, COM2614 Assignment 1
Semester 2 2025
DUE 15 September 2025
Use this document as a guide and for references to answer your assignment
(Three essays provided)
Title:Whose Story? A Decolonial Analysis of Power, Knowledge
and Voice in Dahomey (2024)
Introduction
The 2024 documentary Dahomey, directed by French-Beninese filmmaker Mati
Diop, follows the journey of 26 royal artefacts looted from the Kingdom of
Dahomey during French colonial rule and their return from the Musée du Quai
Branly in Paris to Benin. Far more than a story of museum restitution, Dahomey
interrogates the legacies of colonial knowledge production and the politics of
cultural memory. Its minimalist style – long takes, sparse dialogue, and the voice of
a fictionalised artefact narrating its own displacement – invites viewers to reflect on
who is authorised to speak and to represent African histories.
This documentary is an especially rich text for a decolonial communication analysis
because it foregrounds questions of power, voice and epistemic justice. Using the
African Perspectives in Global Context: A Decolonial Framework for
Communication Analysis (Unit 1), this essay argues that Dahomey exposes the
asymmetrical power relations embedded in global museum practices while
experimenting with narrative strategies that re-centre African agency. At the same
time, the film also reveals some of the tensions of decolonial approaches,
particularly the risk of romanticising cultural ―return‖ without addressing the
contemporary socio-economic inequalities that persist.
Main Analysis
Colonial Legacies and Knowledge Systems
At its core, Dahomey is about how colonial conquest transformed African artefacts
Semester 2 2025
DUE 15 September 2025
Use this document as a guide and for references to answer your assignment
(Three essays provided)
Title:Whose Story? A Decolonial Analysis of Power, Knowledge
and Voice in Dahomey (2024)
Introduction
The 2024 documentary Dahomey, directed by French-Beninese filmmaker Mati
Diop, follows the journey of 26 royal artefacts looted from the Kingdom of
Dahomey during French colonial rule and their return from the Musée du Quai
Branly in Paris to Benin. Far more than a story of museum restitution, Dahomey
interrogates the legacies of colonial knowledge production and the politics of
cultural memory. Its minimalist style – long takes, sparse dialogue, and the voice of
a fictionalised artefact narrating its own displacement – invites viewers to reflect on
who is authorised to speak and to represent African histories.
This documentary is an especially rich text for a decolonial communication analysis
because it foregrounds questions of power, voice and epistemic justice. Using the
African Perspectives in Global Context: A Decolonial Framework for
Communication Analysis (Unit 1), this essay argues that Dahomey exposes the
asymmetrical power relations embedded in global museum practices while
experimenting with narrative strategies that re-centre African agency. At the same
time, the film also reveals some of the tensions of decolonial approaches,
particularly the risk of romanticising cultural ―return‖ without addressing the
contemporary socio-economic inequalities that persist.
Main Analysis
Colonial Legacies and Knowledge Systems
At its core, Dahomey is about how colonial conquest transformed African artefacts
