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41807-01 - Research seminar: Film in Africa (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2015 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Fiona Siegenthaler (fiona.siegenthaler@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | As a medium reflective of the society in which it is produced, screened and perceived, film offers a fascinating and highly illuminating insight into societal and political topics, cultural traditions and creative practices of a society and its filmmakers. The course looks at film in Africa in its variety, including cinema and home video, elite and popular, local and internationally celebrated productions. It considers the conditions of their production, their distribution, and their audiences. With a focus on post-independence film and video up to today, we will look at a selection of film genres in different parts of Africa. We analyze and discuss them with relation to both, their meaning for social practice in Africa and beyond, in the diaspora and the international film scene. These discussions will essentially rely on concepts from media theory and postcolonial theory and direct toward a theoretical understanding of the role of African film in post-colonial societies. |
| Learning objectives | - Students have a general overview of film in and from different parts of Africa. They can describe particular genres, their aesthetics and their modes of production and consumption. - Students show sensibility for individual and cultural differences in the aesthetics, perception and interpretation of films in particular African and diasporic contexts. - Students are able to analyze films or parts thereof and to reflect and discuss them by adopting theories of representation and post-colonial critique. |
| Bibliography | Armes, Roy (2006): African filmmaking. North and south of the Sahara. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Diawara, Manthia (1992): African cinema. Politics and culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Diawara, Manthia (2010): African film. New forms of aesthetics and politics. Munich: Prestel. Garritano, Carmela (2013): African video movies and global desires. Athens: Ohio University Press. Gugler, Josef (2003): African film. Re-imagining a continent. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Krings, Matthias; Okome, Onookome, eds. (2013): Global Nollywood. The transnational dimensions of an African video film industry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Nwachukwu, Frank Ukadike, ed. (2014): Critical approaches to African cinema discourse. Lanham: Lexington. Pfaff, Françoise, ed. (2004): Focus on African films. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Thackway, Melissa (2003): Africa shoots back. Alternative perspectives in sub-Saharan francophone African film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. |
| Weblink | https://ethnologie.unibas.ch/studies/cou |
| Course application | Registration via ADAM. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Culture and Society (Master's degree program: African Studies (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Fields: Media and Imagination (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul Research Skills in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul Sachthemen der Ethnologie (Master's degree subject: Social Anthropology (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | All students are expected to attend the seminar on a regular basis and to make an active oral contribution which will be defined at the first meeting. Students who intend to write a seminar thesis are required to contact the lecturer as soon as possible before the beginning of the semester. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Ethnologie |