{"id":{"repo_id":"carleton","oai_identifier":"oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/43268"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/carleton/oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/43268","repository":{"repo_id":"carleton","name":"Carleton University","base_url":"https://carleton.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Within Double Restraint: The Dialectics & Aesthetics of Erotic [Re]presentation in African Cinema","abstract":"“Within Double Restraint” advocates for the concept and application of eroticism as an analytical lens in the study of African cinema. This thesis unveils and investigates representations of sexuality and the nude female form in African cinema. One of the most useful concepts through which one can understand the problematic of erotic representation in African cinema is the notion of ‘double restraint’. Reflecting itself through a form of scopophobia, that is, a restrained response to its communities’ moral codes, and the West’s voyeuristic and fetishistic scopic intrusion towards the Black body. Protectionist conceptions towards sexuality in both African cinema as well as in Black feminist scholarship are partial responses of colonialism’s legacies establishing stereotypical tropes of an insatiable hypersexual African physicality. Although, by bringing attention back to pre-colonial oral traditions, we can begin to disrupt and redefine these implied limits of moral transgressions, And reflectively discover whether Black African cineastes choose to adopt them. Throughout the continent’s multiplicity and diversity of cultures, exuberance in erotic tales and their practices do indeed reveal an emphasis on sexual pleasure. Indeed, by relying on indigenous cultures, “Within Double Restraint” contradicts the present to reposition eros as an “African” mode of film theoretical discourse. The following analyses map the cinema’s progressive unrobing, which is particularly demonstrated through explorations of Vénus Noire (Abedellatif Kechiche, 2010), La Noire de… (Ousmane Sembène, 1966), Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973), Visages de Femmes (Désiré Écaré, 1985) and Les Saignantes (Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2005).","abstract_html":"“Within Double Restraint” advocates for the concept and application of eroticism as an analytical lens in the study of African cinema. This thesis unveils and investigates representations of sexuality and the nude female form in African cinema. One of the most useful concepts through which one can understand the problematic of erotic representation in African cinema is the notion of ‘double restraint’. Reflecting itself through a form of scopophobia, that is, a restrained response to its communities’ moral codes, and the West’s voyeuristic and fetishistic scopic intrusion towards the Black body. Protectionist conceptions towards sexuality in both African cinema as well as in Black feminist scholarship are partial responses of colonialism’s legacies establishing stereotypical tropes of an insatiable hypersexual African physicality. Although, by bringing attention back to pre-colonial oral traditions, we can begin to disrupt and redefine these implied limits of moral transgressions, And reflectively discover whether Black African cineastes choose to adopt them. Throughout the continent’s multiplicity and diversity of cultures, exuberance in erotic tales and their practices do indeed reveal an emphasis on sexual pleasure. Indeed, by relying on indigenous cultures, “Within Double Restraint” contradicts the present to reposition eros as an “African” mode of film theoretical discourse. The following analyses map the cinema’s progressive unrobing, which is particularly demonstrated through explorations of Vénus Noire (Abedellatif Kechiche, 2010), La Noire de… (Ousmane Sembène, 1966), Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973), Visages de Femmes (Désiré Écaré, 1985) and Les Saignantes (Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2005).","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Appiah, Afi Venessa"],"institution":"Carleton University","degree_name":"Master of Arts (M.A.)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"Film Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:34:43Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright © 2023 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.22215/etd/2023-15843"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.22215/etd/2023-15843","href":"https://doi.org/10.22215/etd/2023-15843","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14718/43268","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Appiah, Afi Venessa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2025-04-08T20:53:19Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-04-08T20:53:19Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Carleton University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Film Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (M.A.)"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright © 2023 the author(s). 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One of the most useful concepts through which one can understand the problematic of erotic representation in African cinema is the notion of ‘double restraint’. Reflecting itself through a form of scopophobia, that is, a restrained response to its communities’ moral codes, and the West’s voyeuristic and fetishistic scopic intrusion towards the Black body. Protectionist conceptions towards sexuality in both African cinema as well as in Black feminist scholarship are partial responses of colonialism’s legacies establishing stereotypical tropes of an insatiable hypersexual African physicality. Although, by bringing attention back to pre-colonial oral traditions, we can begin to disrupt and redefine these implied limits of moral transgressions, And reflectively discover whether Black African cineastes choose to adopt them. Throughout the continent’s multiplicity and diversity of cultures, exuberance in erotic tales and their practices do indeed reveal an emphasis on sexual pleasure. Indeed, by relying on indigenous cultures, “Within Double Restraint” contradicts the present to reposition eros as an “African” mode of film theoretical discourse. The following analyses map the cinema’s progressive unrobing, which is particularly demonstrated through explorations of Vénus Noire (Abedellatif Kechiche, 2010), La Noire de… (Ousmane Sembène, 1966), Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973), Visages de Femmes (Désiré Écaré, 1985) and Les Saignantes (Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2005)."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Within Double Restraint: The Dialectics & Aesthetics of Erotic [Re]presentation in African Cinema"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Appiah, Afi Venessa"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2025-04-08T20:53:19Z"],"dc:date.available":["2025-04-08T20:53:19Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023"],"dc:description.abstract":["“Within Double Restraint” advocates for the concept and application of eroticism as an analytical lens in the study of African cinema. This thesis unveils and investigates representations of sexuality and the nude female form in African cinema. One of the most useful concepts through which one can understand the problematic of erotic representation in African cinema is the notion of ‘double restraint’. Reflecting itself through a form of scopophobia, that is, a restrained response to its communities’ moral codes, and the West’s voyeuristic and fetishistic scopic intrusion towards the Black body. Protectionist conceptions towards sexuality in both African cinema as well as in Black feminist scholarship are partial responses of colonialism’s legacies establishing stereotypical tropes of an insatiable hypersexual African physicality. Although, by bringing attention back to pre-colonial oral traditions, we can begin to disrupt and redefine these implied limits of moral transgressions, And reflectively discover whether Black African cineastes choose to adopt them. Throughout the continent’s multiplicity and diversity of cultures, exuberance in erotic tales and their practices do indeed reveal an emphasis on sexual pleasure. Indeed, by relying on indigenous cultures, “Within Double Restraint” contradicts the present to reposition eros as an “African” mode of film theoretical discourse. The following analyses map the cinema’s progressive unrobing, which is particularly demonstrated through explorations of Vénus Noire (Abedellatif Kechiche, 2010), La Noire de… (Ousmane Sembène, 1966), Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973), Visages de Femmes (Désiré Écaré, 1985) and Les Saignantes (Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 2005)."],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.22215/etd/2023-15843"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14718/43268"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Carleton University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright © 2023 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, distribution to students, research and scholarship. Theses may only be shared by linking to the Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be copied without proper attribution to the author; no part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner."],"dc:title":["Within Double Restraint: The Dialectics & Aesthetics of Erotic [Re]presentation in African Cinema"],"dc:type":["thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Film Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (M.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:34:43Z"}