Identity in Postmillennial German Films on Africa

This book reveals the silent replications of the myths inherent in cross cultural film narratives. Locating Germany as the metropolitan centre and Africa as the alternative space, the book raises questions on the best practice of telling the story of the other. It thus examines bodies and spaces and how they have been assigned or denied agency.

This book is a literary and cultural investigation of the different levels of identity as revealed in German films on and about Africa. Taking sexual, spatial, linguistic and body identities as its core concern, the book elucidates how the contemporary German film narratives on Africa binarize bordeline cultural and geographical identities. While this binarism assigns the metropolitan status to the German, the African is relegated to the margins in the human socio-geocultural aspects. The book contradicts this kind of binary narration as it argues that trans-border identities are fraught with complexities that cannot be simply straitjacketed. It celebrates those moments where the narratives challenge the existing boundaries at the interstice between the North and the South. It further celebrates the moments where the film narratives recognize the complexity of cultures by acknowledging the disruptiveness and continuities of linguistic, cultural, sexual, spatial and body identities especially at the contact zone of Germany and Africa.

Autorentext

Shikuku Emmanuel Tsikhungu studied Literature and Theatre Arts at Kenyatta University (Kenya) and carried out research at the Free University of Berlin (Germany). He currently teaches in the Department of Theatre Arts and Film Technology of Kenyatta University where he offers courses in Theatre and Film Studies.

Inhalt
Contents: Identity Sexuality Space Language Germany Kenya South Africa Colonialism Postcolonialism Achille Mbembe Tanzania Languages Tropes of Colonialism Agency Mission civilisatrice.