Gender, Politics and Society in Africa: A Review of Ousmane Sembene's Faat Kine

Abstract

This article takes a brief look at the situation of women and girls in Africa by reviewing the cinematic presentation of the life of a particular woman in the city of Dakar in Senegal. It is a review of Ousmane Sembene's (2001) film, Faat Kine, and shows how cinema can contribute to the evolution of ideas and visions on gender role and gender relations in Africa. I will argue that by focusing gender role and gender relations in Africa, Sembene has touched on one of the key issues in Africa's search for the preconditions for socioeconomic progress in the region. I will also maintain that in spite of the persistence of socio-cultural and institutional forces in sustaining patriarchy, which, in turn, undermines attempts by women and other vulnerable groups in Africa to improve their welfare, women and girls are capable of, and have made remarkable headway in education, politics, the economy and in other social-cultural areas within the region.

Humanities Review Journal Vol. 6 2006: pp. 77-85