Document details

Cinema in Ghana: History, Ideology and Popular Culture

Bergen: University of Bergen (2011), 303 pp.
"Cinema in Ghana- History, Ideology and Popular Culture, is an attempt to start a dialogue about national cinema in Ghana. The primary purpose of this thesis is not simply to provide a historical account of cinema in Ghana, but rather to question and dialogue with the history in order to locate the texts and contexts that inform a national cinema here. The thesis takes as a point of departure the broader political, cultural and aesthetic nuances of filmmaking in Africa and then focuses on the specific case of Ghana. The literature available on cinema in Africa suggest heterogeneous and complex practices which implicate serious political and cultural discourses, but also offer the mundane entertainment value often associated with popular cultural products. Cinema in Ghana begins by questioning African cinema, and opens up complex discourses of identity, ownership, cultural mediation, industrial and economic practices and the influence of globalisation on the iconography of African films. To understand African cinema is to interrogate issues of ideology, narrative, aesthetics, the economics of ownership and the role or social value of the cinematic product. This thesis is an attempt to identify a national cinema in Ghana as a microcosm of cinema in Africa." (Abstract, page 4)
1 Approaches to African Cinema, 20
2 Film and History, 55
3 National Cinema - Concepts and Methods, 80
4 Early Cinema in Ghana (1900-1938), 97
5 From Propaganda to Educational Cinema (1939-1957), 126
6 Cinema after Independence (1957-1970), 154
7 Introspective Filmmaking in Ghana (1970-1988), 173
8 The Emergence of Video-Films, 195
9 Video-Films- Criticisms and Debates, 214
10 Video-Film Practice in Ghana (2000-2009), 229
11 Questions of National Cinema in Ghana, 252