Date of Award
8-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design
Committee Chair/Advisor
David Blakesley, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Aga Skrodzka, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Ufuk Ersoy, Ph.D.
Committee Member
James Pope, Ph.D.
Abstract
In an era in which media plays a pivotal role in shaping societal beliefs and attitudes, this research draws on Sankɔfa (Sankofa)—the Ghanaian principle that emphasizes learning from the past to build the future—to investigate the potential of Afrocentric Afrofuturist cinema to construct new narratives and counter-narratives that challenge the dominant Eurocentric representations of Africans and African diasporans. The Sankɔfa focus addresses the need to expand conceptualizations of Afrofuturism by more fully incorporating the voices and experiences of Africans and the global African diaspora. It also calls for an Afrocentric Afrofuturism that moves beyond its traditional association with science fiction and technologically imagined futures to examine how the principles of hope, healing, and agency can be made experientially tangible for audiences. The Sankɔfa Sini reframes the Afrofuturist narrative as a prophecy that can come to fruition rather than a fantasy that exists only on screen, inviting audiences to participate in bringing that future into being. By analyzing selected films, this dissertation examines how their narratives function as vehicles for Afrocentric and Afrofuturistic storytelling that promotes healing, agency, and cultural reclamation among Africans and African diasporans. Drawing on these rhetorical analyses, it proposes the Sankɔfa Sini Manifesto, a practical framework to guide filmmakers in inventing their own Sankɔfa Sini narratives. To demonstrate the framework's application, the dissertation also develops an original film treatment that applies the manifesto and strategically employs brand storytelling techniques to tell a story of belonging rooted in Ghanaian storytelling traditions and inspired by Ghanaian historical figures.
Recommended Citation
Okai, Andrew N., "“Sankɔfa Sini” and the Recovery of the Storying Foundations of Afrofuturistic Film" (2026). All Dissertations. 4326.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/4326
Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0000-2481-5157
Included in
Africana Studies Commons, African History Commons, Black History Commons, Creative Writing Commons, Cultural History Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons