Kung Fu Cinema as a Transnational Practice: Circulation, Interpretation, and Reinvention in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa (ASF)

Abstract This article examines how Chinese Kung Fu films took root, evolved, and continue to flourish in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa (ASF), challenging assumptions that their spread reflects only Chinese “soft power.” Introduced in the 1970s through global diasporic networks, Kung Fu movies quickly captured the imagination of ASF youth navigating postcolonial realities. Groups such as the Zigueïs in Côte d’Ivoire and militias in Congo appropriated martial arts motifs for social and political empowerment. As nationalization policies faltered, cinemas closed and access shifted to video clubs and embassy screenings. In the past decade, however, digital platforms have opened a new era of engagement: ASF audiences now watch, discuss, and even produce their own Kung Fu films, as in Senegal, Burundi, and Chad. These locally made works combine African settings with Chinese martial arts philosophies, extending the genre’s lifespan while bridging Chinese and African traditions and shaping their shared transnationality. By foregrounding the roles of active cinephiles, this paper complicates reductive views of China’s media dominance and instead reveals Kung Fu cinema as an active site of cultural exchange. As a result, the genre continues to serve as a dynamic space for postcolonial identity formation and cross-continental collaboration.