Rewriting the Colonial Gaze: Postcolonial Cinema as a Tool of Cultural Reclamation

This article critically examines how postcolonial cinemas strategically dismantle and rewrite the pervasive “colonial gaze” the objectifying, Eurocentric visual regime historically deployed to justify domination and construct the colonized “Other.” Analyzing seminal works from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Indigenous contexts, it argues that filmmakers employ specific aesthetic, narrative, and thematic strategies to reclaim cultural agency, redefine identity, and challenge Western epistemological hegemony. Through close readings of films by Sembène, Mambéty, Dash, Mehta, Sen, and others, the study identifies key modes of resistance: subverting ethnographic tropes, reclaiming historical narratives, centering subaltern subjectivities, reappropriating language and myth, and deploying hybrid forms. The research demonstrates that postcolonial cinema functions not merely as representation but as an active tool of cultural reclamation, generating counter-visualities that assert epistemological sovereignty. While acknowledging tensions within the global film market and internal critiques, the article contends that these cinematic interventions are crucial for decolonizing the imagination, fostering cultural resilience, and articulating postcolonial futures beyond the constraints of imperial visuality.