Sophocles’ Antigone in Francophone African Adaptation
Document Type
Presentation
Location
436 Hodges / Zoom Room B
Start Date
29-3-2025 1:45 PM
End Date
29-3-2025 2:05 PM
Description
The presentation focuses on Sylvain Bemba’s Black Wedding Candles for Blessed Antigone, a Francophone African adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. I focus on Bemba’s representations of both Congo and Burkina Faso through his adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. In Black Wedding Candles for Blessed Antigone, Bemba adapts Sophocles’ tragedy to examine the assassination of both Patrice Lumumba of Congo and Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. I contend that Francophone African’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone represents a productive medium of engaging and addressing social crises and political instability in Francophone Africa.
Sophocles’ Antigone in Francophone African Adaptation
436 Hodges / Zoom Room B
The presentation focuses on Sylvain Bemba’s Black Wedding Candles for Blessed Antigone, a Francophone African adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. I focus on Bemba’s representations of both Congo and Burkina Faso through his adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. In Black Wedding Candles for Blessed Antigone, Bemba adapts Sophocles’ tragedy to examine the assassination of both Patrice Lumumba of Congo and Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. I contend that Francophone African’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone represents a productive medium of engaging and addressing social crises and political instability in Francophone Africa.