Abstract
This article is positioned at the crossroads of three areas of study in need of (re)new(ed) theorization and scholarly analysis: independent film-maker John Akomfrah's rich body of work; Afro-diasporic thinker/leader Malcolm X as central subject/‘body’ of (documentary) film representation; and the cross-cultural and cross-/transnational aesthetics of black documentary film(-making) theory and practice. It interconnects Seven Songs for Malcolm X's production practices and ‘informing logic’—drawn from black aesthetics and Soviet-Armenian film art—in order to critically examine how Akomfrah un-fixes Malcolm X's representation. In so doing, this article suggests that Akomfrah attempts, simultaneously, to transform the way in which jazz music rhythm is visualized in film and to cross-fertilize, within his mise-en-scène, still photography and cinematography. This article then uses the ways in which Akomfrah engages with these tools of representation/distinct styles of thinking (black) documentary aesthetics to answer its central question, ‘What does Seven Songs for Malcolm X do for black documentary aesthetics?’
Published Version
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