Loading Events
  • This event has passed.
19.12.2024 | Frankfurt am Main
Lecture, Movie

MANDABI The Postal Money Order (SN 1968. D: Ousmane Sembene)

Lecture & Film “Black Atlantic Cinema”

Lecture: Daniel Fairfax (Frankfurt)

Lecture: Symbolic Capital: Mandabi (1968) by Ousmane Sembene
An adaptation of his own novella Le Mandat, Ousmane Sembene’s Mandabi (1968) was the first feature-length film made in the Wolof language, following Senegalese independence in 1960. The protagonist Ibrahima (Makhouredia Gueye), an endearingly feckless unemployed man who lives with his two wives and a brood of children in Dakar, has his life turned upside down when a money order for 25,000 CFA francs arrives from his nephew in France. Working in an ironic mode, Sembene’s focus on the trans-national capital flows symbolized by Ibrahima’s money order highlights the continued economic control that France wields over its former African colonies.
Daniel Fairfax teaches film at Goethe-University Frankfurt, where he coordinates the international master degree in Audiovisual and Cinema Studies. He is the author of The Red Years of Cahiers du Cinéma (1968-1973 (Amsterdam University Press, 2021)), has translated the writings of Jean-Louis Comolli, Christian Metz and Jean-Pierre Meunier.

Film: MANDABI (The Postal Order. SN 1968. D: Ousmane Sembene)
“Ibrahima, an amiable unemployed man living in Dakar with his two wives and a host of children, is thrown off balance when a money order for 25,000 CFA francs arrives from his nephew in France. While he is supposed to keep most of the money for his nephew’s return to Senegal, Ibrahima becomes entangled in a bureaucratic nightmare as he tries to establish his identity status in order to cash the money order. Ousmane Sembene’s MANDABI, an adaptation of his own satirical novel Le Mandat, was the first feature-length film to be made in the Wolof language after Senegal’s independence in 1960.” (Daniel Fairfax)

 

Further information and program: Here…

News from the research center

News
30.06.2025

Article "Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?" by Amadeus Ulrich published in EJPT

The article "Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?" by Amadeus Ulrich has just been published open access in the European Journal of Political Theory (EJPT). Ulrich brings the perspective of radical realism into a productive dialog with Adorno's critical theory.

more information ›
News
30.06.2025

Prof. Dr. Franziska Fay awarded the Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose University Prize 2025

Prof. Dr. Franziska Fay (Junior Professor of Ethnology with a focus on Political Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and former postdoctoral researcher at the Research Center Normative Orders at Goethe University) receives the Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose University Award 2025 in the category Humanities and Social Sciences.

more information ›
Publication
25.06.2025 | Online article

Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?

Ulrich, Amadeus (2025): Ideology and suffering: What is realistic about critical theory? European Journal of Political Theory, 0(0).  https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851251351782

more information ›
News
24.06.2025

New series “Vertrauensfragen” in the Frankfurter Rundschau initiated by Hendrik Simon

Democracy thrives on debate - if it serves the joint search for solutions. There is often a problem with this cooperation. The new FR series “Vertrauensfragen”, initiated by Hendrik Simon (Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) Frankfurt location at Goethe University's Research Centre Normative Orders ), examines why this is the case and how we can do better.

more information ›
Publication
23.06.2025 | Working Paper

Untrustworthy Authorities and Complicit Bankers: Unraveling Monetary Distrust in Argentina

Moreno, Guadalupe (2025): “Untrustworthy Authorities and Complicit Bankers: Unraveling Monetary Distrust in Argentina”. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Discussion Paper 25/3.

more information ›
News
22.05.2025

Does deliberative democracy have a future in the age of oligarchs, autocrats and patriarchs?

On June 3, Prof. Simone Chambers will give a lecture on the value of democracies and the future of the form of government.

more information ›
Publication
19.05.2025 | Anthology

Klimaethik. Ein Reader

Sparenborg, Lukas; Moellendorf, Darrel (Hrsg.) (2025) : Klimaethik. Ein Reader. Suhrkamp.

more information ›
News
19.05.2025

What can a baroque tapestry tell us about colonial iconography?

Lecture by Cécile Fromone on May 21. The professor at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, director of the Cooper Gallery at the Hutchins Center and author will talk about the long-forgotten African origins of iconography and its colonial dimension.

more information ›
News
05.05.2025

Normative Orders Newsletter 01/25 published

The newsletter from Research Centre Normative Orders collects information on current events, reports, news and publications several times a year. Read the first issue 2025 here.

more information ›