Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016)
Thesis MA (VA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | en_ZA |
| Published: |
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1869484156454436864 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ismail, Shakeelah |
| author2 | Van der Wal, Ernst |
| author_browse | Ismail, Shakeelah Van der Wal, Ernst |
| author_facet | Van der Wal, Ernst Ismail, Shakeelah |
| author_sort | Ismail, Shakeelah |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis MA (VA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136075 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-07-01T04:10:24.939Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136075 A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) Ismail, Shakeelah Van der Wal, Ernst Van Robbroeck, Lize Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Studies. Women in motion pictures Motion pictures, French -- Social conditions Motion picture industry -- France Female friendship in motion pictures Social classes in motion pictures Urban youth -- France -- Social conditions UCTD Thesis MA (VA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Ismail, S. 2026. A Myth to Manifest: How spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016). Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/018029d1-3963-4776-aa61-085e014c01ec ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Director Houda Benyamina’s Divines (2016) narrates the story of Dounia and her best friend Maimouna, two teenage girls who hunger to live luxuriously and make it out of the banlieues, the impoverished suburbs just beyond Paris. Although the scene with the drug dealer, Rebecca, and her New Age speech is brief, its message of “dare to be rich” echoes through the filmic struggles faced by Dounia. The violence she faces follows closely behind the money she chases. The girls live on the outskirts of both Paris and New Age spirituality as racialised, classed, and gendered subjects. These identities cannot be shifted or shed in the film despite the belief in New Age as a locus of infinite possibility. This intimate reading of the case study of Divines (2016) uses critical Lacanian theory to explore how New Age spirituality reproduces and represents the systemic and interpersonal violence faced by marginalised characters and subjects in the film. Drawing on critical Lacanian scholars such as Slavoj Žižek and Derek Hook, I make use of Lacanian concepts of the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real to offer a complex reading of capitalism and coloniality in the film. I have also substantiated critical analysis with feminist scholars such as Françoise Vergès, adrienne maree brown and bell hooks and complementary reference to New Age books. I will demonstrate how New Age spirituality's supposed universal and depoliticised worldview contributes to systemic oppression rather than transcends it. Divines (2016) unveils the complexity of marginal identities in contrast to the naïve construction of New Age spirituality in the film, as well as its entanglement with capitalism and other forms of subjugation, which ultimately ends in tragedy. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar nie. Masters 2026-04-22T06:41:18Z 2026-04-22T06:41:18Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136075 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 139 pages : illustrations application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Women in motion pictures Motion pictures, French -- Social conditions Motion picture industry -- France Female friendship in motion pictures Social classes in motion pictures Urban youth -- France -- Social conditions UCTD Ismail, Shakeelah A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) |
| title | A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) |
| title_full | A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) |
| title_fullStr | A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) |
| title_full_unstemmed | A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) |
| title_short | A myth to manifest: how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in Divines (2016) |
| title_sort | myth to manifest how spirituality entangles with violence and identity in divines 2016 |
| topic | Women in motion pictures Motion pictures, French -- Social conditions Motion picture industry -- France Female friendship in motion pictures Social classes in motion pictures Urban youth -- France -- Social conditions UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136075 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ismailshakeelah amythtomanifesthowspiritualityentangleswithviolenceandidentityindivines2016 AT ismailshakeelah mythtomanifesthowspiritualityentangleswithviolenceandidentityindivines2016 |