Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the politics of culture in modern Guinea-Bissau in the film Nha Fala/My Voice (2002) and, in particular, Flora Gomes’s reinterpretation of the country’s traditional understanding of national culture.

Paper long abstract:

This paper looks at the politics of culture in modern Guinea-Bissau in the film Nha Fala/My Voice (2002) and, in particular, Flora Gomes's reinterpretation of the country's traditional understanding of national culture and engagement with oral tradition as a form of questioning instability, political unrest, disunity, and dissenting voices. It argues that it is impossible to examine Gomes's representation of Guinea-Bissau's national culture without an understanding of how these issues relate to Amílcar Cabral — the hero and a mentor of the country's independence to whom he dedicates the film — and his take on the intricate conceptual relationship between 'nation' and 'culture', hence national culture. It then examines Gomes's redefinition of the postcolonial space through engagement with Cabral, in terms of his ideology of the nation and demand for a 'return to the source'. Thirdly, it looks at silence and allegorical dimensions in Nha Fala, critically examining Guinea-Bissau's insecurity, its confrontation of border issues and move away from the traditional pattern of colonial heritage by embracing a wider political arena in Africa. Within silence or mutism, it looks at the cultural, political, and monetary role of France as the new and invisible force which manages the country's economy whilst wrestling Guinea-Bissau away from its Portuguese heritage. It contends that Gomes appropriates existing oral tradition to interrogate social exclusion, unemployment, lack of education and accountability, in order to preserve societal equilibrium, by claiming Cabral's rightful place in modern Guinea-Bissau.