ABSTRACT

This article addresses issues of gender, migration and race in Sembène’s La Noire de… (1966) through an examination of the film’s representation of transnational motherhood and maternal-domestic labour. While commentators tend to read the film’s female characters in terms of an allegory of imperial violence between France and Senegal, this article argues that La Noire de… should be simultaneously considered as an intimate portrayal of the effects of colonialism and gendered experiences of migration, particularly in relation to mothers and familial relations. It begins by situating the film within the political and cultural climate of 1960s France, focusing on attitudes towards migration and population that inform Sembène’s depiction of imperialism in France. The author examines Sembène’s representation of mothering relations as a key nodal articulation of the gendered effects of migration. She considers the protagonist’s exploitation as a source of maternal labour to support the mothering activities of her employer, and her transnational relationship with her own mother, arguing that the latter is central in articulating the abuses of neo-colonial displacement and also constructed as a potential site of empowerment.

摘要

本文通过考察电影对跨国母性和母性家庭劳动的表现，探讨了Sembène 的La Noire de... (1966) 中的性别、移民和种族问题。虽然评论员倾向于从法国和塞内加尔之间的帝国暴力寓言的角度来解读电影中的女性角色，但本文认为《黑色》...应同时被视为对殖民主义和性别化移民经历的影响的亲密写照，尤其是与母亲和家庭关系相关的经历。它首先将电影置于 1960 年代法国的政治和文化氛围中，重点关注对移民和人口的态度，这些态度为塞班对法国帝国主义的描述提供了依据。作者考察了 Sembène 将母爱关系描述为移民性别影响的一个关键节点。她认为主角的剥削是母性劳动的来源，以支持雇主的母性活动，以及她与自己母亲的跨国关系，