This book establishes more complex genealogies and revised histories of African film through an extension of the historical, geographical, and critical frameworks that have been deployed to analyse cinematic production from across the continent.

The traumas of conflict and war in postcolonial Africa have been widely documented, but less well known are their artistic representations. A number of recent films, novels and other art forms have sought to engage with and overcome postcolonial atrocities and to explore the attempts of reconciliation commissions towards peace, justice and forgiveness. This creativity reflects the memories and social identities of the artists, whilst offering a mirror to African and worldwide audiences coming to terms with a collective memory that is often traumatic in itself. The seeming paradox between creative representation and the reality of horrific events such as genocide presents challenges for the relationship between ethics, poetics and politics. In Art and Trauma in Africa, Lizelle Bisschoff and Stefanie Van de Peer bring together multiple ways of analyzing the ethical responsibility at the heart of an artist's decision to tackle such controversial and painful subjects. Also, to study trauma, conflict and reconciliation through art in a pan-African context offers new perspectives on a continent that is often misrepresented by the Western media. The inexpressible nature of atrocities that are the crux of how Africa is generally regarded from the outside is challenged with new art forms that in and of themselves question perception and interpretation. African artists are renewing the field of trauma studies through representing the unrepresentable in order to incessantly invigorate insights and theories. Art and Trauma in Africa examines a diverse range of art forms, from hip hop in Nigeria and dance in Angola to Moroccan films and South African literature, taking an original pan-African approach. It is in doing so that this groundbreaking volume will inspire those interested in African history and politics as well as those with an interest in trauma, cultural and artistic studies.

Women in African Cinema: Beyond the Body Politic showcases the very prolific but often marginalised presence of women in African cinema, both on the screen and behind the camera. This book provides the first in-depth and sustained examination of women in African cinema. Films by women from different geographical regions are discussed in case studies that are framed by feminist theoretical and historical themes, and seen through an anti-colonial, philosophical, political and socio-cultural cinematic lens. A historical and theoretical introduction provides the context for thematic chapters exploring topics ranging from female identities, female friendships, women in revolutionary cinema, motherhood and daughterhood, women's bodies, sexuality, and spirituality. Each chapter serves up a theoretical-historical discussion of the chosen theme, followed by two in-depth case studies that provide contextual and transnational readings of the films as well as outlining production, distribution and exhibition contexts. This book contributes to the feminist anti-racist revision of the canon by placing African women filmmakers squarely at the centre of African film culture. Demonstrating the depth and diversity of the feminine or female aesthetic in African cinema, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of African cinema, media studies and African studies.

Until recently, the story of African film was marked by a series of truncated histories: many outstanding films from earlier decades were virtually inaccessible and thus often excluded from critical accounts. However, various conservation projects since the turn of the century have now begun to make many of these films available to critics and audiences in a way that was unimaginable just a decade ago. In this accessible and lively collection of essays, Lizelle Bisschoff and David Murphy draw together the best scholarship on the diverse and fragmented strands of African film history. Their volume recovers over 30 'lost' African classic films from 1920-2010 in order to provide a more complex genealogy and begin to trace new histories of African filmmaking: from 1920s Egyptian melodramas through lost gems from apartheid South Africa to neglected works by great Francophone directors, the full diversity of African cinema will be revealed.

Women in African Cinema: Beyond the Body Politic showcases the very prolific but often marginalised presence of women in African cinema, both on the screen and behind the camera. This book provides the first in-depth and sustained examination of women in African cinema. Films by women from different geographical regions are discussed in case studies that are framed by feminist theoretical and historical themes, and seen through an anti-colonial, philosophical, political and socio-cultural cinematic lens. A historical and theoretical introduction provides the context for thematic chapters exploring topics ranging from female identities, female friendships, women in revolutionary cinema, motherhood and daughterhood, women's bodies, sexuality, and spirituality. Each chapter serves up a theoretical-historical discussion of the chosen theme, followed by two in-depth case studies that provide contextual and transnational readings of the films as well as outlining production, distribution and exhibition contexts. This book contributes to the feminist anti-racist revision of the canon by placing African women filmmakers squarely at the centre of African film culture. Demonstrating the depth and diversity of the feminine or female aesthetic in African cinema, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of African cinema, media studies and African studies.

The traumas of conflict and war in postcolonial Africa have been widely documented, but less well-known are their artistic representations. A number of recent films, novels and other art forms have sought to engage with and overcome post-colonial atrocities and to explore the attempts of reconciliation commissions towards peace, justice and forgiveness. This creativity reflects the memories and social identities of the artists, whilst offering a mirror to African and worldwide audiences coming to terms with a collective memory that is often traumatic in itself. Questioning perception and interpretation, these new art forms challenge the inexpressible nature of atrocities. This groundbreaking volume will inspire those interested in African history and politics as well as broader cultural and artistic studies.