Anticolonialism, Ontology, and Semiotics: A Cinematic Exploration

Anticolonialism, Ontology, and Semiotics places anticolonial theory, semiotic analysis, and contemporary Hollywood film in a subtextual conversation.

Synthesizing Algirdas Greimas’ semiotic square with Frantz Fanon’s anticolonial philosophy, Anderson reconstructs an anticolonial social ontology for use as a method of film analysis. Using this ontology to interpret a wide range of films, the book defies the assumptions and challenges the conclusions of postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, and Afropessimist approaches. Reaching beyond the application of anticolonial theory for the purpose of film criticism, the book uses theory to interpret film while using film to illustrate and interpret theory. Along the way, readers are challenged to reconsider class, race, gender, sexuality, violence, and liberation not only in the cinematic world but also in the worlds we all inhabit.

This concise yet broad-reaching work will interest scholars and students of film studies, film philosophy, anticolonialism, postcolonialism, and race and gender studies.

Patrick D. Anderson is an Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Humanities at Central State University. His research focuses on the anticolonial tradition of Africana political theory, with an emphasis on archival research and anticolonial theories of social ontology.