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

Olaoluwa, Senayon

This article explores the representation of the Sahara in the Nigerian video film Across the Desert (2008). It argues that in the film, the Sahara is depicted as a crucial space in the imagination of West African youths, who--out of desperation for survival--opt for a long trek through the desert, in order to gain entry into the borders of Western nations. While the imagination of the youths is fired principally by the need to utilize the voluntary register of cosmopolitanism, they are ignorant of the hazards of such ambitious travel in which the gains are far exceeded by the pains. The Sahara thus symbolizes a space in the subordination of the ambitions of young people whose failure to be assured of a good living in the homeland informs their decision in favor of such extreme survival option.