Representations of the Self: Theological Reflections on Haile Gerima’s Cinematic Storytelling.

Nigru, Tekletsadik Belachew (2012) Representations of the Self: Theological Reflections on Haile Gerima’s Cinematic Storytelling. Masters thesis, Trinity International University.

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Abstract

This study was prompted by the provocative and enduring representation through intellectual and artistic media of Africans as the “radical other”. Historically, images of people of African descent depicted in the powerful medium of conventional cinema have been disfiguring, dehumanizing, and alienating. Conventional cinematic images as an expression of neocolonialism have also perpetuated the stereotypical images and stories of Africa. Through his cinematic-intellectual corpus, African independent filmmaker and storyteller Haile Gerima resists the invisibility of Africans and offers a counternarrative and counterimages. Haile has been a prolific filmmaker since the mid-1970s. His films are visual translations of African folkloric orality and iconography, both of which are important for theologizing in African contexts. Critical exploration of an iconoclastic stance contributes to human flourishing. Representations revealed to be false or idolatrous deserve an iconoclastic response of demystification. The agency of the self in its dialogical modes and the practices of image-making, image-gazing (veneration of each other), and image-breaking present opportunities for a more God-glorifying view of Africans that is consistent with their innate human dignity. In light of Haile’s cinematic storytelling, this thesis explores an orthodox theology of icons that bridges theology and cinema, doctrine and social actions as praxis, theory and practical actions, incarnation and social justice, divine and human iconography, and worship and activism.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity
Divisions:	Afro-Christiana
Depositing User:	JHI Africa
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2017 12:38
Last Modified:	11 Jan 2017 12:38
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/1392

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