Noções e visões sobre Haile Selassié em documentários: uma produção audiovisual para o ensino de História na Educação Básica

Abstract

In this work, we will seek to understand the place(s) of Haile Selassie, the last Emperor of Ethiopia, and how this figure has been understood and portrayed throughout the 20th and 21st centuries in computer networks, especially in documentaries available on digital platforms. We will discuss some of the representations of Haile Selassie in documentaries produced in Ethiopia, Jamaica, and Brazil that attempt, in some way, to reconstruct, create, or even recreate the imagery surrounding the last Emperor of Ethiopia. In this way, we will also discuss how Selassie or Ras Tafari has been represented in documentaries from these countries in recent years, always understanding Ras Tafari as a translocal phenomenon, a character belonging to the transcontinental world. Therefore, through this work, we seek to understand the construction of representations of Haile Selassie in documentaries produced in Ethiopia, Jamaica, and Brazil, respectively. To analyze how audiovisual materials, especially documentaries and representations of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie during his two periods of government in Ethiopia (1928-1936 and 1941-1974), it is necessary to reflect on the role of documentaries as a source and object of History. Selassie, before his coronation, was known as Tafari Makonen or Ras Tafari (Ras meaning duke, prince, or head), a name that influenced the Jamaican Rastafari movement and religiosity. His legacy still resonates today in pop culture, as his image became strongly associated with this movement due to the rapid expansion and popularization of Jamaican reggae in the 1960s and 1970s. Thinking about the notions and perspectives on Haile Selassie in documentaries also means considering different places of memory for a multifaceted leader whose history and trajectory have been interpreted in various ways over time. Tafari can be understood as a symbol of African resistance against European colonialism when we think about his role in confronting Italy's invasion of Ethiopia under Mussolini, but also as a tyrannical leader who ruthlessly repressed opponents of his government from the 1960s onwards.