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Volume 25, Issue 1-2
  • ISSN: 1368-2679
  • E-ISSN: 1758-9142

Abstract

This article aims to designate the notion of ‘’ – the oral transmitter of history in West African cultures to the eclectic filmmakers from the post-independence period of Francophone Senegal who utilized film as an instrument to reassemble their nation’s lost image and carve an independent national identity that seeks liberation from the remnants of French imperial rule. Figuratively performing as in the postcolonial film corpus, directors Ousmane Sembéne, Djibril Diop Mambéty and Mati Diop fabricated an original filmic language that represents the cultural milieu of Senegal after the French colonialism. In these directorial endeavours, the incorporation of narration elements plays a pivotal role in simultaneously manufacturing the agencies of Senegalese people and accelerating the continuum of decolonization in the country’s visual domain. Including the historical framework of Senegal’s cinema and illustrating the analogy between and these filmmakers, this research will take a closer look at the corresponding postcolonial narratives of Ousmane Sembéne’s (1966), Djibril Diop Mambéty’s (1973) and Mati Diop’s (2019) in an effort to unravel their tumultuous identity politics, critiques of (neo)colonialism and filmmakers’ role as national raconteurs.

Résumé

Cet article vise à dénoter la notion de ‘Griot’, le transmetteur oral de l’histoire dans les cultures ouest-africaines, aux cinéastes éclectiques de la période post-indépendance du Sénégal francophone qui, ont utilisé le cinéma comme un instrument pour reconstruire l’image perdue de leur nation et se tailler une identité nationale indépendant visant à se libérer des vestiges de la domination impériale française. En jouant métaphoriquement un rôle de Griots dans le corpus cinématographique postcolonial; Les réalisateurs Ousmane Sembéne, Djibril Diop Mambéty et Mati Diop ont créé un langage cinématographique original qui représente le milieu culturel du Sénégal après la periode colonialiste française. Dans leurs efforts de mise en scène, l’incorporation d’éléments narratifs joue un rôle central aussi bien pour montrer l’agencement des populations sénégaises que le processus de décolonisation dans le domaine visuel du pays. Comprenant le cadre historique du cinéma sénégalais et illustrant l’analogie entre les Griots et ces cinéastes; cette recherche examinera de plus près les récits postcoloniaux comme (1966) d’Ousmane Sembéne, (1973) de Djibril Diop Mambéty et de Mati Diop (2019) dans le but de démêler leurs politiques identitaires tumultueuses, les critiques du (néo)colonialisme et le rôle des cinéastes comme conteurs nationaux.

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2022-09-01
2024-04-28
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): African directors; France; Griots; migration; narrative theory; national identity; postcolonialism; Senegalese cinema

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