About David Murphy
Professor David Murphy is one of the most prominent specialists of Francophone African film. He has published widely on various aspects of Francophone West African culture and literature. His work on Ousmane Sembène has been particularly influential, and its canonical status is highlighted by the repeated citation of his work in the chapter proposals submitted by the other Workshop participants. His presence and contributions to the Workshop will no doubt be indispensable to thinking through the Vieyra and Sembène archives and to the planned discussions on early African cinemas.
His scholarly works include two monographs on African cinemas: a critically acclaimed study of Sembene’s films and novels — Sembene: Imagining Alternatives in Film and Fiction (James Currey, 2000) — and a co-authored survey of key African filmmakers — Postcolonial African Cinema: Ten Directors (Manchester UP, 2007). His later research has sought to develop more complex genealogies of African cinemas, in particular the co-edited volume, Africa’s Lost Classics: New Histories of African Cinema (Legenda, 2014). In addition to numerous journal articles, his other edited volumes include (with Charles Forsdick), Postcolonial Thought in the French-Speaking World (2009) and The First World Festival of Negro Arts, Dakar 1966 (2016).