"
and "the
Elvis Presley of
African politics." If Lumumba is a film about remembering, it is
even more a film
about forgetting. It
is not so much a conventional biography as a study of how Lumumba's
legacy has been manipulated by politicians, the media and time itself. Haitian
filmmaker Raoul Peck meditates on his own memories as the privileged son of an
agricultural expert working for the regime which displaced Lumumba. He
examines home movies, photographs, old newsreels and contemporary interviews
with Belgian journalists and Lumumba's own daughter to try to piece together
the tragic events and betrayals of 1960.
A film essay in the
tradition of Night and Fog or The Sorrow and the Pity, Lumumba explores how any
image inevitably represses the multiple stories surrounding it, how the past a
preserved by the media is always in a sense the hostage of history's winners.
Therefore present-day Europe figures as prominently in Lumumba as the
Congo in 1960, because Europe was the unseen hand behind the camera and the
events leading to Lumumba's assassination. Peck presents an unfamiliar Europe
seen through the eyes of a visitor from the Third World - cold, affluent, a
guilty present trying to forget its past. Yet, as this film testifies,
Lumumba's prophecy will not be silenced until Africa achieves its second
independence where the promises of the first can be fulfilled.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film is
suitable for college level African Studies, African Politics,
and African History
courses.
MONDAY’S GIRLS, 1993
49 minutes in
Waikiriki and English with English subtitles
Director: Ngozi
Onwurah
Distributors: California Newsreel
Women Make Movies
Purchase Price: $195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
Monday’s Girls
explores the conflict between modern individualism and traditional communities
in
today’s Africa
through the eyes of two young Waikiriki women from the Niger Delta. Although both come from leading families in
the same town, Florence looks at the iria initiation ceremony as an honor, while Azikiwe, who has lived in
the city for ten years, sees it as an indignity.
Critique
“Monday's Girls
explores the conflict between modern individualism and traditional communities
in today's Africa through the eyes of two young Waikiriki women from the Niger
delta. Although both come from leading families in the same large island town,
Florence looks at the iria women's initiation ceremony as an honor, while
Azikiwe, who has lived in the city for ten years, sees it as an indignity.
Ngozi Onwurah, director of such feminist classics as Coffee Coloured Children
and Body Beautiful, herself an Anglo-Nigerian, turns a wry but sympathetic eye
on the cross-cultural confusions.
The five week long
iria ritual is overseen by post-menopausal women headed by the redoubtable
Monday Moses (hence the title.) The girls are paraded bare-breasted before the entire
community so their nipples can be examined to determine whether they are still
virgins. They are then confined to the "fattening rooms," their legs
immobilized in copper impala rings, where they are pampered and fed. Finally,
the girls, now women, are presented to society, wearing yards of fabric around
their waists indicating each family's wealth - and suggesting pregnancy.
The film traces the
girls' contrasting responses to each stage of the ritual. Florence, who is
Monday's granddaughter, comments at the end of the ceremony, "I'm not fat,
but I am grown up now," but even she decides to postpone marriage until she
completes her education. Azikiwe refuses to bare her breasts and, as a result,
her father is fined by the outraged villagers and she is sent back to the city
in disgrace. She concludes: "There are some traditions people should
forget." Monday's Girls
calls into question the idea of a single, "ethnographically correct"
representation of tradition. Rituals are revealed as fluid, polysemous texts,
social contracts continuously renegotiated between individuals and communities.
For millions of Africans like Azikiwe, tradition is increasingly seen as a
matter of individual choice not social coercion.”
(Critique quoted
from California Newsreel’s Online Catalogue.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in College Level Women’s Studies, Anthropology, and African Studies
courses.
OUAGA, 1988
52 minutes
Directors: Kwate Nee-Owoo and Kwesu Owusu
Distributor: African Diaspora Images
Rental Price: $50.00
Synopsis
This is a
documentary film on contemporary African cinema. It features interviews of several African filmmakers and strives
to introduce the New African Cinema to Western audiences. The two African directors explore the
fascinating and distinctive work of African filmmakers, particularly their use
of traditional culture as the basis for their emerging new film language. Leading filmmakers discuss issues of
production, distribution and exhibition as well as the social and political
impetus behind their work.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film is suited
for Cinema Studies or African film courses.
QUARTIER MOZART,
1992
80 minutes in French
with English subtitles
Director:
Jean-Pierre Bekolo
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price: $195.00
Rental price: $95.00
Synopsis
Quartier Mozart is the story of 48
hours in the life of a working class neighborhood in Yaounde. It recounts the
not very sentimental education of a young schoolgirl, Queen of the 'Hood, whom
a local sorceress helps enter a young man's body so she can see for herself the
real "sexual politics" of the quarter.
Critique
“Twenty-six year old
Jean-Pierre Bekolo's startlingly original film, Quartier Mozart, will
remind viewers of other breakthrough "youth" films like Spike Lee's She's
Gotta Have It or Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise. Trained in
television and music video, Bekolo reveals a sensibility which effortlessly
crosses MTV with African folklore and which has delighted festival audiences
around the world. He has written: "I've tried to make a popular film where
people can see themselves and be amused. African cinema won't have a future if
it does not reach an African public." Quartier Mozart is the story
of 48 hours in the life of a working class neighborhood in Yaounde. It recounts
the not very sentimental education of a young schoolgirl, Queen of the 'Hood,
whom a local sorceress helps enter a young man's body so she can see for
herself the real "sexual politics" of the quarter. Quartier Mozart
is an affectionate celebration of African youth and the vibrant cultural
pastiche it is continually inventing.”
(Quoted from
California Newsreel’s Online Catalogue)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film might be
used in college level Film studies, Women’s Studies, or African Film courses.
SAMBIZANGA, 1972
102 minutes in
Portuguese with English subtitles
Director: Sarah
Maldoror
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Rental Price: $175.00
Synopsis
This film is a
dramatization of one family’s role in the Angolan struggle for independence,
Domingos Xavier is
arrested for his involvement in the liberation struggle. The film chronicles the
search undertaken by
Xavier’s wife Maria.
Critique
Sambizanga is a fine film
suitable for general audiences using high quality filmic techniques to
present a simple
story. The early scenes of Xavier and
his family at home, seemingly removed
from the oppression
of the Portuguese and the risks of the liberation struggle, are moving and
provide a striking
contrast to the rest of the film.
However, Sambizanga is also a unique document
of the day- to-day
existence of a family in Angola during this period. Maria’s journey in search of
her husband is also
a journey for the audience. She begins
in total ignorance of her husband’s role
in the liberation
struggle and so do we. Though lacking
in factual material, Sambizanga presents
the network of the
struggle which goes beyond the color line and includes a varied representation
of the
Angolan
population. This film is particularly
useful when used with films produced later in the
struggle to show the
beginnings of the movement which led to armed struggle.
This is one of the
few African films made by an African woman and which includes women’s
themes.
IN THE CLASSROOM
Sambizanga can be
used in social science, international politics, history, and women’s studies
courses. A factual introduction to the liberation
struggle in Angola should be provided before
showing the film in
the classroom.
SANKOFA, 1993
125 minutes in
English
Director: Haile Gerima
Distributor: Mypheduh Films
Purchase Price: $39.99
Synopsis
Sankofa is an Akan(Ghana)
word that means, "We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move
forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today."
Written, directed and produced by Ethiopian-born filmmaker Haile Gerima, Sankofa
is a powerful film about Maafa-the African holocaust.
Critique
“Done from an
African/African-American perspective, this story is a vastly different one from
the generally distorted representations of African people that Hollywood gives
us. This revolutionary feature film connects enslaved black people with their
African past and culture. It empowers
Black people on the screen by showing how African peoples desire for freedom
made them resist, fight back, and conspire against their enslavers, overseers
and collective past through the vision on Mona, who visits her ancestral
experience on a new world plantation as Shola. We share the life she endures as
a slave and experiences her growing consciousness and transformation. “
(Critique quoted
from Mypheduh Online Catalogue.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in upper level History and African American History classrooms.
SELBE ET TANT DES
AUTRES, 1982
33 minutes with
English voice-over
Director: Safi Faye
Distributor: Women
Make Movies
Synopsis
This is a
documentary film about Selbe, a village woman from Senegal. The film details her life, her work, and her family as well as the
social structure and customs of the village.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film would work
well in college level Women’s Studies or Anthropology classrooms.
THESE HANDS, 1992
45 minutes in
Swahili and Kimakonde with English subtitles
Director: Flora
M’mbugu-Schelling
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price:
$195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Synopsis
In These Hands,
the camera acts as a compassionate witness to a day in the life of Mozambican
women refugees
working in a quarry outside Dar es Salaam - the relentless toil, the tender
care, the
nostalgic songs and
joyous dancing at day’s end. We slowly
come to recognize that these women
are, in fact, parts
of a giant machine, not just the quarry but the international economic system
as a
whole.
Critique
“Who would have
suspected that a 45 minute documentary about women crushing rocks, without
narration or plot,
would offer one of the most unforgettable and rewarding experiences of recent
African cinema?
Flora M'mbugu-Schelling's quiet tribute to women at the very bottom of the
international
economic order ultimately deepens into a mediation on human labor itself. These
Hands
will stimulate
viewers to rethink documentary and to question their own role as consumers in a
global economy.
Director Flora
M'mbugu-Schelling has explained why she refused to interpret or romanticize
these
women's story, to
reduce them to a simple political pose or anthropological point. "Certain
things
you can say with
words and certain things you cannot find words for...The time has passed when
we
can use the classic
documentary style. I don't want to offend my audience by telling them what they
should see or
feel." It is precisely this refusal of premature closure that makes
viewers so much more
aware of their
relationship to the film and its protagonists.
In These Hands,
the camera acts as a compassionate witness to a day in the life of Mozambican
women refugees
working in a quarry outside Dar es Salaam - the relentless toil, the tender
childcare,
the nostalgic songs
and joyous dancing at day's end. We slowly come to recognize that these women
are, in fact, parts
of a giant machine, not just the quarry but the international economic system
as a
whole. The rocks,
the women, the scarred landscape, are being constantly ground into the common
currency of
industrial civilization. As the film unspools, we, the viewers, look on
powerless and
complicit, realizing
we too are enmeshed in this global mechanism of social, economic and
ideological
reproduction. “
(Critique quoted
from California Newsreel’s on-line catalogue at http://www.newsreel.org.)
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film is best
suited for college level courses in Film, Women’s, and African Studies, or
Anthropology.
TOUKI BOUKI (The
Journey of the Hyena), 1973
85 minutes in Wolof
with English subtitles
Director: Djibril
diop Mambety
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price: $195.00
Rental Price: $95.00
Critique
“Touki Bouki
opens with a mesmerizing shot of a boy leading a herd of prized white cattle to
market. These
symbols of Africa's promise and traditions are slaughtered in a sordid abattoir
to
feed the insatiable
appetite of Dakar's modern consumer society. As the boy returns to the
country,he passes
Mory, the film's hero (or anti-hero) riding to the city and a similar fate on a
motorcycle with
cattle horns mounted on its handlebars.
Mory and his
girlfriend, Anta, are African cousins of the outlaw couples in Bonnie and Clyde
and
Pierrot le Fou. Like
these New Wave heroes, they are alienated from their society but can imagine
freedom only in the
glittering images of the mass media. They lead us on an exhilarating,
picaresque adventure
through a cross-section of Dakar society in a desperate search for the money
to escape to Paris.
Just as their ship is about to sail, Mory, realizing perhaps that France is
itself an
illusion, darts from
the ship leaving Anta to her fate. He is left facing a sea glistening with
possibility but no
way to cross it.
The theme Touki
Bouki introduced in 1973, the search for authentic values in a "modernizing"
Africa, has
preoccupied many African directors. For example, could the deranged, mystical
motorcyclist in
fellow Senegalese Amadou Seck's film Saaraba, which means Saaraba and
Utopia
in Wolof, represent
Mory and Senegal, only twenty years older? Both Saaraba and Touki
Bouki
argue that a better
life for Africans must be built in Africa not France; that the only sea that
needs
to be crossed is
one's own imagination.
(Critique by Manthia
Diawara, New York University and quoted from California Newsreel’s online
catalogue.)
WARRIOR MARKS, 1993
54 minutes in
English
Director: Pratibha
Parmar (with Alice Walker)
Distributor:
Cinenova
Purchase Price:
$295.00
Synopsis
Warrior Marks is a film about
female genital mutilation from the director of A Place of Rage,
presented by
the Pulitzer Prize
winning author of The Color Purple. It attempts to discuss some of the
cultural and
political
complexities surrounding the issue.
Interviews with women from Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso,
the United States
and England who are concerned with and affected by genital mutilation are
intercut with
Walker’s own
personal reflections on the subject.
The film has attracted both positive and negative
responses.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film can be
used in Women’s Studies and African Studies classes.
WEND KUUNI (God’s
Gift), 1982
70 minutes in Moré
with English subtitles
Director: Gaston
Kaboré
Distributor:
California Newsreel
Purchase Price:
$150.00
Renal Price: $95.00
Synopsis
In Wend Kuuni Gaston
Kaboré incorporates oral storytelling qualities as he details the story of a
child who is
traumatized by the death of his mother and adopted by a warm family. The film takes
the audience to the
period before colonialism.
Critique
“The story is set in
pre-colonial times in the Mossi empire of the 15th century. While the story
seems very simple,
it deals with issues that are still important.
The movie begins with a scene
where a woman is
mourning because her husband has disappeared.
She does not know if he is
dead, but he has
been gone for so long that the village community is pressing her to marry
another
man. Viewers don’t know when this scene is
happening, today or hundreds of years ago.
But she
decides to run away
with her son, because she does not want to marry somebody else.
The action then
shifts and we see a traveler finding a child lying in the bush, nearly dead
from
thirst. When the traveler revives the boy, he asks
him where he came from. But the child
cannot
speak, even though
he hears what the traveler is saying and understands him. The man leaves the
child with some
villagers. These people can’t locate
the child’s relations and let a family with just
one child adopt
him. They give the child the name Wend
Kuuni, which means God’s gift. After a
few years a family
quarrel causes such a scandal in the village that the man whose wife does not
want him hangs
himself. Wend finds the body, and he is
shocked into speaking again. Then the
daughter of the
family, Poguere (Rosine Yanago), who is very fond of Wend, asks him to tell her
where he came
from. It is then that viewers see what
happened to the mother shown at the
beginning of the
movie. We see her and her child being
chased from her village for being a
“witch.” After running as far as she can, she
collapses from exhaustion and dies while her child is
sleeping. When he wakes up, he sees that she is
dead. He runs away from his mother’s
body,
collapses, and is
found by the traveler.
A strong message in Wend
Kuuni is that life before colonization was not perfect for everybody.
Many scenes in the
movie make traditional life look democratic, but it also shows that people were
hardly equal at all. Women have no power and even girls like
Poguere are punished more often
and more severely
than boys. Perhaps Wend Kuuni shows
that people today need to remember
traditions, but that
with democracy news traditions have to be negotiated.”
(Critique by Keyan
Tomaselli, Centre for Media and Cultural Studies, University of Natal,
Durban.)
FOR FURTHER READING
Diawara,
Manthia. “Oral Literatures and African
Film: Narratology in Wend Kuuni.” Questions
of Third Cinema. Eds. Jim Pines and
Paul Willeman. London: British Film
Institute, 1989.
IN THE CLASSROOM
Wend Kunni can be used in
African Studies, Ethnology, Anthropology, and Cinema Studies
classes. The film is
appropriate for all levels of instruction.
YAABA, 1989
90 minutes with
English subtitles
Director: Idrissa
Ouedraogo
Distributor: New
Yorker Films
Synopsis
This feature film is
a haunting tale of a young boy who strikes up a friendship with an old woman
who has been shunned
as a witch by her community. The boy
demonstrates his affection for the old
woman by calling her
“Yaaba,” which means grandmother.
IN THE CLASSROOM
This film is
appropriate for all levels of instruction and can be used in African Studies
courses.
YEELEN, 1987
105 minutes with
English subtitles
Director: Souleymane
Cissé
Distributors: California Newsreel
Purchase price:
$350.00
Synopsis
Yeelen is an innovative
adaptation of the oral traditions on the Bambara people of Mali. The film
tells the story of
Nianankoro, a young warrior destined to destroy a corrupt older society.
Critique
“Yeelen explores the
primordial conflict between old and new, between father and son, which cannot
help but remind
Western viewers of the Oedipus myth. In
order to maintain the status quo, Somo
Diarra, the father,
must prevent his son, Nianankoro, from learning the secrets of the feared Komo
cult. The elders of the Bambara villages even now
join this priestly caste which monopolizes
knowledge of
medicine, hunting and the occult.
Nianankoro must find
the wing of Kore, a long wooden scepter symbolizing knowledge, which alone
can destroy
Komo. His mother gives him a missing
piece of the wing and tells him to flee the
Bambara land and find
his father’s identical twin, the blind prophet, Djigui, (played by the same
actor) who will give
him the rest of the wing.
Nianankoro’s mother
offers milk to the goddess of water, the mother of life, to protect him during
his journey.
Along the way, Nianankoro kills his other uncle, Baafing, who tries to
stop him. He
crosses the land of
the Peul or Fulani where the king gives him a wife, Attou, who will bear
Nianankoro a son.
After traveling 500
miles, Nianankoro finds Djigui in the mountains of the land of the Dogon. His
uncle tells him of a
dream which accuses the Komo of using its knowledge for power rather than to
advance
science. As a result, Djigui predicts
their descendants will become slaves who will regain
their freed freedom
only after many years.
Meanwhile, in a
forest, Somo Diarra and the rest of the rest of Komo practice their secret
ritual and
decide to destroy
Nianankoro before he finds the key to their destruction. His father
tracks
Nianankoro with the
pestle (or post) of the Komo, traditionally used by the Bambara to find lost
objects, including
thieves. In a final showdown,
Nianankoro and his father, armed with the wing of
Kore and the pestle,
not only destroy each other but scorch the Earth. Attou and Nianankoro’s son
survive to start a
new civilization; destruction gives birth to a cleansed society.
Like all of Cissé’s
films Yeelen ends as it begins.
The globe of the sun rises on a day and a child
finds his way into
the world. This reflects the Bambara’s
sense of time as circular not linear.
In
the West, clock time
proceeds inexorably forward towards an undefined future. Bambara time
starts and stops,
moves at different speeds for different people, ultimately to reencounter its
own
beginning. In Cissé’s African vision of science fiction
the future lies inevitably in the past.
The flash of light,
of unmediated brightness, which ends the film destroys image, language,
narrative, the
overweening pride of human knowledge.
It brings us face to face with the Big Bang
of our own
creation. Past and future are reunited;
only we in the present must remember and
search.”
(Critique quoted
from Manthia Diawara’s article “Seeing Brightness.” California Newsreel
Catalogue. 1995-96.)
FOR FURTHER READING
Sherzer, Dina,
ed. Cinema, Colonialism,
Postcolonialism. Austin:University of Texas Press, 1996.
IN THE CLASSROOM
Yeelen can be used in World
Civilization, Comparative Literature, Folklore, African Studies,
Anthropology, and
Ethnology classes.
C. Distributor Information
African Diaspora
Images
P.O. Box 3517
Brooklyn, NY 11202
Tel.: (718)-852-8353
California Newsreel
149 Ninth Street/420
San Francisco, CA
94103
Fax: 415/621-6522
E-mail:
newsreel@ix.netcom.com
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Newsreel
lac.html
Cinenova
113 Roman Road
London E2 OHU, UK
Tel: (44 181) 981
6828/Fax: (44 181) 983 4441
Facets Multimedia,
Inc.
1517 West Fullerton
Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614
Macmillan Films
34 MacQuestion
Parkway South
Mount Vernon, NY
10550
Tel.: (914)664-5051
Mypheduh Films
P.O. Box 10035
Washington, D.C.
20018-0035
Tel: 202-289-6677/
Fax: 202-289-4477
1-800-524-3895
(outside Metro D.C. area)
http://shops.net/shops/sankofa/item-1.html
New Yorker Films
16 West 61st Street,
New York, NY 10023
Tel.: (212)-247-6110
Villon Films
77 W. 28 Avenue
Vancouver, BC Canada
Tel./Fax: (604)879-6042
Women Make Movies
462 Broadway, Suite
500D
New York, NY
10013
Tel.: (212)-925-0606
E-mail:
disdept@wmm.com
D. APPENDICES - Africa On-Line
A list of electronic
discussion groups and web sites devoted to the study of African film and
related
areas of interest.
I. Electronic Discussion Groups
a. H-NET Lists
(1) H-AFRICA
H-AFRICA is an
international electronic discussion group sponsored by H-Net
(Humanities-On-Line) to provide a forum for discussing African history.
Subscribers to
H-AFRICA automatically receive messages in their computer mailboxes. These
messages can be saved,
deleted, copied, printed out, or forwarded to someone else. It is, in some
ways, like a free,
daily newsletter. H-AFRICA might also be compared to an ongoing, moderated
"roundtable"
discussion with participants who happen to be all over the world.
H-AFRICA emphasizes
both the study and teaching of the African past, including a variety of
disciplines and
approaches to the history of the entire continent. We expect informed
discussions of
teaching and
research at all levels of interest and complexity.
H-AFRICA EDITORS
H-AFRICA is
co-edited by Mel Page of East Tennessee State University, Harold Marcus of
Michigan State
University, Peter Limb of University of Western Australia, and Tim Carmichael
of
Michigan State
University, who may be reached at:
Mel Page
africa@etsuarts.etsu-tn.edu
History Department,
East Tennessee State Univ.
P.O. Box 70672
Johnson City,
TN 37614
phone: 423-439-6802/fax: 423-439-5373
Harold Marcus
ethiopia@hs1.hst.msu.edu
History Department
Michigan State
University
East Lansing, MI
48824
phone: 517-353-8821/ fax: 517-349-8267
Peter Limb
plimb@library.uwa.edu.au
University of
Western Australia
Nedlands 6907, W.A.
Australia
phone: +61 9 380 2348/fax: +61 9 380 1012
Tim Carmichael
History Department
Michigan State
University
East Lansing,
MI 48824
phone: 517-355-9300/fax: 517-355-8363
H-AFRICA also has an
editorial board broadly representative of the state of the discipline.
H-AFRICA EDITORIAL
BOARD, Cynthia Brantley [Board Chair], Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
Philip D. Curtin,
Eugenia W. Herbert, Nancy Jacobs, Laird Jones, Martin A. Klein, Cora Presley
H-AFRICA FEATURES
DIALOGUES ON AFRICAN HISTORY:
Subscribers may
submit questions, comments, reports and replies. H-AFRICA publishes research
reports and
inquiries, syllabi and course materials, bibliographies, listings of new
sources, library and archive information, and non-commercial announcements of books,
software, CD-ROM’s, and other resources in the field. H-AFRICA also publishes
announcements of conferences, fellowships, jobs, and commissioned reviews of
books, films, and software.
Questions sent to
H-AFRICA can range from the nitty-gritty ("I am planning a unit on
19th-century Islamic movements in West Africa; what source materials would be
good for my students to read?") to the general and infinitely ponderable
("What teaching strategies have people found successful in encouraging students
to take African medical practices seriously ?"). However, inquiries that
are too general ("I would like some suggestions for readings on South
Africa") or too specific ("Who was Isa M. Lawrence?") often do
not advance the dialogue. The editors will work with subscribers to define such
issues more clearly so that they will generate more productive professional and
scholarly discussion concerning African history.
H-AFRICA IS A
MODERATED LIST: Like all H-Net lists,
H-AFRICA is moderated by the editors to filter out inappropriate posts. All
submissions must be approved by the editors, who will not send out to the
general membership personal attacks (or "flames"), irrelevant
material (such as subscription requests, which will be handled privately), commercial
announcements, or items that do not further the professional and scholarly
dialogue. H-AFRICA is also completely non-partisan and will not publish calls
for political action.
The editors of
H-AFRICA will not alter the meaning of messages, but will, if necessary, add
name
and e-address,
and/or modify the subject line of the post, so as to make evident connections
to
earlier discussions.
The editors will not inhibit the robust exchange of ideas on African history,
but do expect that disagreements will focus clearly on issues raised and not on
persons making the
arguments.
In certain cases,
the editors will be in touch with contributors either to clarify the content of
their
posts or to ask that
they frame them more emphatically within the parameters of H-AFRICA's
focus. The intention of such
communication is not to censor, but rather to define the professional and
scholarly character of H-AFRICA and to ensure that postings evoke the most
comprehensive
responses possible
from subscribers.
Subscriber complaints
regarding the editing of posts to the list will be reviewed by the
editorialboard, whose members will advise the editors. The decisions of the
editors will then be final.
SUBSCRIBING TO
H-AFRICA
To subscribe to
H-AFRICA, send a message with no subject and only this text to
listserv@h-net.msu.edu
:
SUBSCRIBE H-AFRICA Firstname
Lastname Affiliation
You will receive a
confirmation of your request and a questionnaire with further instructions that
you will send back to the listserv. Your subscription should begin shortly
after we receive your
completed
questionnaire.
(2) H-AfrArts
H-AfrArts is an
international electronic discussion group sponsored by H-Net
(Humanities-On-Line)to provide a forum for the discussion and exploration of
African expressive culture.
Subscribers to
H-AfrArts automatically receive messages in their computer mailboxes. These
messages can be
saved, deleted, copied, printed out, or forwarded to someone else. It is, in
some
ways, like a free,
daily newsletter. H- AfrArts might also be compared to an ongoing, moderated
"roundtable"
discussion with participants who happen to be all over the world.
H-AfrArts emphasizes
both the study and teaching of African expressive culture, both past and
present, and invites
contributions from individuals engaged in the humanistic study of the entire
continent. We expect
informed discussions of teaching and research at all levels of interest and
complexity.
H-AfrArts is
co-edited by Michael Conner of Indiana University and Raymond Silverman of
Michigan State
University, who may be reached at:
Michael Conner
conner@ucs.indiana.edu, 821 West Sixth Street, Bloomington, IN 47404-3633, voice phone: 812-334-0131, fax
phone: 812-323-1438
Raymond
Silverman ras@h-net2.msu.edu, Art
Department, 313 Kresge Art Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
48824-1119, voice phone: 517-353-9114, fax phone: 517-432-3938
H-AfrArts also has
an editorial board broadly representative of the state of the discipline. For a
listing of current members of the editorial board, send a message to:
LISTSERV@H-NET.MSU.EDU, with no subject and this text: GET H-AfrArts EDBOARD
H-AfrArts FEATURES
DIALOGUES ON AFRICAN EXPRESSIVE CULTURE AND THE ARTS:
Subscribers may
submit questions, comments, reports and replies. H-AfrArts publishes research
reports and
inquiries (including dissertation and thesis abstracts), syllabi and course
materials,
bibliographies,
listings of new sources, library and archive information, and non-commercial
announcements of
books, software, CD-ROM’s, and other resources in the field. H-AfrArts also
publishes
announcements of conferences, fellowships, jobs, and commissioned reviews of
books,
films, and software.
Questions sent to
H-AfrArts can range from the nitty-gritty ("I am planning a unit on
contemporary
art in Ethiopia;
what source materials would be good for my students to read?") to the
general and
infinitely
ponderable ("What approaches have people found successful in creating a
curriculum for a survey of African art that deals with the entire
continent?"). However, inquiries that are too general ("I would like
some suggestions for readings on the art of West Africa") or too specific
("What is the size of the average Ife terracotta head?") often do not
advance the dialogue. The editors will work with subscribers to define such
issues more clearly so that they will generate more productive professional and
scholarly discussion concerning African history.
H-AFRARTS
Subscription Procedures
The easiest way to
subscribe to the H-AfrArts discussion list is to use our on-line subscription
form. Alternatively, you may subscribe
by sending the following message with no subject and only this text to
listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
subscribe h-afrarts
Firstname Lastname, Youraffiliation
You will receive a
confirmation of your request and a questionnaire with further instructions that
you will send back to the listserv. Your subscription should begin shortly
after we receive your
completed
questionnaire.
(3) H-AfrLitCine
H-AfrLitCine SUBSCRIPTION
REQUEST FORM
**************************************
H-AfrLitCine is an
international electronic discussion group sponsored by H-Net
(HumanitiesOnLine),
H-AFRICA, and officially sponsored by the African Literature Association. H-AfrLitCine emphasizes both the study and
teaching of African literature and cinema.
African Literature Association.
H-AfrLitCine emphasizes both the study and teaching of African
literature and cinema. Completely non-commercial
and non-partisan, H-AfrLitCine encourages a wide- ranging exchange of ideas and
information on African literature and cinema.
Currently,
H-AfrLitCine is co-edited by Professors Kenneth W. Harrow of Michigan State
University, Sandra Barkan of the University of Iowa, Robert Cancel of the
University of California
at San Diego, Thomas
A. Hale of Pennsylvania State University, Aliko Songolo of the University of
Wisconsin, Emmanuel Yewah of Albion College, and Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol of the
University of Wisconsin. The network is also advised by an editorial board of
international scholars broadly representative of the state of the discipline.
H-AfrLitCine is officially sponsored by the African Literature
Association.
If you wish to join
H-AfrLitCine, please return the following information about yourself to:
Aflitcin@H-net.msu.edu
We will then add you
to the members directory and subscribe you to the list. Please be patient while your subscription is
being processed as it must be done manually.
If you do not hear from
us within one week
of returning this form, please contact us at the same address.
* * * *
* * * * *
* * * * *
* *
NAME:
POSITION/STATUS/OCCUPATION:
SCHOOL/INSTITUTION:
Graduate students, please
indicate major professor:
Undergrads, please list
recommending H-AfrLitCine
faculty subscriber:
E-MAIL ADDRESS:
PRINCIPAL AFRICAN GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS:
TEACHING INTERESTS:
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
RECENT SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS (if any):
* * * *
* * * * *
* * * * * *
If you have any
questions about H-AfrLitCine, we will be glad to try to answer them; please
send inquiries directly to either: Carmela Garritano, Grritano@H-Net.msu.edu,
Kenneth W. Harrow,
Harrow@H-Net.msu.edu
(4) H-AfrTeach
H-AfrTeach
encourages a wide consideration of both the possibilities and problems involved
in teaching about Africa in many educational settings. Our services are made
possible by H-Net, Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine, and through the
support of African Studies Centers at Michigan State University, Boston
University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
H-AfrTeach has a
staff of volunteer editors and an editorial board, each representing a broad
range of interests and backgrounds, including teachers, professors, and
students. We also cooperate with the H-Net Teaching Project in the promotion of
improved teaching through internet collaboration.
Our moderated
discussion list provides opportunities for teachers to share ideas and teaching
materials as well as raise questions concerning their teaching about Africa.
From time to time the editors also offer a variety of resources for regular
subscribers. Selected discussion threads from the list are available from this
site, as well as the complete message logs of H-AfrTeach.
H-AfrTeach generates
many resources, such as lesson plans, unit outlines, and course syllabi, plus
resource lists and complete bibliographies on topics (including individual
countries) for teaching. We also feature an ongoing collection of perspectives
on stereotypes often encountered in teaching about Africa. In addition, we have
a wide variety of links to other internet resources which may be helpful to
teachers. Each link is reviewed by the
editors, classified according to its potential usefulness, and accompanied by a
brief review.
With the aid of the
H-Net Review Project, H-AfrTeach regularly commissions reviews by teachers,
educators, and scholars of a wide variety of materials. In addition to texts,
videos, and CD-ROM materials, H-AfrTeach Reviews include general, adolescent
and children's literature. We encourage comments on these reviews from authors
and users of the materials on our discussion list.
H-AfrTeach
Subscription Procedures
Send the following
message with no subject and only this text to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
subscribe h-afrteach
Firstname Lastname, Youraffiliation
You will receive a
confirmation of your request and a questionnaire with further instructions that
you will send back to the listserv.
Your subscription should begin shortly after we receive your completed
questionnaire.
(5) H-SAfrica
H-SAfrica, an
international electronic discussion group dedicated to the promotion of all
aspects of South African history. It is sponsored by the H-Net Humanities
Online, centered at the Michigan State University in America, by the East
London campus of Rhodes University in South Africa, and by the South African
Historical Association.
H-SAfrica can be
compared to a cross between an academic journal and a friendly academic
newspaper which is
delivered to your electronic mailbox on an almost daily basis. You will be provided with all sorts of
useful information, like international job adverts, book reviews,
conference
announcements and calls for papers. You will be notified at times of new
computer
software, websites,
films and videos.
At the same time we
hope that you will join with us in mature discussions of on-going research, of
articles and
academic papers, books and journals, methods of teaching and debates on
historiography. At the same time, H-SAfrica invites you to submit
bibliographies and syllabi, guides to term papers and lists of any new sources
or archives that you have come across.
In short, it is
hoped that H-SAfrica will be a useful voice in the cultivation of all aspects
of South
African historical
research.
Editors
H-SAfrica is edited
by Keith Tankard at the East London campus of Rhodes University. He may be reached
at the following address: Keith Tankard, History Department, Rhodes University,
P.O. Box 7426, 5200 EAST LONDON, South Africa, e-mail:safrica@dolphin.ru.ac.za,
phone: +431-22539,
fax: +431-438307
Editorial Board
H-SAfrica also has
an Editorial Board which is broadly representative of the many facets of our
historical
discipline. The Board currently consists of (in alphabetic order): Roger Beck,
Eastern, Illinois University, Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa, AJ
Christopher, University of Port Elizabeth, Donald Denoon, Australian National
University ,Robert Edgar, Howard University, Peter Limb, University of Western
Australia, Muchaparara Musemwa, University of South Africa, Tim Nuttall,
Pietermaritzburg campus of Natal University, Mel Page, East Tennessee State
University
Christopher
Saunders, University of Cape Town, Keith Tankard, East London campus of Rhodes
University
HOW IT ALL WORKS
H-SAfrica works on
the Listserv program which is generated from the Michigan State University in
America. All messages are transmitted from the editors and are then relayed to
our subscribers all over the world. If
you as a subscriber wish to participate in any of the debates, you may do so
merely by pressing the reply key on your computer, when reading a message from
H-SAfrica. Your contribution will
then be dispatched
via Listserv to the editor-on-duty who will forward it to all the other subscribers.
Your contribution
can be the provision of useful knowledge or posting a question which seeks
information. We
would, however, encourage you to provide at least some information before
posing your query. We do not, for
instance, encourage such questions as "Can anyone tell me what books I
should read to learn about the Mlanjeni War?" It would be far better to
explain what books you have already read, describe what your current
conclusions are, and then pose your question. In that way the readers may learn
something in addition to helping you with your research.
H-SAfrica Subscription Procedures
Send the following
message with no subject and only this text ot listserv@h-net.msu.edu:
subscribe h-safrica
Firstname Lastname, Youraffiliation
You will receive a
confirmation of your request and a questionnaire with further instructions that
you will send back to the listserv.
Your subscription should begin shortly after we receive your completed
questionnaire.
b. Other Lists
(1) African-Cinema-Conference
From:
owner-african-cinema-conference@XC.Org
Subject: Welcome to
african-cinema-conference
MAFxc is a service
of Mission Aviation Fellowship. If you
would like to be able to create your own conferences, or further information
about other MAFxc services including e-mail forwarding and WWW server
facilities, please send a message to Info@xc.org. Also check out our WWW
site at http://www.xc.org.
Welcome to the MAFxc
african-cinema-conference conference!
To send a message to this conference, write to
african-cinema-conference@XC.Org NOTE:
Messages you send will *not* be sent back to you. They *will* go to all other subscribers to
this conference. If you ever want to
remove yourself from this conference, you can send mail to
"hub@XC.Org" with the following command in the body of your email
message:
unsubscribe african-cinema-conference
Here's the general
information for the conference you've subscribed to, in case you don't already
have it: Info on
african-cinema-conference [Last updated on: Mon Feb 12 18:55:45 1996]. This conference is for the discussion of
AFRICAN CINEMA. It is a moderated
conference (so you'll not get unnecessary junk email), and will have about 100
members to start with. This original
list is people that have agreed to receive "email press releases"
from DSR over 1994/5. Using a
conference/listserver is more efficient to get the news out. Items to be sent out to subscribers will
include all sorts of information on African cinema, including press releases
about new books and articles, films and videos and other resources available,
or about news, events, information and opinions relating to African cinema.
We encourage all
members to send in bits of information to be posted to all. Also we encourage
all members to ask questions to the group of information they need, and to
introduce themselves to the group with a couple paragraphs about what they are
doing that relates to African cinema.
Your moderator,
Steve Smith (scs@dsr.us.net)
If you need any
further assistance regarding the african-cinema-conference conference, contact
owner-african-cinema-conference .
If you need
assistance with MAFxc hub operation, contact helpdesk@XC.Org.
c. Web Sites On
African Film And Related Topics
_ PANAFRICAN FILM AND
TELEVISION FESTIVAL OF OUAGADOUGOU (FESPACO) has a web site at:
http://www.fespaco.bf/
Site includes:
Awards Winners; Fespaco'97; Publications; The African film library; information on Burkina Faso.
_ A list of extracts
and biographical data on African literature writers is at:
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/hss/africana/voices.html
_ Also included are
Francophone African poets available in English translation:
http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/hss/africana/poets.html
It also includes
links to other sites, such as:
H-African Literature
& Cinema.
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~aflitweb/
_ "In the World
of African Literatures"
A site developed by
the French Dept. at the University of Western Australia
in Perth: includes a bibliography of Francophone
African women writers (in French), unpublished interviews, an unpublished
novel, and a novel for young readers.
http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/AFLIT/FEMEChomeEN.html#english
or
http://www.arts.uwa.edu.au/AFLIT/FEMEChome.html#french
_ A revised, enlarged
(May 1997) version of "A_Z of African
Studies on the
Internet" is now available at:
http://www.library.uwa.edu.au/sublibs/sch/sc_ml_afr.html
_ Index on Africa
The Norwegian
Council for Africa is proud to present the
most comprehensive
guide to Africa on the Internet yet.
Index on Africa is a
catalogue of Africa_resources on the
Net. It contains
more than 2000 Africa_related links. The
links are sorted in
categories by theme or country.
URL: http://www.africaindex.africainfo.no/
The Norwegian
Council for Africa is at:
http://www.fellesraadet.africainfo.no/engindex.html
II. Internet
Resources for Africa and African Studies
(October, 1997)
1. Africa Links
at MSU
African Studies
Center - http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfricanStudies/
(includes weekly Tuesday
Bulletin newsletter of African studies resources, African Media Program, Study Abroad Programs,
and African Studies Outreach Resources)
John Metzler
(Outreach Coordinator) and David Wiley (Director)
phone: 517-353-1700;
email: wiley@pilot.msu.edu,
metzler@pilot.msu.edu
address: 100
International Center, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035
National Consortium
for Study in Africa (list of all Africa study abroad programs in U.S.) - http://www.isp.msu.edu/ncsa/ - E‑mail:
ncsa@pilot.msu.edu (or Wiley & Metzler above)
Office for
International Students and Scholars - http://www.isp.msu.edu/OISS/
David Horner,
Director, phone: 517‑353‑1720, email: hornerd@pilot.msu.edu
address:
103 International Center, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035
MSU Office of Study
Abroad - http://study‑abroad.msu.edu/
Cindy Chalou,
Assistant Director, phone: 517‑353‑8920, chalouc@pilot.msu.edu
address: 109
International Center, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035
AFRI database of
Africana materials in 18 major U.S. university libraries -
http://www.lib.msu.edu/magicplus/magic.html
(then choose: MAGIC via TN3270;
tab twice down to
“command” line and type “dial magic”;
then choose “4 -
indexes to articles”; then choose AFRI)
2. Africa-related
Organizations
African Studies
Association - http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Home_Page/ASA_Menu.html
Africa News On-Line
- http://www.africanews.org/
Association of
Concerned Africa Scholars - http://www.prairienet.org/acas/
Africa Policy
Information Center/Washington Office on Africa - http://www.igc.apc.org/apic/index.shtml
California Newsreel
(major U.S. distributor of African video & film) - http://www.newsreel.org/
Council for the
Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) (Dakar) - http://wsi.cso.uiuc.edu/CAS/codesria/codesria.htm
3. H-Net Africa
Discussion List Websites
H-Africa - http://www.h‑net.msu.edu/~africa/
(predominantly history)
H-SAfrica - http://www.h‑net.msu.edu/~safrica/ (predominantly SA history)
H‑AfrArts - http://h‑net2.msu.edu/~artsweb/welcome/index.html (all African arts)
H-AfrLitCine -
http://www.h‑net.msu.edu/~aflitweb/ (all
Africa literature and cinema)
H-AfrTeach - http://www.h‑net.msu.edu/~afrteach/ (college, university, & K-12 education)
4. Websites
indexing many Africa internet resources and weblinks:
H-Africa Internet
Sources - http://www.h‑net.msu.edu/~africa/internet/index.html
Africa on the
Internet: Starting Points for Policy Information - http://www.igc.apc.org/apic/bp/inet6.html
American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Sub‑Saharan Africa Program User's
Guide to Electronic Networks in Africa - http://www.aaas.org/international/africa‑guide/index.html
Africa Weblinks and
Resource List (U. Pennsylvania)- http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Home_Page/WWW_Links.html
Africa South of the
Sahara: Selected Internet Resources - http://www‑sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/guide.html
Africa News
Resources - http://newo.com:80/news/news_location.htl?lctn_search=10000
5. Study Abroad
and International Student & Scholar Resources
State Department
Travel Warnings & Consular Information Sheets -
http://travel.state.gov/travel_warnings.html
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) - travel health information
http://www.cdc.gov/
Immigration and
Naturalization Service at the Department of Justice -
http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/
NAFSA -
http://www.nafsa.org/nafsa/
+ Council of
Advisers to Foreign Students and Scholars (CAFSS): http://www.nafsa.org/educator/cafss.html
+ Section on U.S.
Students Abroad (SECUSSA): http://www.nafsa.org/educator/secussa.html Oct. 18, 1997