Abstract

LORIMIER, Julie de. Leave Oculocentrism and Practice Thinking as a Bodily Activity. Acta poét [online]. 2023, vol.44, n.1, pp.117-136.  Epub Mar 10, 2023. ISSN 2448-735X.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ap.2023.44.1.005735x24.

Inspired by animism as a way of being in the world, we explore the possibility for the audio-visual medium to leave its “oculocentrism” and access a modality of gaze that arouses the doubts specific to listening more than the certainties of seeing. For Amazonian shamans, refraining from naming what comes to them in the form of visions avoids being blinded by prior knowledge; one must rather, to reach the knowledge, maintain and inhabit the gap between oneself and the unknown. Echoing this singular experience of otherness, certain films, those of Djibril Diop Mambety and Mati Diop in particular, arouse a form of listening which questions the nature of what is seen, opening a space of transformation where thought and corporeality are intimately linked.

Keywords : Cinema; Oculocentrism; Animism; Djibril Diop Mambety; Mati Diop.