Africa’s Lost Classics : New Histories of African Cinema
- Submitting institution
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University of Strathclyde
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 85694609
- Type
- B - Edited book
- DOI
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- Publisher
- Legenda
- ISBN
- 9781907975516
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- September
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The volume emerged from almost a decade of research collaboration between the co-editors, centred on their programming and curatorial activities for Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival (www.africa-in-motion.org.uk). Research funding from AHRC and Carnegie (with Murphy serving as PI) allowed the editors to programme strands on ‘Lost African Classics’, initially focusing on directors from Francophone West Africa and then expanding to female directors from across the continent. Their research not only identified films for inclusion but contextualised them in discussions and masterclasses. The volume builds on the work done in these funded projects—which involved extensive archival research—and provides a far-reaching exploration of theoretical, aesthetic, institutional and ideological issues (in the introduction, and in Section One), and by providing a wide-ranging series of case studies, analysing films from across the continent (Section Two).
As this is the first in-depth critical work available that allows critics and students to gain an overview of the cinematic, political and historical issues at stake in the ‘re-emergence’ of these films, the editors were conscious throughout of the canon-forming contribution of their editorial process. This volume thus constitutes an academic reflection on the implications of the increased but still partial availability of Africa’s cinematic heritage and what this means for our understanding of the history and genealogy of African cinema.
Beyond the overall architecture of the volume to which both editors contributed equally, Murphy makes three contributions (totalling just over 20,000 words): the co-authored introduction, which explores issues around genealogies of film and the processes of canon formation; and two single-authored chapters, one providing a reassessment of the origins of Francophone West African cinema, the other analysing a Nigerian/British film in the case studies section.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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