Midterm 2 Flashcards
Film: Lumumba, the death of a prophet, dir. Raoul Peck, Belgium, 72 min., 1992. (Kanopy)
o Movie: Lumumba: Death of a Prophet
Paoul Peck: director; haitian, european director; family was sent to congo right after lumumba’s death as civil servant administrators
• incorporates his own life story into the documentary
• reflexive mode:
o meta-commentary (philosophical/big picture, ex sociology of forgetting)
o poetic (opens with poem)
o selfaware (aware of how own life story impacts presentation of material)
o representational (uses symbols; not filmed in congo because they might not survive; brussels represents capital of congo)
o process-oriented (understand process of making the film)
• strategy: couldn’t visit the Congo, relied on home-movie footage, archival material; interviews in journalist; belgian colonial officials; lumumba’s family
o uses black screen to represent forgetting
summary:
• poetic beginning with cold pictures of brussels(katanga)
• gives background on his family
• showing process: clack of black film thing
• airport scene: walking against flow
• Reflexive Mode (L):
o meta-commentary (philosophical/big picture, ex sociology of forgetting, lumumba: sociology of forgetting, how we remember)
o poetic (opens with poem)
selfaware (aware of how own life story impacts presentation of material, why director is making film)
o representational (uses symbols; not filmed in congo because they might not survive; brussels represents capital of congo)
o process-oriented (understand process of making the film)
o rouch saw social reality as past, present, and future
o not objective, more creative
o situation dependent
• Patrice Lumumba (F/R)
Lumuma: becomes first african elected prime minister of the Congo in 1960
- decides congo has to be economically independent from europe and america
- reached out to soviets for support during Cold War
- murdered after 6 months in katanga (where the mines are; wanted to secede because that’s where all the wealth was)
- Lumumba: first prime minister, wanted economic independence from west, turned to Soviet Union; US killed him through anti- efforts
- supported Mobutu in power
• Josef Mobutu (F/R)
o Mobutu; made head of the military during lumumba’s reign
coup d’etat
installed as head of the government (dictator)
• for 30 years
• no separation between state assets and his own
uranium was bargaining chip
• that’s why US backed him up; didn’t want to give that metal to the soviets
o king leopold’s ghost- rules country like colonialist
o Mobutu Sese Seko
o renamed country Zaire
wanted return in African tradition
o farms nationalized
o schools taught Mobutuism
o elected again
o US supported him even though he was a dictator
Foreign powers fought rebels
Supported because against communism
Took money for himself
o didnt pay gov workers, but filled his own pockets
printed more money riots
o made a mess
o in power for 32 years
o created Popular Movement for the Revolution to give perception of multi-party election- won unopposed
later there was a pro and anti Mobutu government
• merged in High Council of the Republic-Parliament of Transition with Mobutu as head of state
o views towards Mobutu
Eisenhower: nothing is perfect and being pro Mobutu is important in struggle with russa
• relieved when lumumba was killed because he was threat to US
Kennedy: liberal policy; wanted to form parliament abroad; Adoula became prime minister; hard because there wasn’t a democratic tradition or sense of national unity; mobutu changed the power of doula
carter: wanted to distance themselves from the military dictator but ended up supporting him because other option was worse
reagan: supported this anti-communist ally; lots of aid
today: US self-confidence is lower bc of all of the sneaky things they did in the past, russia is at same level military wise
• Jules Marchal (R)
o Employee of liverpool shipping company
Realized Belgium was using the congo for slave labor
o Became Belgian diplomat
o Marchal did a lot of research on the congo
belgium hid it’s dark past
belgium wrote textbooks that praised leopold
little collective memory
discovered unburned documents in Belgian Foreign ministry- transcripts of testimony given by African witnesses
• couldn’t read them because Belgium wouldn’t share documents that were bad for its reputation
had to wait until he retired to finish the research
• Sociology of Forgetting (L)
o shadow culture: dark, death; things that didn’t happen/try to forget; based on psychologist’s (Jung) idea of unconscious shadow
o sociology of forgetting/of the shadow
• Raoul Peck (F/L)
o Paoul Peck: director of Lumumba, the death of a prophet; haitian, european director; family was sent to congo right after lumumba’s death as civil servant administrators
incorporates his own life story into the documentary
strategy: couldn’t visit the Congo, relied on home-movie footage, archival material; interviews in journalist; belgian colonial officials; lumumba’s family
• uses black screen to represent forgetting
• King Leopold (R)
o King Leopold II claims the Congo never went, just exploited o King leopold burned evidence/trail Exploited congo for slave labor Killed millions of Congolese o Legend in congo that Leopold hadn’t died but actually came to live in the Congo as Jean Felix de Hemptinne
• Film: Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, dirs. Alan Dater and Lisa Merton, 81 min., 2008. (Kanopy)
o experiential mode
o kenya
o a little dramatic: building up who Wangari is
o talks about connection of living things
o pictures of native groups in africa: taken because they knew that they were going to be decimated
historical preservation
honoring but also dehumanizing
o deforestation: land was cleared for settlements
o british missionary strategy for colonization
Mau Mau: first armed movement against colonization, hid in forests
• british burned down forest to find them
o new gov continued deforestation- regime change but doesn’t result in good for the people
forest was privatized and turn into tea and coffee zones
o developed countries support ruining of environment by dictators of third world countries
gov turned against Wangari
• she stopped the building of a skyscraper in a public park
• Dramatic Mode (L)
• sound track • voice of god narration • “characters”: dramatic, off beat people, extreme opinions • emotionally charged • structured narrative: beg, middle, end • inspirational/triumphant o over the top
• Experiential Mode (L)
o subjective experience
o interviews
not that objective; person speaking for themselves
o “speak about themselves”
o “non-expert” knowledge
o social/political realities
simple, making a point, not meta commentary
• Wangari Maathai (R/F)
o first woman PhD in kenya; first african women winning nobel peace prize, first central african person to win nobel peace prize; first person to win nobel prize for environmental issue
o born in rural family
o went to college in US
o ended up getting divorced and losing job
made her stronger- able to stand up
o in danger because of protests
• Green Belt Movement (F/R)
o GBM empowers women to stand up for rights
o Green Belt Movement started by Wangari Maathai
planted over 30 million trees
educational activities
• fruit trees to supplement died
bridge gap of rural and urban kenya
empower women
• learn about plants and cycles
• encouraged traditional skills of semi-literate women
criticisms from professional foresters because women were learning how to do it better than the professionals
• 2004 Nobel Peace Prize (R)
o Wangaari: first african women to receive nobel peace prize, 2004
o planted 30 million trees
supported children and household needs
supports employment
empowers women with socio-economic position
promotes peace
o democracy needed to sustain environment
tree became symbol of democracy
tree became symbol of peace- between disputing communities
o project started 30 years ago
need to fix environment
• Ecofeminism in Kenya (R/F)
o women didn’t have enough firewood to cook healthy food
idea: plant trees
o women compensated for trees that survived
collected seeds themselves
motivated women
o women gathered to protest their husbands, sons, and friends being imprisoned for political reasons
gov got violent
women used fact that all women the age of a persons mother had to be treated like a mother
wangari was beaten and taken to a hospital
protested for 11 months
o women had to deal with water shortages and environmental degradation
fuel gatherers, use firewood for food
women were scapegoats for problems
o GBM trains women and girls in health education