Screening African conflicts : The different faces of Africa's Child Soldiers Afro-pessimistic / Faro

229 Pages·2013·1.62 MB·English

Screening African Conflicts: The different faces of Africa’s Child Soldiers
Afro-pessimistic / Afro-optimistic Portrayals on Screen

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Anli le Roux
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Dissertation Presented for the Degree of

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Master of Ph ilosophy in Film Studies
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Centre for Film and Media Studies
Faculty of Humanities
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
September 2013

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Martin Botha
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The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No
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quotation from it or information derived from it is to be

published without full acknowledgeement of the source.
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The thesis is to be used for private study or non-
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commercial research purposes only.

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Published by the Universit y of Cape Town (UCT) in terms
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of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author.
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DECLARATION

This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my
own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works,
of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced.

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Date: _________________________ y Signature: ___________________________
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Copyright © University of Cape Town
All rights reserved
2013
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ABSTRACT
When discussing and addressing child soldiering in Africa, both in print or in film, there are a number of
key factors that need to be considered. For example, taking into account the root causes for both
recruitment and voluntary enlistment – which include the changed nature of weapons and warfare, the
breakdown of law and order, and intolerable levels of poverty, unemployment and also the social
pressures on children to engage in armed conflicts. By bearing these factors in mind when delving into
this complex subject matter, helped in ascertaining the ways in which certain modalities of thinking
about Africa, as well as her child soldiers, influence Western perspectives, convictions and beliefs via a
variety of media.
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However, for this particular dissertation, the focus is turned entirely to the Afro-pessimistic / Afro-
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optimistic cinematic representations of African child soldiers in three cTase study films: Ezra (2007), The

Silent Army (2008) and War Witch (2012). These films were cloesely analysed at the hand of certain
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research question which ultimately allowed for both researcher and reader to keep an open mind when
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being confronted with the different faces of Africa’s children on screen.
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Films create vivid familiarities and powerful emotiofnal relationships by establishing close connections to
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a world that is wholly unfamiliar and succee ds to de-familiarize the present as well as the past. The
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social functioning of the film industry takets on exceptional importance when considering the facts about
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the ways in which a motion picture positions itself vis-à-vis a particular conflict or social and political
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issue such as child soldiering in Africa.
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Feature films also carry wnith them the potential to play a unique and crucial role in introducing
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Westerners to the African continent and its people and in engaging them in African experiences. Film is
also a very powerful medium, and for that reason it becomes all the more important to address the
veracity of fiction films introducing viewers to Africa and her child soldiers. Cinematic representations
succeed in integrating in individual characters multiple aspects of politics, society, and cultures, and the
dramatic stories told in feature films elicit emotional responses and provoke calls to action through the
individual characters’ that inspire empathy for people living in dismal conditions in Africa’s distant lands.

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Such intimate portraits of people who belong to different cultures, experience a different history, and
who live in quite different economic and political climates, are particularly important with audiences
that start out with negative views of the Other. Thus, to ascertain and adequately address these issues
of representation, notions of insider / outsider debates, as well as that of the politics of the gaze in
feature films, magic realism, complex political victims and perpetrators were problematized and
scrutinised in order to access the harsh reality faced by so many of Africa’s vulnerable children, and the
effects that these Afro-optimistic / Afro-pessimistic portrayals have on viewers’ perceptions of child
soldiers in Africa.
Consequently, the main aim of this dissertation is to successfully illustrate how Afro-pessimism (as well
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as in some cases Afro-optimism), as modalities of thinking about the Afriwcan continent, feature in
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(cinematic) discourses about Africa’s child soldiers. Specific questions are asked and investigated as to
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whether these films deem Africa and its child soldiers as just another unfixable aspect of Africa’s reality,

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continually in need of Western salvation, or whether there are some on-screen depictions that portray
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stories of hope, resilience and courage. a
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to extend an enormous amount of gratitude towards my supervisor, Associate Professor
Martin Botha - without your continuous backing, enthusiasm and guidance this study would not have
been envisioned or been able to take form.
To my parents, sisters and brother, thank you for your unending support and encouragement during the
past two years. It has been of immeasurable value and truly helped me to maintain focus and to always
keep my head up high during difficult research periods.
To the love of my life, Schalk, thank you for your continuous support and encouragement. I am you
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forever grateful for your patience, willingness to assist in the proof-reading of cwhapters at any given time
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during this study, and also in assisting me with the final layout of the dissertation.
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To Sue Ogterop, at the University of Cape Town’s African Studeies Library, thank you very much for
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assisting me in my research efforts during my research. A great deal of gratitude must also be extended
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to Ingrid Thompson, the Subject Librarian at the Humanities Information Division at the University of
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Cape Town’s Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, for he r continued support and assistance.
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To Petros Ndlela, thank you for all our lau ghs, and your continued support – especially with our
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continued battles against the creatures. t
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To Dianne Steele and Nancy Addo at the University of Cape Town’s Knowledge Commons, thank you for
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all your patience and support wvith RefWorks and the finalising of my referencing.
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Then, lastly, thank you tUo our Lord for blessing me with the strength of both heart and mind, an amazing
support group, a supervisor and research colleagues during the course of this study – without it this
proud end-product would not have been possible.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION II
ABSTRACT III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1
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TECHNICAL NOTES BY THE AUTHOR 4
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DISSERTATION STRUCTURE & OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS 6

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS p 10
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GLOSSARY – KEY CONCEPTS, THEMES AND THEORIES C 112

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INTRODUCTION 30
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CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND, RATrIONALE, AND OBJECTIVES 39
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1.1. BROAD CONTEXT: WAR, POVERTY, POLITICS, AND CHILD SOLDIERS 39
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1.2. RESEARCH DESIGN U 42
1.3. RESARCH QUESTIONS / RATIONALE 44

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 45
2.1. METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE STUDY OF CHILD SOLDIERS
– BOTH IN THEORY AND FILM 45

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2.2. INDUSTRY ASSESSMENT: TAKING AFRICA TO THE SILVER SCREEN 49
2.2.1. Historical Overview: History; Film; and Africa and her Conflicts 49
2.2.2. Telling Stories through Feature / Fiction Films 56
2.3. DOCUMENTING THE ‘TRUTH’: THEORISING AND PROBLEMATISING REALISM
IN FEATURE FILMS 63
2.4. SELECTION OF FEATURE FILMS FOR ANALYSIS: FILM SYNOPSES 72

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CHAPTER THREE: THE CONTEXT OF WAR: CHILD SOLDIERING IN AFRICA 78
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3.1. HISTORICAL AND SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXTS 80

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3.1.1. General Remarks p 80
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3.1.2. What is a Child? C 84

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3.1.3. Background and Statistics o 92

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3.1.4. International Relations and Laws 95
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3.2. AFRICAN WARLORDS r 101
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3.3. ‘PUSH’ AND ‘PULL’ FACTORS: RECRUITMENT OF, AND CAUSES AND MOTIVATIONS
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FOR CHILD SOLDIERING 106
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3.4. LOOKING FORWARD: POST-WAR REALITIES OF CHILD SOLDIERS 117
3.5. CLOSING REMARKS 125

CHAPTER FOUR: SCREENING AFRICAN CONFLICTS 132
4.1. TIA – THIS IS AFRICA: IMAGES OF AFRICAN ON SCREEN 134
4.2. POLITICS OF THE AFRICAN GAZE IN FEATURE FILMS 137
4.2.1. Difficulties of Documenting / Representing an Other on the Silver Screen 139
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4.2.2. Afro-pessimism / Afro-optimism in Feature Films about Africa 142
4.2.3. Spectatorship, Audience Perceptions and Expectations 147
4.3. VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF CHILD SOLDIERS IN RELATION TO THE GLOBAL
DISCURSIVE ORDER 151
4.3.1. Child Soldier Narratives that Promote a Specific Interpretation 155
4.3.2. Complex Political Victims and / or Complex Political Perpetrators 160
4.4. CLOSING REMARKS 166
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CHAPTER FIVE: FILM ANALYSES 171

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5.1. THE DIFFERENT FACES OF AFRICA’S CHILD SOLDIERS ON SCpREEN 172
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5.1.1. Complex Political Victims and / or ComplexC Political Perpetrators in Ezra 174

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5.1.2. The Ethnographical Spectacle in Theo Silent Army 182

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5.1.3. Human Resilience and Magic Realism in War Witch 190
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FINAL CONCLUSIONS v 200
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BIBLIOGRAPHY U 211

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TECHNICAL NOTES BY THE AUTHOR

REFERENCING SYSTEM:
The Chicago Referencing System (16th edition - notes and bibliography) is used for this thesis, and the
electronic referencing programme RefWorks was utilised to set-up, finalize and generate all reference
information contained in the footnotes and bibliography.
 This system includes the use of abbreviated / shortened versions of a particular source - that is
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used after the first official mention / footnote of that particular source and / or on a new page.
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For example:
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o 1 C. Singer and L. Dovey, "Representations of African Childhood in Conflict and Post-Conflict

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Contexts: Johnny Mad Dog, Ezra, and Sleepwalking Land," in Lost and Othered Children in
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Contemporary Cinema, eds. D. C. Olson and A. Scahill (Plymouth, United Kingdom: Lexington
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Books, 2012), 151. C

o 1 Singer and Dovey, Representationso off African Childhood in Conflict and Post-Conflict Contexts:
Johnny Mad Dog, Ezra, and Sleep walking Land, 152.
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 It also allows for the uvse of the term ibid when the same source is used consecutively in the
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footnotes (on the sname page).
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For example:
o 1 N. Mboti, "To show the World as it is, Or as it is Not: The Gaze of Hollywood Films about Africa,"
African Identities 8, no. 4 (2010), 317.
o 2 Ibid., 317-318.

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