Theorizing Colonial Cinema is a millennial retrospective on the entangled intimacy between film and colonialism from film's global inception to contemporary legacies in and of Asia.
The volume engages new perspectives by asking how prior discussions on film form, theory, history, and ideology may be challenged by centering the colonial question rather than relegating it to the periphery. To that end, contributors begin by excavating little-known archives and perspectives from the colonies as a departure from a prevailing focus on Europe's imperial histories and archives about the colonies. The collection pinpoints various forms of devaluation and misrecognition both in and beyond the region that continue to relegate local voices to the margins.
This pathbreaking study on global film history advances prior scholarship by bringing together an array of established and new interdisciplinary voices from film studies, Asian studies, and postcolonial studies to consider how the present is continually haunted by the colonial past.
— The editors of this volume present diverse academic backgrounds from different geographical locations. Nayoung Aimee Kwon specializes in postcolonial studies and is in the U.S., Takushi Odagiri studies ethics and is in Japan, and Moonim Baek specializes in cinema studies and is in South Korea. Contributors to the volume range from local established film scholars to rising stars overseas. — The group's shared regional focus on Asia provides an important case study from within a formally colonized area. While scholarship in film studies has made important headways in examining the complex dynamics of colonial cinemas, too much focus is from the POV of Europe's imperial histories and archives about the colonies. The result of that has been devaluation and misrecognition within the region and outside it, which has relegated local voices to the margins. — This collaborative work is fitting for NDNS because the series emphasizes interdisciplinary and global dimensions of film theory and history. — Target a global audience in various disciplines, including film studies, area studies, and postcolonial studies.
A fascinating read combining film and Asian studies, Theorizing Colonial Cinema reveals new contexts within film theory, history, and ideologies as it centers the question of the colonial perspective and emphasizes how the present is constantly entangled with the colonial past.
