What is it about?

This article explores the theme of identity construction in African films by focusing on the ways in which select Nollywood films of the early and late 2000s and early 2010s frame and construct foreignness and foreign societies. The study thematically specifies the significant use of labels, stereotypes and certain orthodoxies that aim to frame and characterize foreign societies in popular Nigerian films and suggests some broader implications of the findings.

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Why is it important?

The value of this study lies in a number of motivations. First, the issue of identity construction through the media and popular culture is central to cultural and communication studies. Second, while a growing number of researches have been done on Nigeria’s exponential film industry, Nollywood, there is little engagement with the topical issue of identity politics and more so, the ways in which race and foreignness are portrayed and critiqued in African cinema.

Perspectives

This article explored a close analysis of select popular Nollywood films with themes on transnational migration and identity tourism. Using the critical race framework, the study demonstrates how filmmakers and cultural producers used specific labels, images, exaggerations, stereotypes and certain orthodoxies to represent and construct identities around foreign races and foreign societies in these films. It is also clear how three of the films utilized comedy to drive salient messages around identity construction, further highlighting the importance of humour in approaching conversations on difficult topics.

Dr Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam
Rhodes University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Oppositional gaze or revenge? A critical ideological analysis of foreignness and foreign identities in Nollywood feature films, Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, April 2021, Intellect,
DOI: 10.1386/cjcs_00042_1.
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