Africa remains to be one of the most unexamined territories of the world which has a lot of mysteries, and Africans are perceived by the global community through the perspective of many developed stereotypes. The representation of Africans which is based on the definite stereotypes is the Westerners’ approach to examination of the Africans’ cultural identity.
However, it is also important to refer to the Africans’ representation of themselves in comparison with the Westerners’ vision in order to determine the issues which are really significant for the African ethnicities and which reflect the real situation on the continent.
The details of the Africans’ representation of their native land and their problems can be observed with references to the movies directed by the filmmakers who have the African origin. From this point, these movies are the representations of the social and cultural issues through the eyes of the persons who are really interested in their resolving.
Although such questions as the effects of colonization and racism depicted in the movies are associated with the Westerners’ discussion of the Africans’ problems, the most controversial issues which are examined by the African filmmakers and sociologists are the questions of the female circumcision, the attempts of the Africans to find the best life conditions abroad, and the problem of the Africans’ cultural identity based on the historical background.
What problems connected with the Africans are actively discussed by the Africans themselves as well as by the Westerners? These problems are the issues of colonization and its effects in the form of racism. The problem of racism and the effects of interpreting slavery are depicted in Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl (1966).
Ousmane Sembène is the most famous African filmmaker who had the significant impact on the development of the African cinematography. He depicted the elements of the postcolonial African life in detail. The main character of the movie is Diouana who moves to France in search for the better life and starts to work fro the French couple.
The problems the girl faces are associated with the Westerners’ perception of the Africans as slaves, and they are reflected in the attitude toward the girl and her work (Black Girl, 1966). Thus, in his movie, Ousmane Sembène discusses two main issues which are characteristic for discussing in the African cinematography which are the questions of racism and post-colonization effects, and moving to the Western countries.
The problem of moving to America or Europe to find the better conditions of life and complete the dreams is also discussed in Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki (1973). If Ousmane Sembène is the father of the traditional African movie, Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Touki Bouki is an example of the African avant-garde movie (Murphy, 2000). Djibril Diop Mambéty uses rather experimental movie techniques to represent the dreams of Mory and Anta to travel to France (Touki Bouki, 1973).
The characters’ imitation of the Western style in clothes and behavior reflects the problem of the African people’s intentions to find their happiness abroad, according to the Western patterns. From this point, the nature of the Africans’ desire to leave their homeland is closely associated with the question of the African cultural identity.
If some filmmakers concentrate on this desire to leave the continent, the other ones pay more attention to depicting the cultural and ethnical characteristics of the Africans to support the idea of the cultural identity. Thus, in his Yeelen (1987), Souleymane Cisse focuses on the representation of the Malian religious and cultural traditions based on mythology, mysticism, and exotic elements (Yeelen, 1987).
Murphy discusses the possibility to consider Cisse’s representation as the truly African movie (Murphy, 2000). The problem is in the fact the African cultural identity is the controversial question, and almost all the African movies respond to this issue (Nobles, 1998). The question of the black identity is also correlated with the problem of racism (The magnificent African cake, 1984).
The Westerners’ associations about the African cultural and religious rituals are numerous, but the most controversial rituals are discussed only in the works of the Africans because it is really significant for the African community to concentrate on rethinking the most provocative issues such as the problem of the female circumcision.
In his article, Appiah pays attention to the fact that “female circumcision became a nationalist issue, and a custom that might have gradually disappeared grew further entrenched. Nearly 40 percent of Kenyan women today are estimated to have undergone some form of it” (Appiah, 2010). The effects of the circumcision can be even fatal for girls, but the tradition continues to develop in the African communities as the socially significant process.
What is the African people’s attitude to the ritual? The problem of the female circumcision is too controversial, and it has historical and cultural roots to be discussed only from the one perspective (Leonard, 2000). That is why, there are the successors of the tradition who accentuate the social significance of the procedure and the cultural aspects, and those people who condemn the immoral ritual as it is presented in Ousmane Sembène’s Moolaade (2004).
The main characters of Ousmane Sembène’s Moolaade are the women from the village in Burkina Faso. They rebel against the ritual of female circumcision as the symbol of the women’s discrimination and the backwardness of the African society in which it is possible to realize the female genital mutilation (Moolaade, 2004).
This movie is not only the representation of the significant social and cultural problem developed in the African countries but also the discussion of the role of women in the African society which can be perceived with references to the global tendencies. From this point, Colle, the main character of the movie, is opposed to the whole society in her intentions to protect young girls from the horrors of the female genital mutilation with the help of magical protection moolaadé (Moolaade, 2004).
Nevertheless, the Africans are not only the representatives of the black community. The problems of the Islamic community are also depicted in the African movie as it is in Ferid Boughedir’s A Summer in La Goulette (1996) where the problem of the intercultural relations is discussed (A Summer in La Goulette, 1996).
To conclude, the Africans represent the particular features of their life on the continent and abroad paying much attention to the social problems and definite controversial issues associated with the questions of the cultural identity and traditions. Thus, the nature of the Africans’ representations of their world in movies and media is more problematic in comparison with the Westerner’s vision of the question mainly based on depicting the effects of colonization and racism.
References
Appiah, K. (2010). The art of social change. Web.
A summer in La Goulette. (1996). Web.
Black Girl. (1966). Web.
Leonard, L. (2000). We did it for pleasure only: Hearing alternative tales of female circumcision. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 212-228.
Moolaadé. (2004). Web.
Murphy, D. (2000). Africans filming Africa: Questioning theories of an authentic African cinema. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 13(2): 239–249.
Nobles, W. W. (1998). To be African or not to be: The question of identity or authenticity – some preliminary thoughts. In R. L. Jones (Ed.), African American identity development (pp. 187-192). Hampton, VA: Cobb & Henry Publishers.
The magnificent African cake. (1984). Web.
Touki Bouki. (1973). Web.
Yeelen. (1987). Web.