Identity Politics, Self Determination and War in Postcolonial African Movies

Some of the themes that have marked the identity of African literature and other cultural products for decades are war and insurgence. The dominance of these themes is predicated on the sad fact that war and insurgencies have become a recurring decimal in the African life. The film, therefore, is one site where this sad narrative is projected.

 This paper examines Sometime in April- a film on the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda- Across the Niger-a film on the Nigeria-Biafra war- respectively, to reveal that politics of identity and self determination is a major catalyst for the wars and insurgencies in Postcolonial Africa. It argues that the history of most African nations, fifty years after independence, is a history of war, insurgence and terrorism and that all these are traceable, more than anything else, to colonialism, neo-colonialism and politics of identity.

The paper concludes that the panacea for reversing this sad narrative is for African leaders to govern their subjects with fairness, accountability and justice and to stand up to foreign interests whose goal is the perpetual polarization and subjugation of Africa and Africans.