Challenging established views and assumptions about traditions and practices of filmmaking in the African diaspora, this three-volume set offers readers a researched critique on black film. Volume One of this landmark series on African cinema draws together foundational scholarship on its history and evolution. Beginning with the ideological project of colonial film to legitimize the economic exploitation and cultural hegemony of the African continent during imperial rule to its counter-historical formation and theorization. It comprises essays by film scholars and filmmakers alike, among them Roy Armes, Med Hondo, Fèrid Boughedir, Haile Gerima, Oliver Barlet, Teshome Gabriel, and David Murphy, including three distinct dossiers: a timeline of key dates in the history of African cinema; a comprehensive chronicle and account of the contributions by African women in cinema; and a homage and overview of Ousmane Sembène, the "Father" of African cinema.

From the proselytizing lantern slides of early Christian missionaries to contemporary films that look at Africa through an African lens, N. Frank Ukadike explores the development of black African cinema. He examines the impact of culture and history, and of technology and co-production, on filmmaking throughout Africa. Every aspect of African contact with and contribution to cinematic practices receives attention: British colonial cinema; the thematic and stylistic diversity of the pioneering "francophone" films; the effects of television on the motion picture industry; and patterns of television documentary filmmaking in "anglophone" regions. Ukadike gives special attention to the growth of independent production in Ghana and Nigeria, the unique Yoruba theater-film tradition, and the militant liberationist tendencies of "lusophone" filmmakers. He offers a lucid discussion of oral tradition as a creative matrix and the relationship between cinema and other forms of popular culture. And, by contrasting "new" African films with those based on the traditional paradigm, he explores the trends emerging from the eighties and nineties. Clearly written and accessible to specialist and general reader alike, Black African Cinema's analysis of key films and issues—the most comprehensive in English—is unique. The book's pan-Africanist vision heralds important new strategies for appraising a cinema that increasingly attracts the attention of film students and Africanists.

On African cinema

This comprehensive annotated bibliography reviews nearly 500 English-language studies published between 1915 and 2001 that examine the depiction of ethnic, racial, and national groups as portrayed in United States feature films from the inception of cinema through the present. Coverage includes books, reference works, book chapters within larger works, and individual essays from collections and anthologies. Concise annotations provide content summaries; unique features; major films and filmmakers discussed; and useful information on related titles, purpose, and intended readership. The studies included range from specialized scholarly treatises to popular illustrated books for general readers, making ^IProjecting Ethnicity and Race^R an invaluable resource for researchers interested in ethnic and racial film imagery. Entries are arranged alphabetically by title for easy access, while four separate indexes make the work simple to navigate by author, subject, gender, race, ethnic group, nationality, country, religion, film title, filmmaker, performer, or theme. Although the majority of studies published examine images of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Asians in film, the volume contains studies of groups including Africans, Arabs, the British, Canadians, South Sea Islanders, Tibetans, Buddhists, and Muslims—making it a unique reference book with a wide range of uses for a wide range of scholars.

This third edition of the Reference Guide to Africa explains the most important resources for the study of the continent of Africa. It contains a general sources section and a larger disciplinary oriented section. All sources are annotated. A new edition is sorely needed since the last edition was published nine years ago. The previous editions have been successfully used in research libraries worldwide since 1999, and it has been used to teach several African studies research courses. The book provides an orientation for researching almost any topic in the arts, humanities and social sciences concerning the continent of Africa, and all of its countries and ethnic groups. The first part explains and lists portals, databases, bibliographies, indexes, guides, encyclopedias, country sources, biography, primary sources, government publications, and statistics. The second part presents 16 subject-oriented chapters, mostly in the arts, humanities and social sciences, from agriculture and food security to women studies. It covers sources that broadly cover the continent, or in some cases only North Africa (and the Middle East). It generally excludes sources limited to one country or region of Africa, except for North Africa because of the nature of the literature. One-third of the sources in this edition are new, and nearly half of them are available in electronic format. There are author/title and subject indexes. This unique work is intended for students, teachers, librarians, and researchers. It likely will be used most by reference librarians and teachers for students in high school through graduate studies. It will also be used independently by undergraduate and graduate students. It can be used to answer simple reference questions, provide the resources for an undergraduate paper, or for comprehensive work by advanced students and researchers.

Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1977, Africa has established itself as the most popular introductory text for African studies courses in North America. This third edition has been completely revised and brought up to date since the 1986 edition, reflecting changes in African society and politics, and in the scholarship available on this vast and complex continent. Contents I. Introduction 1. Africa: Problems and Perspectives. Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O'Meara 2. The Contemporary Map of Africa. Michael L. McNulty II. The African Past 3. Prehistoric Africa. Kathy D. Schick 4. Aspects of Early African History. John Lamphear and Toyin Falola 5. Islam and African Societies. John H. Hanson 6. Africa and Europe before 1900. Curtis A. Keim 7. The Colonial Era. Sheldon Gellar 8. Decolonization, Independence, and the Failure of Politics. Edmond J. Keller III. Society and Culture 9. Social Organization in Africa. John C. McCall 10. Economic Life in African Villages and Towns. Mahir Saul 11. African Systems of Thought. Ivan Karp 12. African Art. Patrick McNaughton and Diane Pelrine 13. African Music Performed. Ruth M. Stone 14. Popular Culture in Urban Africa. Dele Jegede 15. African Literature. Eileen Julien 16. Social Change in Contemporary Africa. Claire Robertson 17. Law and Society in Contemporary Africa. Takyiwaa Manuh IV. Economics and Politics 18. African Politics since Independence. N. Brian Winchester 19. Economic Change in Contemporary Africa. Sara Berry 20. The African Development Crisis. Richard Stryker and Stephen N. Ndegwa 21. South Africa. C. R. D. Halisi and Patrick O'Meara Africana Resources for Undergraduates: A Bibliographic Essay. Nancy J. Schmidt

This volume brings together fifteen scholars from Africa, Europe and the United States to explore how Africa is represented in and through the performing arts and cinema. Essays include discussions of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, American influences on Nollywood, Nigerian video films, the representation of women in cinema, African dance in the diaspora, children’s music, and media portrayals of savagery from pop cinema through news reports of Ferguson, Missouri. Using a variety of methodologies and approaches, the contributors consider how African societies and cultures have been represented to themselves, to the continent at large, and in the diaspora. The volume represents an extended dialogue between African scholars and artists about the challenges of representing themselves and their respective societies within and without Africa. Many of the contributors are scholar-practitioners, offering practical guides on how to approach these performance and media forms as artists. As such, this book will serve as both model and building block for the next generation of representors, students, and audiences.