Francophone Films to the Rescue: Indigenous Languages and Francophone Studies

The Francophone world is characterized by a wide range of practices where multilingualism is more the rule than the exception, particularly in Africa. While the Francophonie movement has been decried by some as a neocolonial enterprise, it has had both positive and negative impacts on African cinema. I focus on the role played by indigenous languages in “Francophone” African films. I argue that the inclusion of multilingual films in Francophone Studies curricula can counter the criticism that the Francophone model skews our understanding of those regions, while enhancing students’ understanding of the complex multilingual landscape of the Francophone world.