Description
Book SynopsisUndoubtedly one of Africaâs most influential first generation of writers and filmmakers, Ousmane Sembene's creative works of fiction as well as his films have been the subject of a considerable number of scholarly articles. This book examines this figure within the context of his career-long preoccupation with the production of culture.
Trade ReviewThis collection of essays focuses on the intersection of culture and politics in the work of noted Senegalese writer and filmmaker Ousmane Sembène (1923–2007). As pointed out in the essays and confirmed in the interviews that close the collection, Sembène rejected 'art for art’s sake' in favor of a body of work highly engaged with the cultural, political, and economic concerns newly independent Africa faced. Similarly, the essays highlight Sembène’s rejection of Western cultural norms in favor of creating African art for African audiences, as signaled notably by his preference for the use of African languages in his art instead of French. Another recurring note throughout is the tension between Sembène and poet and cultural theorist Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal's first president), which resulted from Sembène’s opposition to francophonie and rejection of negritude. Taken together, the essays form a coherent collection, and they are soundly researched. The interviews with Sembène’s colleagues are especially interesting. A valuable resource for those interested in African cinema and literature. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * CHOICE *
This cogent volume, with its multi-faceted framework and interdisciplinary verve, is a valuable contribution to the scholarship on Ousmane Sembene's inimitable legacies. Highly accessible, it points students, scholars and the general readership towards a comprehensive re-engagement of his creative genius and its nuanced relationship to cultural dynamics and social critique. -- Jude G. Akudinobi, University of California, Santa Barbara
With this groundbreaking collection of essays and interviews, Vetinde and Fofana have put together an essential volume for students and scholars of Ousmane Sembene. The volume soars well above other books on Sembene by featuring a smartly assembled cast of incisive scholars and former collaborators of Sembene, all of whom offer unprecedented insight into the literary and filmic work of Sembene. The astuteness and theoretical dexterity of the different essays ultimately turn this volume into a trenchant interdisciplinary analysis of governance, politics, development, identity, gender, and social transformation in postcolonial Africa. -- Ayo A. Coly, Dartmouth College
Table of ContentsTable of Contents Introduction: Cultural Politics in Senegal: A Quest for Relevance, by Lifongo Vetinde Part One: Culture and Development Chapter One: Sembene, Senghor and Competing Notions of Culture and Development at the 1966 Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres de Dakar, by David Murphy Chapter Two: Sembène and the Aesthetics of Senghorian Négritude, by Lifongo Vetinde Chapter Three: Representations of Islam and the question of Identity in Ousmane Sembene’s Ceddo, by Cherif Correa Part Two: Discourses Chapter Four: A Twice-Told Tale: The Post-colonial Allegory of La Noire de …(1966) and Faat Kine (2000), by Dayna Oscherwitz Chapter Five: Bringing the Rain Indoors: Rereading the National Allegory in Ousmane Sembene’s Xala, by Mathew H. Brown Chapter Six: Women in Sembène’s Films: Spatial Reconfigurations and Cultural Meanings, by Moussa Sow Chapter Seven: Why Does Diouana Die? Facing History, Migration and Trauma in Black Girl, by Lyell Davis Part Three: Language and Aesthetics Chapter Eight: Language, Racial Difference and Dialogic Consciousness: Sembene's God’s Bits of Wood, by Augustine Uka Nwanyanwu Chapter Nine: An Onomastic Reading of Ousmane Sembene’s Faat Kine, by Mouhamedoul A Niang Chapter Ten: Trans-formal Aesthetics and Cultural Impact on Ousmane Sembene’s Xala, by Rachel Diang’a Part Four: Testimonies Makhète Diallo Pathé Diagne Fatoumata Kandé Senghor
