African Religions

This chapter is an exploration into religious images and imaginaries expressed in and constructed by African films. The driving premise is that a discussion around African religion and film requires that we pay attention to self-definition and circulation, as these features contribute to the shaping of the category of “religion” in African contexts and the developments of African film. This chapter argues that both African religions and African film have been immersed in processes of self-definition that construct ideas of authenticity, identity, and formation of African subjectivities in the wake of slavery, colonialism, and neoliberalism. Where, how, and for whom these ideas circulate inform religious imaginaries. The core argument is that there is a dynamic and creative relation between how religion is addressed, defined, and presented in film and where and how the films circulate. The approach in this chapter thus prioritizes looking at how religion and film contribute to the construction, disruption, and negotiation of society’s varied imaginaries. In other words, religion in/and film relate to and are infused by specific societal dynamics, and in order to flesh out these mechanisms, an analysis is provided of how a number of films link the “religious” to questions of change, tradition and modernity, sexuality, and ecology on the African continent.