Gender-Based Violence in Nigerian Cinema.
Abstract
This paper focuses on the role of Christianity in the promotion of the code of silence surrounding Gender-Based Violence in Nollywood’s Fifty, Knocking on Heaven’s Door and Citation. Gender-based violence (GBV) is defined as any form of violence against women. The question of GBV is one that is a prevalent occurrence in the world today. The United Nations (UN) places statistics of women who have suffered any form of violence as between the range of 30-70%. As Chimamanda Adichie states categorically at a UN event recently, this statistic does not however state that these types of violence are carried out by mostly male family members against their victims. Violence against women exists in various forms involving but not restricted to rape, marital rape, sexual harassment, sex for grades, female trafficking, battery, female genital mutilation (FGM) and circumcision. Nigerian cinema (Nollywood) as centerpieces in life discourses continues to bring to the fore, issues central to the Nigerian existence. Using three Nigerian movies: Fifty directed by Biyi Bandele, Knocking on Heaven’s Door directed by Desmond Elliot and Citation directed by Kunle Afolayan, I analyse the concept of GBV, the portrayal of GBV in Nollywood, the trauma surrounding GBV and the role of colonialism and religion in the formation of the Nigerian female identity. Theories on gender studies, post coloniality, trauma theory and negotiating identities provide the theoretical framework for this analysis.
Key words: Gender-Based Violence, Discrimination, Rape, FGM, Domestic Violence, Code of Silence, Trauma, Colonialism, Christianity, Identity and Nollywood.
About Victoria Nnamchi:
Victoria M. Nnamchi is a Nigerian and holds a B.A in English/History from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She is one of the organisers of the MasterVision 2.0 Online Conference. She is currently a third semester English-Speaking Cultures master student at the University of Bremen. Her research interests include racism, gender studies/gender equality in Nigeria, cultural and film studies. Her master thesis examines the role of Christianity in the code of silence surrounding Gender-Based Violence in Nigerian Cinema.
Works Cited
"Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi (Writer) On Combating And Preventing Sexual And Gender Based Violence In Humanitarian Crises - ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment 2020". United Nations Web TV, 2021, http://webtv.un.org/watch/chimamanda-adichie-ngozi-writer-on-combating-and-preventing-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-in-humanitarian-crises/6162801859001/.
McKie, Linda. “Sociological Work on Violence: Gender, Theory and Research.” Sociological Research Online, vol. 11, no. 2, July 2006, pp. 75–83, doi:10.5153/sro.1252.