The Films of Ousmane Sembène: Discourse, Politics, and Culture By ...

The idea of liberation, very dear to Sembène, is a comprehensive notion that encompasses politics and culture and promotes the eradication of colonial relics from the country. Sembène’s vision of liberation also converges with those of Louis-Jean Calvet, a French linguist who suggested,

[I]l n’y a pas et ne peut pas y avoir décolonisation économique et politique sans qu’intervienne aussi, dans le déroulement de ce processus, une décolonisation linguistique…, un peuple ne s’est pratiquement jamais libéré d’une emprise coloniale en conservant la langue du colonisateur.⁴

(There is not and never will be a political or economic decolonization without a subsequent linguistic decolonization…No people has practically ever freed itself from colonialism while keeping the colonizer’s language.)

Although I agree with Calvet that linguistic liberation should come along with political and economic liberation, the sententious tone of the second part of this statement raises doubts. Given the multitude of ethnolinguistic groups in Africa, which is still a source of major divisions and ethnic violence (the example of Rwanda is still fresh in one’s memory, as are the ongoing crisis in Somalia and many others across the continent), colonial languages seem to play a unifying role, for no one ethnic group can claim its propriety. Therefore, linguistic liberation in Africa may not necessarily mean downright abandoning of the colonial language but certainly a promotion of the local languages through literacy programs (see later for extensive discussion of this question).

Seen from this angle, Calvet’s theory of liberation supports and justifies Sembène’s determination to promote African languages and cultures through films. Although he did not preach abandoning the colonial language, Sembène was in favor of setting boundaries for its usage and giving the local languages a chance to thrive. By producing his films in indigenous languages, Sembène clearly suggested that the people’s hard-won independence was being appropriated by the bourgeois leaders who