Political Reading Method
African political cinema is not limited to films about parties, elections or governments. It can also appear through bodies, language, archives, censorship, memory, distribution, gender, class, violence and public debate.
Not started60 minutes
Sexualities, Witchcraft, Family Secrets and Censorship
Rafiki, I Am Not a Witch and On Becoming a Guinea Fowl show how sexuality, accusation, taboo and family secrets can become public political fields. Censorship and controversy are part of how these films circulate.
Lesson goal
Analyze sexuality, taboo, witchcraft, family secrecy and censorship as public political issues.
Module
Gender, Bodies, Sexualities and Social Resistance
Course progress
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Lesson player area
Formation 05 lecture placeholder · Sexualities, Witchcraft, Family Secrets and Censorship
0:00-0:20
Political Context
Situate sexualities, witchcraft, family secrets and censorship through history, institutions, public debate and conditions of circulation.
0:20-0:40
Film Analysis
Read images, sound, language, performance, space, censorship and narrative form as political choices.
0:40-1:00
Unga Practice
Transform the political reading into a Shot Atlas note, CineMap entry, CineUbuntu debate or programming brief.
Lesson reading
Applied Political Analysis
Rafiki, I Am Not a Witch and On Becoming a Guinea Fowl show how sexuality, accusation, taboo and family secrets can become public political fields. Censorship and controversy are part of how these films circulate.
Key concepts and examples
SexualityTabooWitchcraftFamily secretCensorship
Separate the political subject of a film from the political form of the film.
Ask who speaks, who is silenced, who circulates the image and who is allowed to watch.
Case study and prompts
Discussion prompt
Where does the film become political: in its subject, its form, its production context, its censorship, its audience or its circulation?
Exercise prompt
Compare one censored or controversial film with one film about social accusation or family secrecy.
Practice
Apply this lesson
Work through the exercises and complementary resources after reading the lesson.
Open practice
Quiz
Check your understanding
Answer 2 questions, review explanations and continue when ready.
Take quiz