Scribner Seminar Titles
Fall 2007
SSP-100 (001) Africa Through Its Changing Cinema
Hédi Jaouad, Professor of French
In this seminar, we explore through film and other visual documents the causes and
effects of colonialism on the African people, their society, and their culture. The
colonial experience, in all its political and psychological aspects, provides a historical,
economic, social, and aesthetic context in which to study and understand African film.
Although our main focus is Sub-Saharan Africa from the Second World War to the present,
we will refer, whenever pertinent, to the North African filmmaking experience in our
discussions. We will examine the practice of filmmaking in Africa, the forces that
shape this practice, and strategies of reading this creative medium.