N. Frank Ukadike
Curriculum Vitae
Education
1989
Ph.D. in Cinema Studies, New York University
Dissertation: Black African Cinema
1986
M.A. in Cinema Studies, New York University
1982
M.A. in Film and Telecommunication, University of Oregon
Thesis: The Man Died, 16mm, 45 min., sync sound
1980
B.A. in Fine Arts (specializing in Film/TV/Animation) Croydon College, London, England
Professional Experience
July 2000 to present
Tulane University, New Orleans
Associate Professor, Department of Communication, and Program in African and African Diaspora Studies.
July 2003-present
Acting Director, African and African Diaspora Studies.
July 1998 to June 2000
Tulane University, New Orleans
Assistant Professor.
Courses Taught:
Comm 327. Authors and Genres, Comm/ADST 481. African Cinema, Comm 482-02. Third World Cinema, Comm/ADST 482-03. Cultural Issues in Cinema, Comm 481-03. History of World Cinema, Comm 360. Documentary Film, Comm 215. Film Analysis. ADST 200-01. Introduction to African and African Diaspora Studies, Comm. 115: Introduction to Cinema.
September 1990 to June 1998
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Assistant Professor, Program in Film and Video Studies, and Center for Afroamerican and African Studies.
Courses Taught:
FV/AAS 440. African Cinema, FV 420, Documentary Film, FV 442. Third World Cinema and The Cinema of Resistance, FV/AAS 470. Cultural Issues in Cinema, FV 360. History of World Cinema, Comm. 521. History of the Motion Picture. Comm. 500. Perspectives in Third World Media, and AAS 105. Introduction to African Studies.
Summer, 1991
Indiana University, Bloomington
Visiting Scholar,
Taught: Comm. 360. Film and Society: Third World Cinema.
Summer, 1990
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Distinguished Scholar in Residence,
Taught: Comm. 497B. Third World Cinema.
January-May, 1990
San Francisco State University, San Francisco
Visiting Scholar
Courses Taught: Film 101. Introduction to Film, Film 308. Perspectives in Third World Cinema, and Film 730. Semiology Film (Non-Narrative Film).
1986-1988
Cooper Union For The Advancement of Arts and Science, New York
Teaching Assistant.
1985-1986
Documentary Tradition, New York University, New York City
Teaching Assistant.
Co-Editor, Cinema Studies Department Journal.
1982-1984
Media Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Lecturer/Arts Fellow in Department of Theatre Arts.
Courses taught: THA 300. Introduction to Film Production THA 50l. Advanced Film Production THA 30l. Video Production THA 460. Introduction to Television Production THA 345. Introduction to Communication Arts THA 435. Drama and the Media Arts THA 500. Broadcast and Film THA 360. Film History THA 520. Film Analysis
1975-1977
Image Makers Ltd., Lagos, Nigeria
Senior Creative, Artist/Assistant Manager.
Designed advertising layouts for television, newspapers and magazines; campaign proposals for launching of new products, finish artwork, planning and presentation, media analysis and audience survey.
1974-1975
Metro Media ltd., Lagos, Nigeria
Graphic Artist, Advertising design, layout and finish artwork.
Publications
Books
Black African Cinema (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1994.
Questioning African Cinema: Conversations with Filmmakers (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 2002.
Ed., Breaking Canons: Reformulating African Cinematic Discourse (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), 2004 (forthcoming).
Guest Editor: IRIS: A Journal of Theory on Image and Sound, no. 18, (Special Issue on African Cinema, Spring 1995).
Journal Articles
"African Video-Films: An Alternate Reality," Correspondence, Issue no. 8, Summer/Fall 2001, pp. 13-14.
"Images of the 'Reel' Thing: Video Booms and the Emergence of a New Cultural Art in Anglophone Africa," Social Identities, vol. 6, no. 3, September 2000, pp. 242-261.
"The Hyena's Last Laugh: A Conversation with Djibril Diop Mambety," Transition, no. 78, 1999 pp. 136-153.
"Djibril and Aesthetics: Touki-Bouki, A Film of Rupture," Ecrans d'Afrique/African Screen no. 24 second semester, 1998, pp.26 - 33. Reprint from Ukadike, Black African Cinema (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994)
"New Discourses of African Cinema," Introduction to IRIS, no. 18, Spring 1995, pp. 1 - 3.
"The Other Voices of Documentary: Allah Tantou and Afrique je te Plumerai," IRIS, no. 18, Spring 1995 (Special Issue on African Cinema), pp. 81-94.
"African Cinematic Reality: The Documentary as an Emerging Trend," Research in African Literatures, vol. 26, no. 3, Fall 1995, pp. 88 - 96.
"Reclaiming Images of Women in Films from Africa and the African Diaspora" Frontiers: Journal of Women Studies, vol. xv, no. 1 (Spring/Summer, 1994), pp. 102-122.
"African Cinema: A Retrospective and a Vision for the Future" Critical Arts : A Journal for Cultural Studies, vol. 7, nos. 1 and 2, 1993, pp. 43-60.
"Framing FESPACO: Pan-African Cinema in Context," Afterimage, vol. 19, no. 4, Nov.1991, pp. 6-9.
"Western Film Images of Africa: Genealogy of an Ideological Formulation," The Black Scholar, vol. 21, no. 2, 1991, pp. 30-48.
"Anglophone African Media," Jump Cut, no. 36, pp. 74-80.
"Representing Native Kenya on Film: Lorang's Way and the Turkana People." UFAHAMU, vol. XVII, no. l. Fall 1988, pp.3-14.
"Depictions of Africa in Documentary," Black Film Review, vol. 4, no. l, Winter 87/88, pp. 13-15.
"Theatre On the Screen: A Critical Analysis of Nigerian Television Programs," Studies in African Theatre, vol. 2, nos. 1&2, 1985, pp.191 - 197.
Book Chapters
"Images of the 'Reel' Thing: Video Booms and the Emergence of a New Cultural Art in Anglophone Africa" in Jude Akudinobi, ed., Africa and Its Imaginary (Oxford: Dartmouth Press), forthcoming.
"Video Booms and the Manifestations of "First" Cinema in Anglophone Africa" in Anthony Guneratne and Wimal Dissanayake, eds., Rethinking Third Cinema (New York: Routledge, 2003), pp.126-143.
"New Developments in Black African Cinema" in Olu Oguibe and Okwui Enwezor, eds., Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to Marketplace (London: Institute of International Visual Arts, 1999), pp. 167-213. Reprint from Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike, Black African Cinema (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994).
"African Cinema," in John Hill and Pamela Church Gibson, eds,. Oxford Guide to Film Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp 569 -575.
"Stimmen des Dokumentarfilms Allah Tantou und Afrique, je te plumerai, in Marie-Hélèn Gutberlet und Hans-Peter Metzler (Hg.), Afrikanisches Kino, arte edition (Bad Honnef Germany: Horlemann Press, 1997), pp. 161-174.
"Reclaiming Images of Women in Films from Africa and the African Diaspora," in Ira Jaffe and Diana Robin, eds., Redirecting the Gaze: Gender, Theory, and Cinema in the Third World (New York: SUNY University Press, 1996), pp 127 - 149. First published in Frontiers: Journal of Women Studies, vol. xv, no. 1 (Spring/Summer, 1994), pp. 102-122.
"The Creation of an African Film Aesthetic/Language for Representing African Realities," in Sheila Petty, Cinema Voices: Ousmane Sembene (London: Flicks Books, 1996), pp. 105 - 117.
"African Cinema: A Retrospective and a Vision For the Future," in Gaston Kaboré, ed., Africa and the Centenary of Cinema (Paris/Dakar: Présence Africaine), 1995. First published in Critical Arts, vol. 7, no. 1&2, 1993.
"Towards An African Cinema" in Michael T. Martin, ed., Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1996), pp.167 - 180. First published in Transition: An International Review no. 63, 1994 pp 150-163.
"New Developments in Black African Cinema" in Michael T.Martin, ed., Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality. (Detroit:Wayne State University Press, 1996), pp. 204 - 240. Reprinted from Ukadike, Black African Cinema (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), pp. 246 - 311.
"Reclaiming Images of Women in Films from Africa and the African Diaspora," in Mbye B. Cham, ed., African Experiences of Cinema (London: British Film Institute, 1996) pp.194-208. First published in Frontiers: Journal of Women Studies, vol. xv, no. 1 (Spring/Summer, 1994), pp. 102-122.
Review Articles
Library of African Cinema, California Newsreel/Resolution Inc. 1994, IRIS, no. 18, Spring, 1995, pp. 173-176
Blackframes: Critical Perspectives on Black Independent Cinema, Mbye B. Cham and Claire Andrade-Watkins, (eds.), Journal of Film and Video, vol. 44, no. 1-2 and,
Questions of Third Cinema, Jim Pines and Paul Willemen, (eds.), Journal of Film and Video, vol. 44, nos. 1&2 (Spring/Summer, 1992), pp. 121 - 127.
Yaaba (with Richard Porton) Burkina Faso, color, 90 mins., 1988, by Idrissa Ouedraogo, Film Quarterly vol. 44, no. 3, Spring 1991, pp. 55-57.)
Book Reviews
Directory of African Film-Makers and Films by Keith Shiri, ed., (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992, 194 pages), Research in African Literatures, vol. 26, no. 3, Fall 1995, pp. 206 - 208.
Twenty-Five Black African Filmmakers: A Critical Study, with Filmography and Bio-Bibliography by Françoise Pfaff, Cineaste, vol. XVI, no. 4, 1988, pp. 59-60.
The Cinema in Nigeria by Françoise Balogun, UFAHAMU, vol. XVII, no. l, Fall 1988, pp. 77-80.
Interviews
"In Guinea-Bissau, Cinema Trickles Down: An Interview with Flora Gomes," Research in African Literatures, vol. 26, no. 3, Fall 1995, pp. 179 - 185.
"Towards an African Cinema: Chief Eddie Ugbomah, Nigeria's Leading Independent Director Discusses Film, Finances, and the Obsolescence of the Jungle-Melodrama." Transition, no. 63, 1994, pp. 150-163.
Articles/Manuscripts Under Review
"Post-Apartheid South Africa's First Black Feature: Fools by Ramadan Suleman", in Ntogela Masilela (ed) Present Issues in South African Cinema (London: Routledge, 2003) under review.
"Video Booms and the Manifestations of 'First' Cinema in Anglophone Africa" submitted to Cinema Journal.
Conferences Attended and Papers Presented
2003
Participated in the Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.
2001
African Studies Association, Houston, Texas, November 15-18, 2001. Paper Presented: "The New South African "African" Cinema."
Pan African Film Festival (FESPACO), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa, February 24-March 5, 2001.
Society For Cinema Studies, Washington D.C., May 24-27. Paper Presented: "Post Apartheid South African Cinema."
2000
South African International Film and Television Market (Sithengi), Cape Town, November 13-16. Participated in the seminar, "What is African Cinema?"
European Union-South Africa Film Symposium (EU-SAFS), Johannesburg, 8-10 November. Participated in the National Film and Video Foundation deliberations.
Society for Cinema Studies, Chicago, Illinois, March 9 - 12, 2000. Participated in Black Caucus meetings.
1999
Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Florida Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, April 15-18. Chaired the panel on "Africa: Interiors and the Western View"; also presented a paper, "Ghanaian Video-Films 'Stopgap Measure' or Aesthetic Cul-de-Sac?"
1998
African Studies Association Conference, Chicago, October 29 - November 1. Paper Presented: "Ghanaian Video Films: 'Stopgap Measure" or Aesthetic Cull-de-sac?"
Society for Cinema Studies Conference, University of California, San Diego, April 3-7. Participated in the Black Caucus meetings.
1997
African Literature Association Conference, Michigan State University, East Lansing. Participated in the workshop, Critical Approaches to African Cinema.
Society For Cinema Studies Conference, Ottawa, Canada, May 15-18. Paper Presented: "Video Booms and the Manifestations of First Cinema in Anglophone Africa"
1996
African Studies Association Conference, San Francisco, California. Chaired the panel on "Africa's Own Image?: Media and Cultural Power."
"African Video "Film" Productions: The Emergence of a New Cultural, Art in Ghana and Nigeria," Paper presented at the March, 1995 Society for Cinema Studies Conference, University of North Texas, Dallas.
1995
Participated in the Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.
Commentator for the BBC Africa Network Program, Reviewed FESPACO with Kenya's filmmaker, Anne Mungai.
1994
Accra International Film Festival (AFEST), Accra, Ghana, West Africa. Paper presented: "Development of Film Industry in Africa".
African Literature Association Conference, Accra, Ghana. Paper presented: Discussion of research on A Questioning Cinema: Conversations with African Filmmakers.
Colloquium On "Exploring the Dimensions of Life in the Industrial Age." A research project of CAAS, University of Michigan. Paper presented: "African and Africanist Documentaries in a Transnational Era."
1993
National Council for Black Studies International Conference, Accra, Ghana. Paper presented: "Literature and Film in the Development of African Consciousness."
Modern Days Ancient Nights: Thirty Years of African Filmmaking, Brooklyn Museum. Participated in the Film Festival, discussions, and I interviewed Flora Gomes of Guinea-Bissau for my book project.
African Arts Today: Creativity, Aesthetics and Identity, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, March 12-13th. Paper presented: "African Cinema: Art and Ideology."
Pan-African Festival of Film and Television (FESPACO), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa, February 20-27th. Participated in the meetings of Committee of African Cineasts (CAC); interviewed several African Filmmakers for A Questioning Cinema: Conversations with Black African Filmmakers.
Society For Cinema Studies Conference, New Orleans, February ll-14th. Paper Presented: "African Women Filmmakers: Safi Faye, Salem Mekuria and the Politics of 'Introspection'."
1992
Women in Africa and The African Diaspora: Bridges Across Activism and The Academy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria, July 13-18. Paper presented, "Feminine Voices In African Cinema."
Society For Cinema Studies Conference, Pittsburgh, April 30-May 30. African/African -American Caucus (Workshop).
7th Black International Film Festival, Berlin, May 6-10. Panel Discussion: "Filmmaker's Responsibility to Society."
1991
Screen Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, June 21-23. Paper presented, "Colonialism, Christian Missionaries and the Development and [Under] Development of African Cinema."
Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Los Angeles, May 23-26. Paper presented, "From Cannes to FESPACO, African Cinema in Limbo?"
Twelfth Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, February 21 - March l. Interviewed filmmakers Gaston Kaboré, Kwaw Ansah, Lionel Ngankane, and Djibril Mambety.
12th FESPACO. Interviewed on National Radio of Burkina Faso, February 26.
Paper presented at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (Brown Bag Colloquium), "Missions and Expressions: Colonialism and African Cinema," April 19.
1990
Society For Cinema Studies Conference, Washington, D.C., May 25-28. Discussant in the Plenary Session.
Pennsylvania State University. Lecture presented at Paul Robeson Cultural Center, "Some Trends In African Cinema," July 27.
Invited Lectures
2002
Invited Lecturer: Duke University's John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, an annual global arts series which focused on the contemporary arts of Africa, October 11. Gave a lecture on "New Media in Africa: Current Trend in African Cinema."
Invited Speaker: Democracy and Popular Culture Conference, Olin Center, The University of Chicago, April 19-20. Panel IV: "Americanization? Pop Culture Abroad" (speakers: Michael Rutschky, Nina Khrushcheva, Carlos Monsivais, Gadi Taub, Frank Ukadike, Jianying Zha)
2001
Invited Speaker: Media, Performance and Identity research Circle/cinematheque/International Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison
2000
Invited Speaker: 21st Durban International Film Festival, Durban South Africa, October 17-29. Gave a lecture, "Critical Discourses of African Cinema" to students and faculty of the University of Natal, and participated in a seminar on "Cinema and Africa".
Invited critic: 10th African Film Festival, Milan, Italy, March 24-30. Invited to discuss African cinema on CNN; interviewed for the Vatican Radio (African Program).
1999
Guest Speaker, Clark Atlanta University's 4th Annual African Film Festival, April 22-25. Discussed the "Present Issues in African Cinema."
Invited Lecturer, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., April 17. Delivered a lecturer on The Cinema of Côte d'Ivoire; introduced and discoursed the film Faces of Women by Desire Ecare. Also, I was interviewed for the VOA (Voice of America) African Program.
Member of the Official Jury of Festival Cinema Africano, Milan, Italy, March 19-25.
Invited Critic: Pan African Festival of Film and Television of Ouagadougou February 27-March 6. Participated in seminars and distribution forum.
1998
Invited Speaker: Gwedolyn Carter Conference on "Africa on Film and Video," University of Florida, Gainesville. Lecture on "Africa Cinema Now" and lead discussion at various workshops, March 22-25.
1997
Guest Speaker and resident critic, delivered the keynote address at the African Film Festival in Chicago. I was also featured in WKKC 89.3FM Radio Critic's Corner April 24-27.
1996
Invited Speaker: Discussed "Video "Film" Production: The Emergence of a New Cultural Art in Anglophone Africa," Mt Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts.
Invited Speaker: "Ethnocentrism and the Media", sponsored by the Multicultural Services, the Department of Communication, and the French Club, Indiana University/Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana October 17.
Invited Speaker: "Presented The Death of a Black President and gave a talk on Nigeria Cinema at the Des Moines Area Community College in April.
Invited Speaker: "African Cinematic Arts: Which Way into the 21st Century?" delivered at the MacArthur Interdisciplinary Program on Peace and International Cooperation, Institute of International Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in February.
1995
Invited Speaker: "New Discourses of African Cinema", delivered at the African and African-American Studies Research Project, University of California, San Diego, May.
Guest Speaker: "The New African Documentary Films" at the Project for the Advanced Study of Art and Life in Africa, University of Iowa, Institute for Cinema and Culture.
Invited Lecturer: "FESPACO and Pan-African Cinematic Progressivism," at the International Lecture Series, University of New Mexico, March 1995; also presented Med Hondo's Sarraounia.
1994
"The Role of Cinema in the Development of African Consciousness," lecture invited by the Learning In Retirement Program, University of Michigan Medical Center, Turner Geriatric Services.
1990
Guest speaker and Coordinator (with Jim Kitses) "Celebration of African Films", at the San Francisco State University, San Francisco, April 27-30.
1989
New Jersey Department of Higher Education Faculty Development Seminar, Montclair State College, Presentation of Ousmane Sembene's Ceddo (Senegal, 1976) addressing the issues of gender, class, and race, June, 1989.
1989
Collective For Living Cinema, New York City Curator and Lecturer, the Festival of Black African Films, February 6-9.
Service to the Profession
Professional Activities
2004
Promotional review of Sisters of the Screen (Beti Ellerson, 2003, 56 mins) for Women Make Movies catalogue.
2003
Promotional review for the manuscript, To Change Reels: Film and Film Culture in South Africa, eds., Isabel Balseiro and Ntogela Masilela (Detroit: Wayne State University Press).
2002
Promotion and Tenure review, Mary Dogbe, Pan-African Studies Department, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky.
Review of Niyi Afolabi's research submitted for Promotion and Tenure, Tulane University, New Orleans.
1997
Reviewer, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, proposal on Black Cinema.
Reviewer, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship proposal on Black Diaspora Cinema.
1996-1997
African Studies Association, appointed member of the National Panels Board.
1995-1996
Society for Cinema Studies, appointed Co-chair, Black Caucus.
1995
Society for Cinema Studies, appointed to the Screening Committee.
Reviewer, NEH Proposal, "Africa on Film and Video" Project (Division of Research Programs).
Promotion review, Teshome H. Gabriel, Department of Theater, Film and Television, UCLA.
1994
Reviewer: Grant Proposals submitted to the Office of Vice President for Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
1993-1994
Society for Cinema Studies, appointed to the Planning Committee, African and African-American Caucus.
1992
Committee of African Cineastes (CAC), appointed member, planning committee.
1989
American Film and Video Association. Member, Prescreening Jury for the evaluation of film and video entries and identification of best ones shown at the AFVA Festival in Chicago, May 8-13.
Department Appointments and University Service: (Tulane University)
2002
Member, Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity.
Member, African and African Diaspora Studies (ADST) Executive Committee.
Member, Department of Communication Executive Committee.
Member, ADST Search Committee for the Director of Program.
Member, Department of Communication Search Committees for Organizational Communication, and Mass Communication positions.
1999
Academic Adviser, Department of Communication.
1999-2000
Member, Program In African and African Diaspora Studies Executive Committee.
1999
Organized African Film Series (a mini-festival open to the general public)
University Appointments and Service (University of Michigan)
1996-1967
Member, Sikh Studies Committee Search for the Endowed Chair (Appointed by the International Institute).
Member, Film Review Committee (Appointed by the International Institute).
1993-1996
Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (mentor).
1994-1996
University of Michigan Mentorship Program (mentor to minority students).
1993-1995
College Individual Concentration Program (advisor, undergraduate students).
1992
Reviewer, Grant Proposal (Office of the Vice President for Research, Discretionary Funds Program).
Department Appointments: (University of Michigan)
Program in Film and Video Studies
1996-1997
Undergraduate Committee.
1995-1996
Concentration Advisor.
Film Archive Committee.
1990-1992
Executive Committee Member
1991-1992
Grade Grievance Officer.
Concentration Advisor and Search Committee member.
Center for Afroamerican and African Studies
1996-1997
Chair, DuBois - Mandela - Rodney Postdoctoral Committee
1995-1996
Chair, DuBois - Mandela - Rodney Postdoctoral Committee.
1994-1996
Curriculum Committee.
1993-1994
Executive Committee Member.
1991-1992
Executive Committee Member.
Department of Communication
1993-1994
Chair, Minority Affairs Committee.
Ph.D Committees
Martin R. Mhando Screen Studies, School of Art, The Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, 2001 (external examiner).
Cecile Accilien, Department of French and Italian, Tulane University (member) Kathlyn Lauten, Department of Romance Languages, University of Michigan graduated in 1997 (member).
Sobahle Wellington, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan graduated in 1995 (member)
Charles Taylor, Department of English, University of Michigan graduated in 1996 (member).
Joe Chika Anyanwu, Humanities Department, The Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide, 1996 (external examiner).
Professional Organizations
Member, Committee of African Cineastes (CAC).
Member, Society for Cinema Studies.
Member, African Studies Association.
Member, Association of Black Professionals.
Advisory
Advisory Board Member, Lexington Books (a subsidiary of Rowman & Littlefield Press) for the Francophone Series, "After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France."
Editorial
1995-
Editorial Board Member: West African Review
1995
Guest Editor: IRIS: A journal of Theory on Image and Sound.
2001
Reviewed book manuscript for the University of Wisconsin Press.
1999
Reviewed book manuscript for SUNY University Press.
1999
Reviewed article for Contours.
1998
Reviewed two articles for Research in African Literatures.
1996
Reviewed article for British Film Institute.
1995
Reviewed book manuscript for Temple University Press (Typage and Montage in the Films of Sembene Ousmane: Search for a Native Form).
1995
Reviewed article for Journal of Visual Anthropological Review.
1993
Reviewed article for Critical Arts: A Journal of Cultural studies.
1992
Reviewed for Gordon and Breach Publishers, Inc. Philadelphia, Teshome H. Gabriel's, Third Cinema in The Third World: The Aesthetics of Liberation (2nd edition).
Work in Progress
I am currently working on a book project, The New African Cinema: History, Narratology, and the Aesthetics of African Films of the 1990s. The study focuses on the unprecedented diversity and innovation which has characterized contemporary African filmmaking, the proliferation of new genres and styles, as well as to initiate new critical discourses of the films and issues.
African Video-Film Productions: The Emergence of a New Cultural Art in Ghana and Nigeria. Research has begun on the video phenomenon in anglophone Africa which is emerging as a new cultural art and economically viable industry. Issues considered in this book include: stylistic configuration, how popular culture texts are constructed, and how they are posited at the intersection of culture, class, gender, religion, dialect, and language.
Honors and Awards
2001-
Member, Board of Trustees, Africa Media Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa.
2000
Fellow, Center for Humanities, Wesleyan University, Connecticut.
2000
Newcomb Fellowship for Research on Women, Tulane University.
1999
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship: This fellowship is for research on The New African Cinema: History, Narratology, and the Aesthetics of African Films of the 1990s.
1999
Fulbright Fellowship: Award declined because of the commitment to the NEH fellowship cited above.
1999
Tulane University College Award for African Film Series. This series was also sponsored by the Department of Communication, The Office of Multicultural Affairs, The Center For International Students and Scholars, Amistad Research Center, African and African Diaspora Studies; it is also sponsored in part by the New Orleans Film and Video Society.
1997
The Rockefeller Foundation Award (for residency at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy to work on A Questioning Cinema Conversations with Black African Filmmakers).
1997
Faculty Recognition Award (by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Rackham Graduate School, with the support of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs).
1996
Social Science Research Council grant (for research on African Video "Film" Production: the Emergence of a New Cultural Art in Ghana).
1996
Faculty Recognition Award (by the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Rackham Graduate School, with the support of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.)
1996
CAAS African Studies Seed Grant Program to support collaborative research projects.
1995
Social Science Research Council Proposal: "African Video 'Film' Production", voted for Alternate Award.
1995
University of Michigan, Summer Research Program: Research Proposal on British Black Women Filmmakers written for UROP Student Kemir Baker for Summer Research in Britain (grant awarded).
1995
Rackham/OVPR Spring/Summer Research Assistantship Program (Research Assistant: Kathryn Lauten, Ph.D. Candidate).
1994
Faculty Awards Program. Publication Subvention from Office of the Vice Provost for Academic and Multicultural Affairs (OVPMA).
1994
Administrative Research Grant, combined Rackham, OVPMA and International Institute). Research award for A Questioning Cinema: Conversations With African Filmmakers.
1993
Recipient, King/Chavez/Parks Visiting Professors Award.
1992
College of Literature, Science and the Arts. Discretionary research fund. Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Grant.
1991
Office of Vice-President for Research, University of Michigan, grant for research on Black African Cinema.
1991
CAAS/Ford Foundation grant on A Questioning Cinema: Conversations With Black African Filmmakers, (trip to Pan-African Film Festival, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
1990
The Presidential Initiatives Fund. Grant for "African Film Series."