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4486 Steedman.Pdf Steedman, Robin (2017) Nairobi‐based female filmmakers and the 'Creative Hustle': gender and film production between the local and the transnational. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26663 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Nairobi-based Female Filmmakers and the ‘Creative Hustle’: gender and film production between the local and the transnational Robin Steedman Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Department of African Languages and Cultures SOAS University of London 1 Candidate Declaration I have read and understood Regulation 21 of the General and Admissions Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________ 2 Abstract This thesis examines Nairobi-based female filmmakers and is situated critically between women’s cinema studies, African screen media studies, transnational film studies, and creative and cultural industries. I seek to examine and explain the factors that have allowed for the highly unusual flourishing of women in a global industry (the film industry) that is male dominated in almost every context and circumstance. In Nairobi, the most critically acclaimed filmmakers – both directors and producers – are women, and yet this phenomenon has received remarkably little attention. This is the first full length study of Nairobi-based female filmmakers and the industry in which they work. I examine Nairobi as a locus of cross border artistic, commercial, and institutional networks that directly contributes to the flourishing of a female filmmaker centric screen media culture. These filmmakers work within an environment of media convergence where they fluidly shift between features, television, documentary and other forms, and I argue because of their skills and social positioning as middle class and transnationally connected, they are able to benefit from this environment of media convergence. I move beyond a nationally bounded approach to focus on transnational connectivity in terms of screen media production, financing, and circulation. I study locally based and transnationally connected modes of production such as One Fine Day Films and Docubox (the East African Documentary film fund) and explore how female filmmakers negotiate transnational circuits of cinema. A key argument of this thesis is that to understand Nairobi-based female filmmakers they must be studied from both a local and a transnational perspective. Throughout this thesis I foreground the agency and entrepreneurialism of Nairobi-based female filmmakers, and show that they have built a vibrant screen media industry, despite facing precarious circumstances, because of their shared willingness to creatively and entrepreneurially hustle. 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost I owe my profound thanks to my supervisor, Lindiwe Dovey, for her incredible mentorship over the course of my PhD research. Without her careful guidance and rigorous questioning, this thesis would not be what it is today. I owe my heartfelt thanks to the many people in Nairobi who so generously gave of their time to be interviewed, and who so openly shared their experiences, successes, and failures so that I could begin to understand their incredibly vibrant film industry. Judy Kibinge, Hawa Essuman, Ng’endo Mukii, Wanuri Kahiu, Mildred Achoch, Jennifer Gatero, Dorothy Ghettuba, Ndanu Kilonzo, Lucille Kahara, Toni Kamau, Barbara Karuana, Zippy Kimundu, Wanjiru Kinyanjui, Jackie Lebo, Liz Lenjo, Natasha Likimani, Appie Matere, Njoki Muhoho, Anne Mungai, Isabel Munyua, Jinna Mutune, Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann, Wangechi Ngugi, Emily Wanja, Dommie Yambo-Odotte, Florence Onyango, and Mugambi Nithiga – without your provocations this thesis would be but a shadow of its current self. My appreciation also goes to SOAS University of London for providing me with the fieldwork grant that enabled me to spend so much time in Nairobi. I was lucky in my first year at SOAS to be included in the stimulating research seminars hosted by the CCLPS and the Gender Centre, and my thanks go to the leaders of these seminars, Gina Heathcote, Nadje Al-Ali, Ruba Salih, and Karima Laachir for welcoming me into these spaces. Richard Reid and Marie Rodet deserve my thanks for their guidance on my upgrade chapter and vital questions asked during the formation of my research. I owe further thanks to friends and colleagues in the Centre for Film Studies – and particularly Marcos Centeno, Kerstin Fooken, and Mike Thomas – and to Carli Coetzee and the Journal of African Cultural Studies reading group for stimulating discussions on the academic subjects about which I am so passionate. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Estrella Sendra for her invaluable assistance making maps of screening venues in Nairobi. Writing this thesis was the most challenging thing I have ever done, and it would have been impossible without the support of so many friends undertaking parallel PhD journeys. Magdalena Suerbaum, Nadeschda Bachem, Haje Keli, 4 Maddalena Italia, Lucrezia Botti, Poonam Gunaseelan, Miriam Pahl, Chinmay Sharma, Soung-U Kim, Sarah Delius, Maddalena Procopio, Luisa Calvete Portela Barbosa – thank you for your wonderfully enriching friendships. I owe unending thanks to my family for supporting my desire to study African screen media and for always believing in me. Finally, Julian, writing my thesis allowed me to meet you and correspondingly to know perfect happiness. Thank you. 5 Table of contents CANDIDATE DECLARATION ............................................................................................................. 2 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................................. 8 LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................. 9 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 10 PART 1: GENDER AND FEMINIST THEORY ............................................................................................ 12 1.1 DEFINING GENDER ............................................................................................................................................. 12 1.2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER AND FEMINIST THEORY IN AFRICA ........................................................ 14 PART 2: GENDER ANALYSIS AND AFRICAN FILM SCHOLARSHIP .......................................................... 19 2.1 GENDER, SPECTATORSHIP, AND FILM CIRCULATION ............................................................................... 25 2.2 NAIROBI-BASED FEMALE FILMMAKERS IN THE LITERATURE ..................................................................... 29 PART 3: POWER DYNAMICS AND ‘AFRICAN FILM’ PRODUCTION ......................................................... 32 3.1: LABOUR AND ENTREPRENEURIALISM IN SCREEN MEDIA PRODUCTION .................................................. 32 3.2 ‘ART HOUSE’ VERSUS ‘POPULAR’ FILMMAKING IN AFRICA .......................................................................... 35 3.3 FROM ‘AFRICAN FILM’ TO ‘AFRICAN SCREEN MEDIA’ ............................................................................. 42 PART 4: LOCAL AND TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES: AFROPOLITANISM AND AFRICAN CITIES SCHOLARSHIP ......................................................................................................................................... 45 PART 5: RESEARCH METHODS .............................................................................................................. 51 PART 6: CHAPTER OUTLINES ................................................................................................................ 58 CHAPTER 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 60 QUESTIONING WOMEN’S CINEMA: THEMATIC COHERENCE AND STYLISTIC DIFFERENCE IN THE FILMS OF NAIROBI-BASED FEMALE FILMMAKERS ....................... 60 PART 1: APPROACHING THEME AND STYLE ........................................................................................
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