Comments for Screening Africa 1

Comment on Lost Boys and Girls? by Joan Hecht

Joan Hecht — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:01:11 +0000

The lack of girls selected for resettlement to the US in 2000-2001had nothing to do with preferential treatment by the US government, but rather that of cultural issues. When first arriving to the camps in Ethiopia, Lost Boys were placed in “male only” areas of the camp, but according to Sudanese culture, the girls could not be left alone. Therefore, they were assimilated into existing families or placed with surviving adult relatives. In order to qualify for resettlement to the US in 2000-2001, applicants had to be considered orphans. Because the girls had been living in family units for upwards of 9-14 years by that time, they were no longer considered as orphans. There was also the issue of dowries. If their “adoptive” families allowed them to participate in the resettlement program they would most likely have forfeited dowry rights for the girls, which for many of these families was the only income and means of survival that they could ever hope for.
For more information on the story of the Lost Boys, you can read my book “The Journey of the Lost Boys.”
Best,
JH

Comment on Racial Terminology In the United States by deidrawr

deidrawr — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:21:14 +0000

Problems can be found in everything. Charlize Theron and Dave Matthews are white and from Africa, so were the Indians in Uganda. And plenty black people who are misrecognized as African-American. I don’t know how to fix the problem, but hyphens aren’t necessarily the way. Race and nationality aren’t the same thing. I think that’s part of it.

Comment on The National Museum of African American History and Culture by deidrawr

deidrawr — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:48:38 +0000

I agree with the poster above. The existence of three museums creates a suggested separation is histories, in addition to suggesting that American History is limited to White American History, which goes back to that white invisibility thing.

Comment on by deidrawr

deidrawr — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:35:22 +0000

Well, Disney did hate black people.
I feel like it’s too early to tell. I’m not sure how I feel about the Maddy/Mammy thing, either, but I guess they do have many letters in common. What I did find interesting, though, was the band, and that it was fully composed of black people, two of whom were tap dancing. Hmm…

Comment on by deidrawr

deidrawr — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:16:24 +0000

WHAT?
“Had enough? Want to help? Then make a video! You can even film it using the cell phone that we guilted you for having at the beginning of this video! If you win, we’ll only show it to some people who already know it’s a problem!” Awesome.

Comment on Somalians as Zombies by deidrawr

deidrawr — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:04:55 +0000

It’s really difficult. And as someone commented on the Village Voice blog post, it’s like that to a large extent because it’s been done before in the real world.

Comment on Lessons from the Course for Other “Developing Regions” by richandre

richandre — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:32:27 +0000

I completely agree with your assessment of the film. Being of Haitian descent, I was paying particular attention to the depiction of Port-au-Prince at the start of the movie. The way that they chose Bolivia for its obscure Latin American-ness, Haiti is a country that has a reputation for being the poorest country in the Hemisphere and having huge, equally poor immigrant communities in Miami and across the Northeast. In the film, the orange hues represent a destitution that is reminiscent of the color in Black Hawk Down. It paints a picture of Haiti as lawless due to its poverty in a typical Third World manner. Intended depictions like this are extremely harmful to American’s perceptions of Haiti and, more importantly, Haitians conceptualization of their mother country.

Comment on The Constant Gardener and Knowledge by michele

michele — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:23:58 +0000

I think you make a good point in wondering why films like the _Constant Gardener_ feel that they can just use Africa as just a backdrop where this horrible testing can occur. We can easily say, of course this would never happen in Europe and that someone would notice these mass graves or missing people. But that is the truth. This would never happen in today’s Europe. This film is making a statement about the companies (in this case a pharmaceutical one) exploiting the situation created by the institutions and politics. And I think you’re right in demanding accountability. I understand cuts and sacrifices must be made in filmmaking, but I do think that a little more attention could have been paid to making the government accountable in _The Constant Gardener_.

Comment on Shoes, Books, and Money. For Africa. by christen89

christen89 — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:13:52 +0000

Hmm. If the organizers are simply operating on stereotype, then it is bizarre and ignorant, but it seems more likely that it simply came down to space and utility. I would assume that running/dress shoes would take up much less space than bulkier rollerblades/Uggs. Rollerblades/Uggs/boots would probably also need to be separated from the other shoes and sent to specific urban regions, which would be an extra hassle, and might be taken out simply for the sake of time efficiency for the organizers.

It’s still kind of weird that they wouldn’t accept whatever people were offering, though.

Comment on Screening African(-Americans) by christen89

christen89 — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:46:29 +0000

I agree with deidrawr- while some elements of demonization of the West do play in, it seems to be far more about the concept of “home,” nebulous though that may be. I didn’t really see an overabundance of demonization of the West in What is the What in general. I thought Eggers did a good job of walking the line, without making angels of demons (or vice versa) in either the West or Africa.