ReadingThe Stuart Hall Project

Abstract

How might we be able to read and appreciate John Akomfrah's documentary The Stuart Hall Project? This article explores the film from a combined film and cultural studies approach, inspired by the intellectual work of Professor Stuart Hall himself. It situates the documentary about the life and work of Hall in terms of a development of Akomfrah's earlier work and in particular provides a close reading of the film as it deals with issues of biography and autobiography, identity and travel, and how it leaves us with an intriguing possibility of a conjunctural ending. It is argued that these topics have been represented through a reflexive audio-visual aesthetic as they are in an intimate dialogue with Hall's own cultural theory on such matters.