CIN 2010 - Images of Africa. Images from Africa.

Credits: 4
This class will introduce students to the history and culture of Africa by way of film. It will provide students with some tools with which to understand and evaluate creative works coming from the continent as a whole, while at the same time underscoring the diversity of individual figures and endeavors that have marked Africa’s cultural history since the colonial period and into the first decades of the millennium. Using a range of films (drama and documentaries) from both Francophone and anglophone regions and countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Congo, Zimbabwe) the course will try to analyze the ways African filmmakers explore several recurring themes or tensions, such as: Tradition and modernity; Colonialism, power and politics; Gender and Sexuality; Memory and Trauma; Postcolonial identities; Migration and globalization. We will explore the ways in which African images produced by Africans compete with or echo each other in their effort to represent their respective societies and experiences. It is the hope of this course that students will learn to think globally and critically about Africa, beyond some of the ubiquitous stereotypes that still determine the continent and its people today.
McDaniel Plan: International; Social, Cultural and Historical Understanding