‘Dakan’ Screening Explores Queer Identity in African Cinema
A recent campus screening of Dakan sparked a powerful discussion on queer identity, space and resistance in African film.
Hosted by the Center for Women’s Studies, the brown bag event — titled “Landscapes of Desire: Queering Spaces in African Film” - invited students to reconsider how cinema can both constrain and liberate queer expression.
Assistant Professor Cristovão Nwachukwu led the discussion, focusing on how physical and symbolic spaces in Dakan shape the characters’ struggle between desire and heteronormativity.
A Landmark in Queer African Cinema
Directed by Mohamed Camara, Dakan (1997) is widely regarded as one of the first West African films to centre a same-sex love story.
The drama follows two young men attempting to sustain their relationship while facing pressure from family and broader social structures determined to separate them.
For Nwachukwu, the film’s visual language is just as important as its narrative.
“Yes, the plot is important,” he explained, “but there’s a lot of aesthetic, formalistic prowess — especially how Camara deals with queerness and how the characters relate to different spaces.”
Light, Shadow and Confinement
Throughout the lecture, Nwachukwu highlighted how cinematography and lighting communicate power and restriction.
Shadows, he argued, visually signal who is permitted to inhabit public space fully. In one example, a central character is cast in darkness while his mother stands in the light — a metaphor for control and social enforcement.
He also drew attention to architectural details, such as a balcony balustrade that frames characters as if confined, reinforcing themes of surveillance and self-policing.
Private and public spaces in Dakan become battlegrounds where desire clashes with expectation.
Queerness Beyond the “Norm”
Nwachukwu defined queerness as anything outside heteronormative order, challenging the idea that social norms are natural or inevitable.
He noted that colonisation, Christianity and Western academic frameworks played significant roles in shaping anti-homosexuality laws across parts of Africa.
Referencing queer African studies scholar Stella Nyanzi, Nwachukwu emphasised the importance of reclaiming Africanness in all its diversity.
“Scholars in queer African studies have to reclaim Africanness,” he said, “and reinsert queerness — really showcasing that queerness has always existed in African societies.”
Films like Dakan, he argued, help reimagine desire within an African context, resisting narratives that frame queerness as foreign or imported.
Creating Academic Space for Taboo Topics
Students in attendance said the discussion created a rare opportunity to openly examine topics often considered taboo.
Senior Zemira Meade described it as her first time hearing a professor directly address queerness in an academic setting.
Others were struck by the idea that queer people actively “queer” public and private spaces — challenging rigid binaries between inside and outside, visible and hidden.
The screening the night before the lecture introduced many students to West African cinema beyond the mainstream, expanding their understanding of global queer storytelling.
An Ambiguous, Liberating Ending
Dakan concludes with uncertainty rather than resolution. The protagonists consider leaving their families behind to carve out new spaces for themselves.
“It’s not going to be a clear-cut, happy ending,” Nwachukwu explained. “They’re going to have to create their own spaces.”
That ambiguity, he suggested, reflects the broader queer experience - the ongoing search for environments where love and desire can exist openly.
Nearly three decades after its release, Dakan continues to resonate - not only as a groundbreaking film, but as an invitation to rethink how space, culture and identity intersect in African queer life.
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