Crashed dreams in the Sahara: African cosmopolitanism in Across the Desert.

Olaoluwa, Senayon

The question of migration with relation to Africa in the twenty-first century is pivotal to the challenges the continent faces. Yet it must first be construed as a holdover from the antecedent of the late twentieth century catalyzed by various human and non-human evolutionary processes, ranging from the technological to the economic to the social and the political. All these variables serve to frame the reconfiguration and designation of spaces and epochs in consonance with the dictates of globalization. Thus, the simultaneous leveling of time and space that is a defining trope of globalization also ironically and dialectically endorses a cleavage of the world into multiple categories. Invariably and for the purpose of convenience, the cleavage sanctions a broad categorization of the globe into North and South. Migration as an integral index of the present epoch is manifested in various hues and textures, inspiring the formulation of a plethora of abstractions aimed at capturing the appropriate pulse of each of these strands of migration. Of these strands, cosmopolitanism, particularly in recent times, appears to enjoy the most attention in view of the volume of conceptual reflections it continues to receive from theorists and scholars in various fields of enquiries in the social sciences and humanities. Its panoptic rendition as both an abstraction and practice in which the entire world is involved is one reason that can be ascribed for this.

Redefining Cosmopolitanism

At another level, cosmopolitanism is engaging also because there is something immanently holistic in its imagination and practice. This is precisely because within the conceptual context of the term, cosmopolitanism does not only suggest the physical movement of people and materials, but also resonates with the movement of information and ideas across spaces. Viewed from this angle, cosmopolitanism is not exclusively about the voluntary movement of people across spaces in the process of which they exhibit a wide range of tastes of commodities, cultures, and other forms of socialization. It also entails an involuntary streak in which the apparently indifferent and passive local community is actively involved, precisely because of the migration of ideas, tastes, and information into and out of the most interior of local spaces (Ferguson 168). Against this backdrop, we must necessarily return to the question of the dichotomization of the present age into Global North and South. Doing this thus allows for a critique of the normative conception of cosmopolitanism as emanating from the philosophical pontificating of Kant and Habermas which necessarily constructs cosmopolitanism in elitism and voluntarism (Beck 18-19). It is on account of this perception that the aspiration of such conceptual expression towards a form of universalism continues to face serious opposition in the Global South. In this sense, the Kantian notion of cosmopolitanism as serving the exclusive interest of the highly educated, the rich, and the pleasure-seeking individuals whose disposition towards travel is instigated by a form of voluntarism does not hold much water. This indicates affirmation of a form of association beyond the national space. If such conceptual rendition serves any purpose, critics of the Global South regard such purpose as functional only within the spatial domain of Euro-American epistemic and cultural confines (Dowdeswell 176; Strand 240-41).

What is more, such assumptions are further read as instigating in the South, and the postcolonial world generally, a call for a methodological review of the rendition and practice of cosmopolitanism (Beck 28). The contention of such a call for a reconsideration of the understanding of cosmopolitanism stems from the realization that "the contemporary mantra of cosmopolitanism ... carries new social images and epistemic shifts" (Strand 240). With respect to the caveat of elitism and voluntarism, Beck, for instance, argues that:

   In reality today, however, a "banal," "coercive" and
   "impure" cosmopolitisation unfolds unwanted, unseen--
   powerful and confrontational beneath the surface or
   behind the facade of persisting national spaces, jurisdictions
   and labels. It extends from the top of the society
   down to everyday life in families, work situations and
   individual biographies--even as national flags continue
   to be raised and even if national attitudes, identities and
   consciousness are strongly being reaffirmed. (19)

Such espousal of the articulation of other cosmopolitan experiences serves to provide what has been termed a "radical critique" of the dominant/iconic tendencies of Western cosmopolitanism (Burton 216). It also serves at the same time to challenge the elitist limits imposed by cosmopolitanism as expressed in the West. This remark is crucial in the unpacking of the strand of cosmopolitanism expressed in the film Chidebe's film, Across the Desert (2008). For if Obama, for instance, while on a visit to Germany proudly declared himself to be an American and a citizen of the world at the same time (Baruti 1), the travelers in the film from Aminkwor village in Nigeria who seek to reach Europe or Europa "via the desert" are no less proud of their Nigerian citizenship. For them, this must begin with the high esteem in which they hold their Aminkwor village. But it is also clear in the film that these villagers who are resolved to travel to Europe are so resolved also because of their consciousness to be world citizens in their own right. In this case, they do not have to be politically, educationally, and socially privileged as the president of the United States to make the same cosmopolitan claims as Obama does. Such analogy allows for a reflection on African cosmopolitanism as one which does not necessarily feed into the conceptual assumptions of the West. And, going back to Beck, the "coercive" texture of their cosmopolitanism as against the voluntarism of Obama consists in the undercurrent of poverty which they seek to fight by resolving to embark on a long trek through the desert.

Besides, the travelers' cosmopolitan ambition in Across the Desert is the more enabled by the understanding that in the present age, "[p]eople in poor nations are increasingly aware of what people in rich nations have. Their aspirations contribute to competition and, potentially, to hostility" (Audi 366). Directed by Mac Collins Chidebe, Across the Desert comes in the long list of Nollywood feature films (1) that explore the phenomenon of West African migration to the West in the age of globalization. It reminds us of titles such as Lancelot Imasuen's Games Women Play (2007) and Home in Exile (2010) and Chidebe's Across the Bridge (2005)--all films that deal with cosmopolitan travel and return at various levels. It is, however, different from them in the sense that here is a film that captures experiences of travel without return, not the least because it seeks to highlight how the hazards of clandestine migration from West Africa to Europe through the Sahara Desert constitute an impossibility to the realization of cosmopolitan aspirations. Even when a film like Joseph Ubaka's Europe by Road comes closer in comparison, the impossibility of arrival at target destination by the travelers still makes Across the Desert stand apart from it. Besides, understanding the place of Chidebe as a director in the Nigerian film industry must begin first with the acknowledgment of his prolific output, having so far directed more than 100 feature films. While the films range from migration to comedy and tragedy, one issue that cannot be glossed over is Chidebe's consistency with the projection of a thematic motif. The said motif runs through his works as a critique of excessive desperation to amass wealth, on account of which most characters and heroes of his films overreach themselves, even in comedies. This is the case from Old Fools (2003) to Executive Billionaires (2009) and Across the Bridge (2005), to mention but a few examples. It thus explains why in Across the Desert there is an expression of a desperate cosmopolitan aspiration that sanctions literal trekking from West Africa to Europe. The motivation is anchored on the prospect of making stupendous wealth in Europe.

Implicit in the above is the mediation of information technology which has brought about the compression of time and space in the age of globalization. That is, in spite of the digital divide between North and South, the processes of information transmission are so accelerated around the world to the extent that the implications of the digital divide in all spheres are obvious to both the North and the South. As a natural reaction, governments of poorer nations now aspire to close the gap of development between them and the richer nations of the North. Citizens of the South also aspire towards making poverty history through a process of cosmopolitan participation which offers, among other things, an option of travel from their poverty-stricken domains in the South into perceived spaces of abundance and opportunities in the North. To that extent, cosmopolitanism as expressed in Across the Desert could be read as exhibiting a strand which destabilizes the normative notion of the concept as one which is instigated by a sense of affluence and pleasure. This is precisely so because, in the case of these cosmopolitans in the film, reaching Europe through a long trek across the Sahara Desert is a decision induced in the first place by poverty and a dogged sense of endurance and hardship. For that matter, their mission is clear: to travel to Europe via the desert in order to address their poor economic conditions.

Their decision, moreover, renders ambiguous the role of nations in mediating acceptable cosmopolitan practices. In this instance, cosmopolitanism is construed as giving priority to individuals over and above nations, as:

On a still wider view ... held by cosmopolitans, all non-personal values are subordinate to personal ones. Nations, for instance, properly exist for the benefit of persons, not the other way around. Broadly speaking, then, cosmopolitanism gives some degree of priority to the interests of humanity over those of nations, and the stronger the priority, the stronger the cosmopolitanism. (Audi 372)

With specific reference to the travelers in Across the Desert, their decision serves as a critique of the failure of their nations (Nigeria and Ghana) to live up to the expectation of serving their social and economic interests as individuals. Therefore, their aspiration towards the transgression of various borders of African states through the desert, in order to seek alternate ways of eking out a living in Europe, is buoyed by the awareness of the responsibility of other nations in catering to the need of cosmopolitans as strangers (Appiah xv).

But more often than not, the conceptualization of cosmopolitanism as the antithesis of nationalism turns the practice into an elusive category at both ends of the originating nations and the nations/countries of destination (Brown 53). The experience of the cosmopolitans in Across the Desert serves in a fundamental way to illustrate this point, seeing that it is the failure of social and economic fulfillment in Nigeria and Ghana that informs their decision to trek to Europe. Yet there is no guarantee that, in spite of their optimism, the borders of the target European countries are generously open to them. The earliest instance of this is clear in their curious decision to trek instead of boarding an aircraft to Europe after they must have--under normal circumstances--been issued visas by embassies of the target countries in Nigeria and Ghana. It is also clear, at a second level, that the trek across the Sahara Desert is not going to be an easy one, because there are borders in the various African countries that constitute the space of the Sahara. Therefore, they are seen from time to time discussing or strategizing on how to detour borders and immigration posts of other African countries. While this reveals that the espousal of an obligation of hospitality to strangers is ideally desirable, the reality on the ground often indicates a far cry from the ideal (Baker 107).

African Cosmopolitanism

The cosmopolitans in Across the Desert, in spite of having all odds against them and being the least qualified socially and economically in the normative sense of the concept, allow us to turn to the radical strand of what Walter Mignolo terms "de-colonial cosmopolitanism." According to Mignolo, it "is a cosmopolitanism of multiple trajectories aiming at a trans-modern world based on pluriversality rather than on a new and good universal for all" (111). In other words, though the travelers' profiles may not meet up with the expectations of normative cosmopolitanism privileged in the Euro-American equation, they are nevertheless cosmopolitans from a postcolonial perspective as informed by the social imaginaries of their originating space.

The line of argument in this article needs to be qualified and explicated as providing the theoretical footing for the exploration of the cosmopolitan characters that are represented in the Nigerian video film Across the Desert. Specifically, the film presents us with characters that are generally of low education and, as such, far from the wealth line. Yet they are motivated by a form of cosmopolitan consciousness with an envisaged destination in Europe. Moreover, these characters from Aminkwor village in Eastern Nigeria desire the allure of Europe without any breach of attachment to Aminkwor. This is in spite of the village's state of poverty and anonymity. It explains their understanding of the journey to Europe as one aimed to acquire wealth and return for a transformation of Aminkwor. To that extent, it is arguable that their sense of cosmopolitanism exhibits an unapologetic coalescence with nationalism. Yet it must be noted that, while the processes through which they have set out to express their cosmopolitanism may be contrary to the popular understanding, their attitude nonetheless validates the view that, unlike in the past, cosmopolitan aspirations tend to go hand in hand with nationalism in contemporary times (Baruti 1). How then is this unique mode of cosmopolitanism expressed in Across the Desert? Engaging this point necessarily requires that we first examine the centrality of the Sahara Desert to the implementation of the cosmopolitan aspiration of the characters in the film.

Generally considered to be a harsh environment, the Sahara Desert is often described in negative terms by travelers and scholars. The comments emanate from intimate interactions and the unpleasant feelings that the memory of the desert space conjures. Nevertheless, the Sahara does not cease to constitute an attraction for cosmopolites. Moreover, the representation of the Sahara Desert in Across the Desert provides interesting vistas into the various ways in which the understanding of the geographical domain may be conceived. There is a sense in the film in which the desert holds much attraction for the travelers. Yet, later in the film, the unpredictable and enigmatic nature of the desert is foregrounded in the ordeals of these travelers and others from Ghana. The initial conception of the desert is encapsulated in the immediate economic significance attached to it by the travelers when the initiator of the idea, Nathan (Jerry Amilo), calls on all young men like him in Aminkwor village: "Let us locate Europa [Europe] via the desert." This kind of call should not be surprising knowing that imagination and fantasy are usually at the base of cosmopolitan aspirations (Craciun 39).

Besides, their aspiration to trek through the desert deserves to be construed as invoking the memories of heroic travels through the desert by medieval West Africans. While some of the most fascinating memories of the journey through the Sahara Desert include those made by famous kings of the African empires of the medieval period, the nature of their travel shows how the desert was construed as a means to an end and not an end in itself. Most of these emperors, including Mansa Musa, while leaving a trail of wealth and extravagance in their wake, saw and used the desert as an access route to the Arabian Peninsula for the observance of hajj (pilgrimage). It was in a bid to fulfill their spiritual obligation of observance of this particular pillar of the Islamic faith. Subsequent journeys by West Africans, especially in modern times defined by colonial and postcolonial experiences, continue to represent the Sahara Desert more as providing the link to other desired landscapes than those offered within the space of the desert. The reason for the desire for landscapes beyond the desert is not unconnected with the harsh environmental conditions associated with it, and which have been discussed earlier in this article. On account of all this, the West African, whose dream of cosmopolitanism finds a ray of hope in the Sahara Desert, is said to be an incarnation of ironies and contradictions. The Sahara Desert must thus be acknowledged as enabling the staging of these contradictions and ironies.

Across the Desert, therefore, provides a filmic instance of the examination of these various sites of contradictions and ironies which typify the West African strand of cosmopolitanism. That the Nigerian video film is interested in the representation of cosmopolitanism should not come as a surprise. This is precisely because the imagination of Africa in the broadest sense is a defining trope of this film industry otherwise known as Nollywood. What is more, cosmopolitanism has come to occupy an enviable place in filmic representation the world over. Not limited to West Africa, the Southern African film industry continues to make cosmopolitanism one of its stock themes (Mhiripiri 91). Needless to say, in Europe, for instance, there is a thriving genre of short films that privileges diverse intimations of cosmopolitanism as a twenty-first-century phenomenon (Deshpande 77). Beyond this, there is a school of thought that affirms that, contrary to widely held views, cosmopolitanism in Europe antedates the Enlightenment and can thus be appropriately limned as a medieval heritage (Ganim 5).

Migration and Cosmopolitanism in Across the Desert

The cosmopolitan texture of the filmic focus is unambiguously underscored by its manner of opening. Here, Nathan is seen returning on a commercial motorbike from a city in the South-West to Aminkwor village in South-East Nigeria. By virtue of his return and the annunciation of his next line of action, it becomes very clear that he has reached the limits of his cosmopolitan experience within Nigeria, which, in the context of the film, is symbolic of Africa. The aesthetic role of music as a diegetic trope is also significant in the way it underscores Nathan's cosmopolitan wit's end in Africa: "I waka every where for Africa" (I have been everywhere in Africa). The music provides more information on Nathan's cosmopolitan life within Africa. Among other things, we are able to know that he has sold automobile spare parts in Sokoto (in Northern Nigeria), and has worked as a "shoemaker" (cobbler) in Port Harcourt (in Southern Nigeria). Through this musical narrative, a justification is offered for his new decision to look beyond Africa. But, as argued earlier, the nature of Nathan's engagements within Nigeria is significant for the counter-narrative strand of cosmopolitanism that is at work in this film.

The popular construct of a vehicle spare parts seller or cobbler in Nigeria is that of a person with little or no education. The understanding thus provides the ground to consolidate the argument about the strand of cosmopolitanism in this film as that which subverts the caveat of exclusivist elitism in order to re-inscribe cosmopolitanism in "associative communalism," that is, in associating and re-grouping for a common cause. This then is what I term "communal cosmopolitanism" in this article. That is, if by virtue of high education and wealth, cosmopolitanism in the West is invested with an equally high level of individualism, the same cannot be said of communal cosmopolitanism. For, often, most West Africans who opt for migration to Europe by trekking through the Sahara Desert do so through a process of communal travel. Among others, one explanation for this stems from the Herculean task that is implied in having to trek through such a region that has been described as a "brutal desert world" ("Review of Call of the Desert" 73). This way, an individual's courage tends to buck at the imagination of such a lone journey. Therefore, it often requires a group of people to agree to make such a journey together. Usually, these are people who are associated by a common cause: to cross to the Western Hemisphere through the desert in order to enhance their social and economic status. The motivation is the desire to cross the poverty line. Therefore, communal cosmopolitanism socializes the conception and practice of cosmopolitanism with a view to seeking dignity and tackling the challenges associated with the travel processes of its implementation as a lived experience. In this sense, communal cosmopolitanism draws inspiration from the existing communal ethos of postcolonial Africa. It is so even when, on account of high qualifications in Western education, a number of Africans tend to exhibit greater disposition towards individualism than those not as educated. Thus, the ethos of African communalism still remains for the most part entrenched and sustained as a quotidian experience and practice especially in the rural areas. This should explain why Nathan, upon returning to Aminkwor, begins to go around the village, persuading equally young men to join him. From the appearance and speeches of these young men, their educational attainment is within the average range of Nathan's himself; and there are some like Uka who are not literate at all. Yet the idea of utilizing the desert space for arrival in Europe sits well with their imagination.

It is against the above backdrop that we are able to come to terms with the import of Nathan's mobilization of support for his relocation to Europe "via the [Sahara] desert". For him, it has to begin with recounting his ordeals across Nigeria over the years to his mother and how the envisaged prosperity that catalyzes his travel across the country has eluded him. The only alternative, therefore, is for him to seek a place in Europe. As the initiator of the whole idea, Nathan is able to articulate his resolve in a way that enlists audience pathos. The extremism of his frustration is expressed in his existentialist declaration in which he wonders whether his chi--that is, personal God--is asleep. In no time, he finds an answer to the perceived slumber of his chi when he says "But I don't even care; if chim likes, let him sleep. I have devised a new means; and that new means is that I am leaving this country for Europa."

It is with this personal determination that he swings into action, convincing fellow young men to join him. To drive home his point more rhetorically, he makes them see how they, and the entire Aminkwor village, have been glossed over in matters of wealth, fame, and development. The alibi of dystopia about Aminkwor strikes the right chord in the other young people Nathan mobilizes to the village square over a gourd of palm wine. Expectedly, not all who honor the invitation buy into the idea. But Nathan's idea of reaching Europe through the desert is on the aggregate a huge success in view of the majority's resolve to be part of the journey. It must, however, be admitted that the magical effect of Nathan's address on fellow young men at the village square obtains substantially from the emphasis on his certitude about the reliability of the world map, especially from the Sahara to Europe. According to him: "I have the map of the whole world in my house.... I have the directives [sic] that will usher you and I [sic] into the white man's country on our foot." Armed with what can be described as a cognitive map, Nathan utilizes his knowledge of map reading for the mustering of support for this proposed journey. The place of the map in winning the majority of the young people to his side is significant precisely because the map plays the conventional role of assuring on-way finding. (2) In the case of the youths at the village square, the map reading, which inspires optimism about the proposed journey, is first contemplated over a gourd of wine and hot debates between those critical of the proposal and those disposed to it. Thus, those disposed to the journey regroup to join Nathan in reading the map.

As we watch the characters surround Nathan with so much enthusiasm, we also read on their faces their curiosity, which awaits conviction by Nathan's claim of understanding the significations of the map. Beyond this, their gathering around Nathan for explanation prefigures the communal nature of the journey they are soon to embark upon, and attests to the notion of communal cosmopolitanism explicated earlier. What is more, the reading competence Nathan brings to bear on his address plays a major role in enlisting support for the idea of a long trek across the desert. It also serves to foreground what Caroline Knowles considers to be the imaginative and analytical potentials of journeys to "foreground navigational skill [thereby] offering a grounded way of thinking about contemporary mobilities and the interpenetration of distant worlds" (135). Thus, by exhibiting knowledge about places through the Sahara to Europe, we are also able to see the very senses in which the little known, if not anonymous, Aminkwor village is potentially connected to far and distant places off the shores of Nigeria.

From another angle, the village square map reading serves as a postcolonial strategy which utilizes the memories of colonial journey and exploration of Africa and other parts of the world. From hindsight, such colonial journeys and explorations relied on the technology of compasses and maps to navigate and locate different distant parts of

the world. Such journeys were, however, notorious for their hubris which had little or no regard for natives, and armed to the teeth for the subjugation of indigenous people through a consciousness which systematized and glamorized colonialist occupation/One such instance relating to the exploration of the Sahara Desert was the nineteenth-century French expedition for which 100 soldiers journeyed into what the French colonial power took to be a previously "unexplored" Sahara Desert only to be met by formidable resistance from the Tuaregs ("Review of Call of the Desert" 73). The said expedition was undertaken for the purpose of charting a railroad from the Sahara to the coast. On account of this, colonizers did not have to obtain visas to come into Africa, having articulated their mission as an altruistic civilizing venture. While these cosmopolites in Across the Desert have no such civilizing mission to execute in Europe, their determination to access Europe without passports or visas can thus be appropriately read as a retrieval from colonial memories which is reinvented for meeting up with postcolonial challenges of the times. They may not be armed like colonizers, yet they are nevertheless determined to access Europe. Communal cosmopolitanism spurns armed travel while relying more on the solidarity that the sense of togetherness provides during highly ambitious and challenging journeys.

The journey eventually commences after instances and evidence of desperation which have seen a number of the travelers selling their parents' property without their consent. The exhibition of lack of scruples is explained in terms of what the travelers intend to ultimately achieve upon their arrival in Europe. Again, music plays a crucial role in extenuating the enormity of the sorrow and trauma their parents are made to undergo:

   There is nothing wey I never do for Africa o [There is
   nothing I haven't tried to do in Africa].... I don sell part
   for Sokoto [I have sold vehicle spare parts in Sokoto]....
   I do shoemaker for Port Harcourt [I have been a cobbler
   in Port Harcourt].
   I don see am sey my luck dey for Europe [I have now realized
   that my fortune awaits me in Europe].
   Baba no vex o [Father, please don't be cross with me] it
   is for your own good.
   Mama no vex o [Mother, please don't be cross with me]
   it is for your own good.

Again, the music underscores another feature of communal cosmopolitanism in that it is unambiguous in stating the mission of these travelers. Their resolve to travel to Europe through the desert is in a bid to change their economic fortune for the better, having tried without success in Nigeria.

The journey through the desert, to put it in Nathan's words, is a search for "super honor," as they do not intend to leave Aminkwor without enough cash to sustain them on their journey. Therefore, if they leave in "honor," they also intend to return with even greater honor. It also means that as cosmopolites in their own right, they do not intend to suffer any compromise of dignity on account of lack while the journey lasts. Using the migration model of Jorgen Carling and Marfa Hernandez-Carretero, and looking critically beyond the travelers' preparation and determination, the manner of their journey can be said to fall within the category of "unauthorised migration from Africa" to Europe (42). Yet they are determined to detour all forms of exclusionary measures to the realization of their cosmopolitan ambition. They appear to take pragmatic steps to tackle the immediate challenge of poverty which should have prevented them from affording air travel and passports. In this sense, their journey calls to question assumptions about poverty's capacity to prevent migration among Africans (Gelderblom 241).

On another significant plane, the uniqueness of their cosmopolitanism also stems from their attitude towards Aminkwor and Europe. The attitude is perhaps best captured in Uka's understanding of the essence of the trip. Unlike the general assumptions about cosmopolitanism which de-emphasize attachment to the nation-state or what goes on in the country of destination, in spite of his lack of education, Uka (Alaso Wariboko) hopes to be the "Governor of Eulope [sic]." At another time, upon finally overseeing Europe across the Mediterranean Sea after about twelve months of trekking across the Sahara Desert, he declares again with consistency the determination to be the "President of Eulope [sic]." Nevertheless, this same Uka, at every instance of this pronouncement, does not fail to keep Aminkwor in view by letting us know that thereafter he still hopes to return to Aminkwor to demolish the huts and replace them with mansions. While this is symptomatic of the ambition of these cosmopolites, it also speaks to the possibility of constructing a strong visceral link between cosmopolitanism and nationalism, contrary to the elitist position which conceives of both concepts as mutually exclusive. To that extent, instead of talking about the conceptual dialectic of cosmopolitanism as detachment and situationality, or rootedness--a view credited to Appiah, the performance of cosmopolitanism provokes a discussion of the convergence of both detachment and rootedness (Petek 76). Viewed from this radical angle, the two apparently dissonant elements could be read as conducive to a form of conceptual and practical wholeness. This understanding is perhaps best illustrated with the self-address of Nathan as "Onye Europe, Onye Uno" (The man of Europe, the man of the homeland). It is an appellation that he invokes in the movie when the going gets tough and he is torn between giving up on the trip and forging ahead.

Such uncommon ambition on the part of the travelers, and which challenges established views about the ways in which cosmopolitanism is articulated and practiced, naturally activates and sustains audience curiosity. This is particularly so with respect to the level of success that such journey promises to attain. It goes without saying that the Sahara Desert, even when it is represented to be a means to the end of reaching Europe, is central to the unfolding of the filmic narrative. The crucial role of the desert perhaps also explains why it is included in the better known title of the film, which has an alternate title: Miles away from Home. The pertinent question then is: To what extent does the Sahara yield to playing a mediatory role in the realization of the ambition of these West African trekkers whose ambition is to access Europe for the purpose of attaining "honor" together with all its imaginable positive suggestiveness?

To be sure, the mode invoked preparatory to departure is that of a complete journey. In this case, not only is departure expected, progress is also envisaged, and return is expected to announce a full cycle. The prospective success of the journey would be demonstrated in the embodiment of detachment and rootedness in this "communal" strand of cosmopolitanism. In other words, progress in this journey is to be measured by the successful trek through the Sahara Desert to Europe and appropriation of wealth, a good part of which would be taken back to Aminkwor for its transformation into a community to reckon with. However, the journey can at best be described as a journey in futility, one that resonates with Rodney Edgecombe's notion of "nonprogressive journeys" which are construed as "cyclical" (212). But more than this, as will be illustrated later in this discussion, the journey turns out to be amorphously hazardous and unable to utilize the Sahara Desert as a means to an expected end.

The ordeals of the trekkers can be summed in the remark that the Sahara Desert possesses an "unforgiving environment" in spite of the occasional relieving sites of oases, springs, rivers, and lakes ("Review of Call of the Desert" 74). For these travelers, even the natural elements within the space of the desert are also in some cases sources of death and discouragement, rather than serving to animate the realization of their dreams. Dan's (Ovy Michael) death, for instance, serves to illustrate the contradictions inherent in finding an oasis in the middle of the desert after trekking for months without such sight of relief. Upon sighting the oasis, his response is a euphoric dive which is intended to replenish his overheated system and restore to him some level of physiological comfort. But this is not to be, as his dive lands him right in the mouth of a creature that is most likely a monster crocodile which drowns and kills him immediately. By this time, the community of travelers has been reduced from seven to three, as three other members of the group have been lost earlier. Long before crossing the savannah vegetation of Northern Nigeria, Dona (Prince Eke) keels over on account of a strange encounter with a ghost. The initial reaction to his death sees the remaining trekkers opting for a return to Aminkwor after a long debate over the wisdom of continuing the journey. Midway, they find themselves deciding against returning to Aminkwor as failures. On account of this, the "cyclical journey" takes them back to borders beyond West Africa as they find themselves face to face with the Sahara Desert. Moving on requires that they dodge immigration points and borders of North African countries. All this points not only to the limits of cosmopolitanism, but also the limits of pan-Africanism where the nation-state is conceived to be paramount to all other forms of solidarity and community.

The protean contradictions of the Sahara Desert dawn on the trekkers as well as their leader when they realize that it is a vastly unsafe zone. Beginning with the sight of a human skeleton which warns them about the dangers ahead, they opt for a detour of the desert by seeking to take longer forest routes. Yet there appears to be no respite, because the mountain routes that sometimes offer assurance of rest are also death traps on account of the wild animals that inhabit such mountains. While Basil (Ernest Asuzu) dies from a snake bite, another character Okey (Ali Nuhu) dies of headache because when he needs a painkiller, nobody in the group is ready to offer him. A similar incident occurs earlier when Obinna (Junior Pope Odonwodo) is abandoned because nobody is willing to part with their water when he needs a little to be reinvigorated to continue the journey. Uka's response is that Obinna should use his own urine to quench the thirst he is experiencing. He is abandoned but lucky to be revived by the duo of Ghanaian trekkers, one of whom offers his urine for him to drink. To his Aminkwor compatriots, that is a "hard way" of learning as he has been previously warned not to waste his water. These happenings speak to how the "unforgiving environment" of the Sahara Desert overwhelms the psyche of the travelers. We are compelled to review the import of communal cosmopolitanism as used in this context: It is unable to hold out in the face of the climatic hostility of the desert. The journey that begins as an effort in celebrating communal cosmopolitanism ends up embracing individualism for the purpose of survival in the desert. The enormity of the task before the traveleres is obvious to the viewers when, from time to time, the vast expanse of barren space is shown without any vegetation or any other sign of the availability of natural succor like tree shades. Not only does this induce a feeling of fear in the viewers, it also raises in them a sympathetic anxiety as to whether the travelers will eventually achieve success in their adventure. The sight of endless expanse of barren land can thus be ascribed for the disintegration of the communal spirit into that of individualism when the going gets tough.

The climax of the sudden realization of the un-palatability of the journey across the desert after almost a year is evident when Uka, the most enthusiastic member of the group, expresses his frustration and for the first time questions Nathan and the other members of the group on the wisdom of their decision to trek literally from West Africa to Europe. But he does this in declarative articulations of frustration directed at himself and every member of the journey at the same time:

   Which kind waka, waka we don waka; we never see water
   level.... Oburo gbidigbidi.... The journey don become
   malafundiayan, igrimigbigidi ... unbomkumbomku....
   Nathan, abi we dey waka go heaven?

   What kind of endless journey are we undertaking; we are yet
   to make any sense of it.... It has become gbidigbidi.... The
   journey has turned malafundiayan, igrimigbigidi ...
   unbomkunbomku.... Nathan, or are we bound for heaven?

One does not have to understand Igbo to know that these onomatopoeic descriptions speak to the haphazard nature of the journey and the mis-adventurous turn it has taken. From the way they sound, not only can the journey be said to have become chaotic, it has also lost the initial attraction it had for the travelers. It is, moreover, significant to note that, by the time Uka is making this remark, the surviving travelers are looking so forlorn and agitated. Their frustration is further foregrounded by the stop-over point where they are sand-

wiched between weeds and grasses without shelter or shade, all pointing to the dehumanization implied in this kind of cosmopolitanism of trekking through the Sahara Desert.

By the time three members (Nathan, Obinna, and Uka) of the group are able to put the ordeals of the desert behind them, having successfully trekked through the Tunisian Sahara Desert to arrive at its border by the Mediterranean Sea, the audience heaves a sigh of relief. It is thus hoped that at least these three members of the group of seven from Aminkwor are a few kilometers away from Europa. According to Nathan, the map expert, all that is left as they overlook Europe is to cross over with the aid of a small boat and be welcome at last into the world of their dream. At this point, the viewers cannot help but admire the travelers' resourcefulness, especially upon seeing them in typical Islamic dressing, which is a proactive way of responding to the dominant religion in the northern part of Africa. Beyond the obligations of hospitality which the cosmopolitan ethos demands of citizens towards strangers, the travelers' attitude as seen here plays a crucial role in facilitating hospitality from their hosts. The duty of hospitality to strangers also requires in some instances that cosmopolitans as strangers be willing to be co-participants in the cultural practices of their hosts as a quotidian experience.

However, the excitement of making it in spite of all odds and the prospect of becoming the "President of Eulope," in addition to marrying an onyeocha (white lady), plunges Uka into a fatal euphoric outburst that literally chokes him to death. If there are any guts left in Nathan and the only other member of the group to move to realize their dreams, such are deflated with the death of Uka. What is initially conceived to be the eve of entry into Europe turns out to be the night that draws an affirmative curtain of finality on the months-long ambition of these brave young men from Aminkwor. Nathan, refusing to believe that Uka is dead, takes it that he is merely asleep and that he and Obinna will join him in his sleep. But it is clear to everyone, as the film comes to a close at this point, that this is one huge dream that has gone unrealized. The viewers, moreover, share in the pains of the unrealized dream as they are faced with a distant image of incandescent Europe at night, and by which the survivors are tantalized before the death of Uka. The dream may have been to trek through the Sahara Desert in order to access Europe, but, in reality, the journey only revolves around the desert and gives no indication of any of them reaching Europe, let alone returning to Aminkwor. What is more, if their ambition has been the staging of a dialectic convergence of detachment and rootedness in their cosmopolitanism, this has resulted in a disastrous failure for these young men.

It is also apt to remark that there is a very strong sense in which the aesthetics of light, sound, and color are deployed in foregrounding the overwhelming sense of the dreams crashed in the film. The deployment of these filmic elements in general is germane to the understanding of filmic narrative as they "function as the meaning, content and form of filmic renditions" (Rwafa 43). Death defines and foregrounds tragedy in the film and is accounted for as a logical consequence of the failure of the ambitions of the cosmopolitans. Therefore, we cannot afford to ignore how the continual humming background sound at the point of every scene of death mixes with the dirges of the travelers and with a simultaneous dimming of camera light to project a form of dullness that is at one with the sober and tragic mood of mourning and hopelessness.

Conclusion

Beyond the tragedy of the cosmopolitanism represented in this film, what are the implications of the instantiation of migration to the West for contemporary Africa with regard to development? Among other issues raised at the beginning of this article is the conception of migration as one of the main challenges that Africa faces in the twenty-first century. While it is common for scholars to argue that the continent is most negatively impacted by migration through the loss of its highly trained citizens, resulting in the now hackneyed brain-drain syndrome (Akokpari 125), it is my contention, however, that the texture of such argument smacks of the elitism caveat of the conception of cosmopolitanism. Put differently, development should not be exclusively measured by the population of trained citizens on a continent, but by the aggregate of production attained based on contributions from all categories of human endeavors--highly skilled and otherwise. Viewed from this angle, it is my contention that African scholars' assessment of the rate of migration from Africa to the West and other similarly designated regions tends to undermine the enormity of the vast population of unskilled, less educated, and--in some cases--uneducated Africans projected in Across the Desert. The impact of the migration of this category of Africans also has implications for the continent's development, though we tend to gloss over their contribution to development as if it did not matter. For these young people's ambition of transforming the rural community of Aminkwor into an urban settlement is a vision achievable in Nigeria. But this is to the extent that there is a commensurate enabling environment to accommodate their enterprise, and by which the human waste experienced within and at both ends of the Sahara Desert would have been unnecessary.

Again, there is the tendency to ascribe the increasing level of migration from the continent to a number of other factors, among which is the primary nature of Africa's production as an economy essentially driven by the production of raw materials. This places the continent at a disadvantage when compared to most countries in the West where industrialization is at the core of production and development (Olofin 298). Much as this is so and Africa needs to gravitate towards a development orientation and practice of industrialization in order to generate employment at a level that can cater to all categories of its productive population, a more realistic approach would factor in the security of human lives and property in the development roadmap. My position in this case cannot but return us to Nathan's plight in Across the Desert. He has undertaken all manner of jobs and businesses in Nigeria without material success. The view is underscored in the music of the film. Explaining to his mother why he has decided to relocate to Europe via the desert, he says it is also because of the prevailing circumstance of insecurity in the various places he has tried to do business in, having sold parcels of land bequeathed to him by his late father. According to him, the N250,000 (3) proceeds from the first round of sales which he took to Lagos for business were stolen. In the second instance, not only did he lose the N3000,000 made from the second round of sales; he was also framed as a thief, making him almost lose his life in the process in Ibadan. It is this failure of cosmopolitanism at home that ultimately inspires the uncanny idea of trekking through the Sahara Desert.

Seeing how awry the adventure turns in Across the Desert, we may conclude that, for the most part, the representation of the desert is that of a space where dreams are crashed and exterminated together with the people that serve as embodiments of these dreams. Nevertheless, the onus is on African governments to adopt more inventive and creative approaches to tackling the challenges of unemployment and social insecurity on the continent. This will prevent the rate at which young people imagine dangerously fatal possibilities while opting for the window of migration from Africa to the West as illustrated in Across the Desert. As has been argued, what is initially meant to be a search for honor and celebration of the simultaneous embodiment of cosmopolitan detachment and rootedness turns into a fiasco, a journey without arrival or return, disastrously trapped in the Sahara Desert.

The travelers' fate additionally illustrates the texture of African cosmopolitanism as the cosmopolitanism of the dispossessed in the Global South. Far from being instigated by a sense of social privilege, these travelers are overwhelmed by the anguish of poverty and, in a bid to address themselves to the challenge of economic transformation that their condition requires, they settle for the option of clandestine migration. Not only are they turned into a vulnerable group on account of their exposure to various dangers in the Sahara Desert, they also become an embodiment of failure. On a last note, besides coming across as desperadoes who seek to participate in the culture of cosmopolitanism through otherwise dangerous processes, their fate leaves us with the deterrent lesson, among others, that there are limits to clandestine migration intent on achieving world citizenship at all cost. This is all the more so when the long, winding route through the Sahara Desert to Europe is an option as witnessed in the movie.

Filmography

Chidebe, Mac Collins, dir. Across the Desert. Magic Movies and African Movie Fox Production, 2008.

--. Across the Bridge. Magic Movies, 2005.

--. Old Fools. Chez International, 2003.

--. Executive Billionaires. Magic Movies, 2009.

Imasuen, Lancelot, dir. Home in Exile. Lancelot Oduwa Imaseun Movie, 2010.

--. Games Women Play. Remmy Jes Production, 2007.

Ubaka, Joseph. Europe by Road. Dan-Osa International, 2007. <http://www.arodrive2.com/ search_result.php?search_id=Road>.

Works Cited

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Audi, Robert. "Nationalism, Patriotism, and Cosmopolitanism in an Age of Globalization." Journal of Ethics 13 (2009): 365-81.

Baker, Gideon. "Cosmopolitanism as Hospitality: Revisiting Identity and Difference in Cosmopolitanism." Alternatives' 34 (2009): 107-28.

Baruti, Armanda. "Cosmopolitanism with a Twist." Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal 3.3 (2011): 1-26.

Beck, Ulrich. "We Do Not Live in an Age of Cosmopolitanism but in an Age of Cosmopolitisation: The 'Global Other' Is in Our Midst." Irish Journal of Sociology 19.1 (2011): 16-34.

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Knowles, Caroline. "Cities on the Move: Navigating Urban Life." City 15.2 (2011): 135-53.

Mhiripiri, Nhamo. "Thematic Concerns in the Emergent Zimbabwean Short Film Genre." Journal of African Cinemas 2.2 (2010): 91-109.

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Olofin. S. "Trade and Competitiveness of African Economies in the 21st Century." African Development Bank 14.2 (2002): 298-321.

Petek, Polona. "The Death and Rebirth of Surrealism in Bohemia: Local Inflections and Cosmopolitan Aspirations in the Cinema of Jan Svankmajer." Journal of Contemporary European Studies 17.1 (2009): 75-89.

"Review of Call of the Desert: The Sahara." Publishers Weekly. October 11, 2004. 73-74.

Rwafa, Urther. "Exploring the Communicative Function of Light, Sound and Colour in Hotel Rwanda." Journal of African Cinemas 3.1 (2011): 43-49.

Strand, Torill. "The Making of a New Cosmopolitanism." Stud Philos Educ 29 (2010): 229-42.

Notes

(1) Mac Collins Chidebe is a third-generation director in Nigerian cinema, known as Nollywood and considered the largest movie industry in Africa, competing in size of production with Hollywood and Bollywood.

(2) It also goes to underscore Brown Barry and Eric Laurier's view about the radical possibility of reading maps within specific cultural and social contexts as an activity carried out simultaneously along other activities (17).

(3) "N" refers to Naira, the Nigerian currency, worth about N156 to a US dollar.