Tropical Dream Palaces: Cinema in Colonial West Africa
Zoomicon-zoom-in
Tropical Dream Palaces: Cinema in Colonial West Africa

Tropical Dream Palaces: Cinema in Colonial West Africa

By
Odile Goerg (Author)  

Hardback

Available / dispatched within 1 - 4 weeks

Quantity
Many studies focus on film in Africa. Few, however, study cinema as a leisure activity: one that has influenced several generations and opened up spaces to dream, discuss or contest. Movie theatres offered a break from the daily routine, as places of escape and of education. Cinema was also potentially subversive, offering an alternative to colonial discourse. 'Tropical Dream Palaces' seeks to trace this history in a West African context: of broadening horizons on the one hand, and of censorship and control on the other. It fills a historiographic void, following cinema's arrival in the region in the early twentieth century up until the Independence era, and also looking further afield to Central Africa and its different models. Goerg addresses questions of film distribution in colonial times; of screening venues, their implantation, spread and different categories; while also focusing on audiences, their gender or age; the acquisition of a film culture; and the impact of screening foreign images. Her book draws on extremely varied sources to paint a broad picture of this cinematographic landscape: archives, the accounts of African and European spectators or administrators, novels, autobiographies, the local press, interviews and iconography.
Odile Goerg is Full Professor of Modern African History at CESSMA, Universite Paris Diderot. She specialises in socio-economic history in the urban setting. Her present research focuses on leisure and culture, especially cinema, a topic on which she has published numerous articles.
  • Contributor: Odile Goerg
  • Imprint: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
  • ISBN13: 9781787382053
  • Number of Pages: 208
  • Packaged Dimensions: 138x216mm
  • Format: Hardback
  • Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
  • Release Date: 2020-01-16
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Biography: Odile Goerg is Full Professor of Modern African History at CESSMA, Universite Paris Diderot. She specialises in socio-economic history in the urban setting. Her present research focuses on leisure and culture, especially cinema, a topic on which she has published numerous articles.

Delivery Options

Home Delivery

Store Delivery

Free Returns

We hope you are delighted with everything you buy from us. However, if you are not, we will refund or replace your order up to 30 days after purchase. Terms and exclusions apply; find out more from our Returns and Refunds Policy.