The Representation of Globalization in Films About Africa A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Abdullah H. Mohammed August 2012 © 2012 Abdullah H. Mohammed. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled The Representation of Globalization in Films About Africa by ABDULLAH H. MOHAMMED has been approved for the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and the College of Fine Arts by Michael B. Gillespie Assistant Professor of Film Charles A. McWeeny Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 ABSTRACT MOHAMMED, ABDULLAH H., Ph.D., August 2012, Interdisciplinary Arts The Representation of Globalization in Films About Africa (200 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Michael B. Gillespie This dissertation explores how films about Africa depict contemporary economic globalization. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which narrative styles and visual imagery are used to project themes of economic globalization and how these styles are ideologically framed to reflect the neoliberal economic policies in Africa. By concentrating upon the ways in which these films represent globalization, this project breaks from the popular tendency in discussions related to cinema and globalization in Africa to apply a political economy approach that focuses mainly on the socioeconomic and political structures of film industry in Africa. Accordingly, this dissertation generates a dialogue between the art of cinema and the critical discourse on globalization through a theoretical framework informed by African cinema, social realist cinema, and Third Cinema. This dialogue is developed as the dissertation responds to two posed basic questions: What socioeconomic realities in regard to economic globalization are presented in contemporary films about Africa? And, secondly, what cinematic modalities are used to narrativize these socioeconomic realities? The study focuses on four films: Hyenas (Djibril Diop Mambety, 1992); Bamako (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006); Darwin's Nightmare (Hubert Sauper, 2004); End of the Rainbow (Robert Nugent, 2007). It includes an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction provides a brief overview of the study and a literature 4 review. Chapter one offers a discussion on the Hyenas focusing on the violence associated with the implementation of the neoliberal economic policies in Africa. Chapter two is an analysis of Bamako centering on the destructive nature of the economic globalization. Chapter three provides an examination of documentary film depiction of the agent of economic globalization as reflected in End of the Rainbow and Darwin’s Nightmare. The conclusion finalizes the discussion with some recurring insights regarding the general representation of economic globalization in films about Africa. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Michael B. Gillespie Assistant Director of Film 5 DEDICATION To My mother, Rehema Mussa Mohammed, who, even though she has never been to school herself, never retreated from challenging me to stay focused and from policing my academic life by kicking me off my bed at dawn to get ready to go to school during my early days of academic journey, or by repeatedly asking me in the recent past months, “when are you coming back?” and to the memory of my father, Hamza Mohammed Ali (May Allah rest his soul in peace), who provided me with opportunities to explore my own career and taught me how to live. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS An undertaking like the writing of a dissertation depends on inspirations, support, understanding, and encouragement of a countless number of individuals. Unfortunately, space cannot accommodate an extensive list of individuals who helped me directly or indirectly during the course of writing this dissertation. However, I take this opportunity to thank those that I can quickly recall, and those without whom this work would not have seen the light of realization. I thank my academic advisor and my dissertation director, Dr. Michael B. Gillespie, for his inspiration, guidance, and generous mentorship. His advice from the conception of this study through the proposal writing and later the actual writing of this project was instrumental in shaping this dissertation into the form it is now. I am indebted to the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Andrea Frohne, Dr. Ghirmai Negash, and Dr. Marina Peterson, for their invaluable feedback, insight, and guidance. Their quick responses and invaluable comments fashioned my thoughts to this printable text. Dr. Dora Wilson, the director of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts, deserves special thanks for her continued support, encouragement, and her tireless attention to my questions. My thanks are to the rest of the faculty of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at the Ohio University – Dr. William Condee, Dr. Charles Buchanan, and Dr. Vladmir Marchenkov – for their relentless patience and unwavering direction. I really appreciate their thoughtful academic advising that sharpened not only my writing but also my thinking through my academic life at Ohio University. I wish to extend my gratitude to Brenda Llewellyn for tolerantly managing my administrative issues. 7 I would like to thank the School of Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University for offering me a three year graduate assistantship and the University of Dar es Salaam for granting me a study leave and financial support for the duration of my studies in the United States. I would also like to thank the African Studies Program at Ohio University specifically Dr. Steve Howard, and LKCCAP particularly Dr. Thomas Smucker and Dr. Edna Wangui, for the financial support I received at crucial moments during the writing of my dissertation. Their funding stopped me from quitting, packing, and going at the times when funds from other sources ended. I wish to express my thanks to the administration of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Dar es Salaam and to my colleagues who supported my initiative to challenge myself for the doctoral program. I am specifically grateful to the head of department, Dr. Herbert Makoye, and to Professor Amandina Lihamba for their corroboration and inexorable support in resolving many of the crises I faced in the course of my studies be them administrative and/or financial. I am thankful to Dr. Ryan DeRosa for his belief in me and for his insightful advising during my first two years in the program. His ideas molded my perception in film studies and informed my analytical stance on cinematic texts. I am indebted to my friend and peer advisor, Dr. Spreelin MacDonald, for his intellectual nourishment, generous time set for brainstorming on weekly basis at Baker Center’s Front Room, for reviewing my proposal drafts, and for his patience to listen to at times meaningless points that I was trying to make. His mentoring and unswerving help constitute a model and have left a permanent mark on my academic and personal life. 8 Special thanks to my friend and personal advisor, Dr. Raphael Mutepa and his family. His diligent advising and indefatigable reviewing of the first drafts of this dissertation were instrumental to the completion of this study and of my graduate program in general. I am grateful to him for spending countless evenings either face-to- face or over the phone discussing points that I was grappling with to make this a readable document. My thanks also go to my friends, Abdulmajeed Alsaadoun, Stephen Ndibalema, Salah Elsheitami, Francis Semwaza, Abobo Kumbalonah, Kingsley Antwi-Bosieko, Edwina Lebbie, and Jacob Okumu for their moral and material support. To Dr. Frowin Nyoni and Dr. Augustin Hatar for their valuable support and just recruitment at the beginning of my career at the University of Dar es Salaam, and to Professor Mbye Cham for proposing globalization films about Africa from which I got a sample for my study. I am thankful also to Dr. Francis Godwyll for his constructive ideas during the brainstorming session that led to designing this dissertation, and to my editor, Patricia L. H. Black, for her sharp eye and editorial skills that not only have cleared most of the errors but also polished my work. Most notably, I would like to thank my immediate and extended family – my mother, Rehema Mussa Mohammed; my father, Hamza Mohammed Ali (R.I.P.); my siblings Mussa, Mohammed, Jokha, Gharib, Ahmad, Faried, Biache, Fatawi, Abass, and Seif – for their love, constant belief in me, and unconditional support that has been a constant expression of their confidence in my academic pursuit. Without their encouragement, moral and financial support, I would not have academically and 9 substantially ascended this far. I am indebted to my father and mother-in-law, Kassim Ali Khamis and Fatma Abdallah Nassor respectively, for taking care of my wife and children during my seven years in the United States. Finally, I am especially grateful to my wife, Khadija Kassim Ali, and our three children Munir, Yaser, and Fatma. I am thankful for her patience and for understanding the challenges I was facing in my academic endeavor and for not complaining over my abandonment of the family. Instead, she chose to motivate me and to accept the burden of taking care of our children alone and of frequently answering their streams of questions, “where is my father?” and “when is he coming back?” To all I say, “Asanteni Sana.” 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………… 3 Dedication