Women and sexuality in African ccinema
Women and sexuality in African ccinema
African cultures' views on intimacy and privacy have had an approach to sex, nudity, and eroticism that differs from the openness associated with that of most Western cultures. This is one of the factors that explains the relatively scarce displays of sexuality in African cinema. However, in the past two decades, an increasing number of films made by African filmmakers in the continent and the diaspora have featured stories by women with fluid sexual identities. In these films, women engage in same‐sex relationships as part of their assertion of freedom. The titles include Karmen Geï (dir. Joseph Gaï Ramaka, 2001, Senegal), Les Saignantes (dir. Jean‐Pierre Bekolo, 2007, Cameroon), The World Unseen (dir. Shamim Sarif, 2007, South Africa), and, more recently, Stories of our Lives (dir. Jim Chuchu, 2014, Kenya) and Rafiki (dir. Wanuri Kahiu, 2018, Kenya), whose lead actress, Samantha Mugatsia, won the best actress award in the 50‐year‐old film festival FESPACO (Pan‐African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou) in 2019. African scholars, and more specifically African women scholars, are revisiting gender theories and concepts, in search of a de‐Westernization of the academic terminology able to address the complexity and intersectionality of women's sexuality in African cultures. Similarly, African women filmmakers are contesting patriarchal representations of women in relation to violence, illness, and as victims, with self‐representations of sexuality and redefinitions of identity revolving around pleasure and as subversive to different forms of oppression experienced by African women.
Gender, Women, Sexuality, LGBTQ+, Cinema, Africa, African Cinema
Sendra, Estrella
649e182a-2efe-4202-bef9-cbd28bc6f496
8 July 2020
Sendra, Estrella
649e182a-2efe-4202-bef9-cbd28bc6f496
Sendra, Estrella
(2020)
Women and sexuality in African ccinema.
In,
Ross, Karen, Scarcelli, Cosimo Marco, Bachmann, Ingrid, Moorti, Sujata and Cardo, Valentina
(eds.)
The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication.
Wiley.
(doi:10.1002/9781119429128.iegmc246).
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
African cultures' views on intimacy and privacy have had an approach to sex, nudity, and eroticism that differs from the openness associated with that of most Western cultures. This is one of the factors that explains the relatively scarce displays of sexuality in African cinema. However, in the past two decades, an increasing number of films made by African filmmakers in the continent and the diaspora have featured stories by women with fluid sexual identities. In these films, women engage in same‐sex relationships as part of their assertion of freedom. The titles include Karmen Geï (dir. Joseph Gaï Ramaka, 2001, Senegal), Les Saignantes (dir. Jean‐Pierre Bekolo, 2007, Cameroon), The World Unseen (dir. Shamim Sarif, 2007, South Africa), and, more recently, Stories of our Lives (dir. Jim Chuchu, 2014, Kenya) and Rafiki (dir. Wanuri Kahiu, 2018, Kenya), whose lead actress, Samantha Mugatsia, won the best actress award in the 50‐year‐old film festival FESPACO (Pan‐African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou) in 2019. African scholars, and more specifically African women scholars, are revisiting gender theories and concepts, in search of a de‐Westernization of the academic terminology able to address the complexity and intersectionality of women's sexuality in African cultures. Similarly, African women filmmakers are contesting patriarchal representations of women in relation to violence, illness, and as victims, with self‐representations of sexuality and redefinitions of identity revolving around pleasure and as subversive to different forms of oppression experienced by African women.
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More information
Published date: 8 July 2020
Keywords:
Gender, Women, Sexuality, LGBTQ+, Cinema, Africa, African Cinema
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 445969
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/445969
PURE UUID: 06c446c5-3e35-4608-b73b-895292600333
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Date deposited: 18 Jan 2021 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 10:30
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Contributors
Editor:
Karen Ross
Editor:
Cosimo Marco Scarcelli
Editor:
Ingrid Bachmann
Editor:
Sujata Moorti
Editor:
Valentina Cardo
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