New Nations, Anxious Citizens: Social Change and Filmmaking in the West African Sahel, 1950--1980

283 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.This dissertation examines the first generation of Sahelien filmmakers, their films, and the broader Sahelien film industry as mechanisms of change in the Sahel---in particular in Senegal, Mali, and Niger---from the time of independence to circa 1980. This dissertation considers the complex roles of Sahelien filmmakers as a cadre of African public intellectuals, cultural critics, artists and activists who utilized films as platforms for commentary on colonialism, decolonization, Islam and migration between the Sahel and France during the post-colonial era. This project seeks to go beyond our dominant literature on African film---which looks primarily at the politics of production in the French and African film industries---to concentrate on the role that film and filmmaking played within the Sahel itself. Furthermore, this study investigates the nature of Sahelien film audiences and their viewpoints on African and Western cinema; coverage of film-related events from indigenous Sahelien presses; examines Sahelien film writing and film criticism; and offers analysis of major themes in the films that address (and in some instances remain silent) social issues being debated across the region from 1950 to 1980. The thesis seeks to demonstrate the value of African film as a tool with which to facilitate a more complete appreciation of the social history of the West African Sahel.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD