The representation of gender in the Nigerian film industry, popularly referred to as Nollywood, is reflective of the country's multiple ideological and cultural heritages. The films' conflicts can often be delineated in terms of these heritages and their inherent versions and subversions. African gendered representations have often generated conflicting perspectives in Western and African gender scholarship especially regarding the philosophical foundations of gender in Africa. On the one hand, gender in Africa has appeared as mono discourses prior to the 'disruptive' influence of western colonialism. African gendered tales were largely seen as tales of gendered serenity, blissful hierarchism and unwavering heteronormativity. On the other hand, western disruption is seen as liberating latent African ideas of gender whilst contributing a few. This paper pursues the trajectory of Nollywood’s gendered discourses from the perspective of essentialist presentations and transformative subversions. The essentialism grid proposed by Oloruntoba-Oju and Oloruntoba-Oju (2013) is employed to reveal the epistemic founts of gendered representation in Nollywood and their relationship to decolonial discourses. The Nollywood film (Mr. & Mrs) is purposively selected for analysis.
Oloruntoba–Oju et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: