Feminist Africa 16 African Feminist Engagements with Film
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Feminist Africa 16 African Feminist Engagements with Film Issue 16: July 2012 First published in 2012 by the African Gender Institute All Africa House University of Cape Town Private Bag Rondebosch 7701 © in published edition: African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2011 ISSN: 1726-4596 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without permission in writing from the publisher. Published with the support of HIVOS, and the African Women’s Development Fund. Typesetting, printing and cover design: Compress.dsl Cover photograph: Still from Beit Sha’ar (Nomad’s Home). Directed by Iman Kamel, Image by Ute Freund. Distribution: AGI Staff Feminist Africa is a scholarly journal accredited by the South African Department of Education. ii | Feminist Africa 16 Editorial policy Editor Feminist Africa is guided by a profound Amina Mama commitment to transforming gender hierarchies in Africa, and seeks to redress injustice and Issue 16 Editors inequality in its content and design, and by Yaba Badoe its open-access and continentally-targeted Amina Mama distribution strategy. Feminist Africa targets Salem Mekuria gender researchers, students, educators, women’s organisations and feminist activists Editorial team throughout Africa. It works to develop a Jane Bennett feminist intellectual community by promoting Gillian Mitchell and enhancing African women’s intellectual Kylie Thomas work. To overcome the access and distribution challenges facing conventional academic Editorial advisory group publications, Feminist Africa deploys a dual The editorial advisory group of Feminist Africa dissemination strategy, using the Internet consists of scholars and researchers, located as a key tool for knowledge-sharing and in different fields in the social sciences and communication, while making hard copies humanities, who offer their expertise to the available to those based at African institutions. development and dissemination of Feminist Two issues are produced per annum, in Africa as an innovative African-focused accordance with themes specified in the calls journal. Advisory group members are: for contributions. Akosua Adamako-Ampofo, Bibi Bakare- The editorial team can be contacted at Yusuf, Teresa Barnes, Kum-Kum Bhavnani, [email protected] Hope Chigudu, Tsitsi Dangaremba, Carole Boyce Davies, Simidele Dosekun, Amanda Acknowledgements Gouws, Pregs Govender, Pumla Dineo Gqola, The Feminist Africa team acknowledges Shireen Hassim, Desiree Lewis, Zine Magubane, the intellectual input of the community of Takyiwaa Manuh, Helen Moffett, Chandra African feminist scholars and the Editorial Mohanty, Patricia Mohammed, Patricia Advisory Board. McFadden, Ruth Ochieng, Margo Okazawa- We thank HIVOS and the African Women’s Rey, Awino Okech, Charmaine Pereira, Jennifer Development Fund for their financial support Radloff, Rhoda Reddock, Vasu Reddy, Kopano towards production and publication. Ratele, Ebrima Sall, Fatou Sow, Julia Sudbury, Sylvia Tamale, Dzodzi Tsikata, Zenebeworke Disclaimer Tadesse, Muthoni Wanyeki and Paul Zeleza. 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Feminist Africa 16 | v Contents Editorial: African Feminist Engagements with Film – by Yaba Badoe, Amina Mama and Salem Mekuria 1 Features Representation and Self Representation – by Salem Mekuria 8 New Looks: The Rise of African Women Filmmakers – by Lindiwe Dovey 18 Reflections on Cinema Criticism and African Women – by Beti Ellerson 37 Challenging the Status Quo: A Feminist Reading of Shirley Frimpong-Manso’s Life and Living It – by Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo and Joyce Osei Owusu 53 Strategising for Success: Re(packing) to Re(present) – by Jihan El Tahri 71 Reflections on Making Witches of Gambaga – by Yaba Badoe 82 Women and the Dynamics of Representation: Of Cooking, Cars, and Gendered Culture – by Abena P. A. Busia 98 vi | Feminist Africa 16 In Conversation Mahen Bonetti with Françoise Bouffault 118 Tsitsi Dangaremba with Beti Ellerson 128 Sandra Mbanefo Obiagwu with Nana Sekyiamah 136 Standpoint Adventures from Our Bedrooms - Blogging about diverse erotic experiences – by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah 142 Profile Black Pride Brazilian Style: The 5th Encontro de Cinema Negro Brasil Africa and Caribe – by Yaba Badoe 146 Beit Sha’ar – Nomad’s Home – by Iman Kamel 149 Review Witches of Gambaga – by Sokari Ekine 154 Notre Etrangere – by Yaba Badoe 157 Contributors 159 Editorial | 1 Editorial: African Feminist Engagements with Film1 Yaba Badoe, Amina Mama and Salem Mekuria Feminist Africa is 10 years old! To celebrate we have a bumper issue on one of the most vibrant and dynamic cultural arenas of our times – African film- making. True to FA’s founding editorial policy, this issue focuses on feminist engagements with film in various African contexts. To do justice to this rich and rapidly changing arena, we have drawn on a diverse community of film- makers, critics, film scholars and theorists in many ways. Firstly we have drawn our inspiration from their work, by attending many screenings and festivals over the years. Our issue co-editors, Yaba Badoe (Ghana/UK) and Salem Mekuria (Ethiopia/USA), both highly accomplished film-makers themselves, have worked closely with the Editor and the FA team in Cape Town, to co-edit and produce FA 16. Our combined expertise adds up to over half a century of experience in all aspects of film-making and film scholarship, not to mention all the hours that we –like most of you – spend in lifetimes of viewing and interpreting films for the sheer pleasure of doing so, and engaging with the challenges of being critical spectators and theorising film from our multiple subversive perspectives. The perspectives of our contributors –makers, organizers, distributors, theorists and critics of film- all offer to deepen and nuance our understanding of the manner in which we engage with various aspects of film and the film industry. These include the history of colonial subjugation and enslavement, as well as contemporary global cultural regimes, all of which have operated to erase and mis-represent women from Africa and to service the appetites and cravings of others, in ways that were often at the very least inimical to our well-being. Gayatri Spivak came up with the powerful term ‘epistemic violence’ to convey the deleterious impact of being subjected to the determinations of others. Even before film was invented, African women were represented in ways that have given us concern for generations. Consider the numerous 2 | Feminist Africa 16 iconic representations of Saartje Baartman, who, in 19th century Europe, was exhibited at festivals and fairs to a public fascinated by the ‘spectacle’ of her body in a cage at popular freak shows. These obstacles mean that we have an