Using the lenses of Postcolonialism with leanings towards Critical Race Theory, this presentation is based on the research drama-film, Paint Brush (forthcoming), for which I am the screenwriter and director. The discussion will explore tensions of cultural stereotype and hybridity that instruct the construction of the story’s protagonist named Promise, and unpack how her character-arc is created with consideration to the vestigial colonial legacies of migration, in a diasporic Nigerian home, in London.

In this regard, the paper will attempt to underscore how colonial vestiges of inferiorisation (Fanon 1963; Iwowo 2011) and colonial mentality (Fanon 1967;  Wa Thiongo 1992; Kuti 1977) might engender a crisis of cultural-identity in British-Nigerian youths, and amplify their vulnerability towards gangs. It will also argue that the cultural complexities of female characters like Promise can be better understood via the theory of Intersectionality (Crenshaw 2014) and Africana Womanism (Hudson-Weems 2004), rather than of Feminism. Indeed, Ntiri (2001) and posits that the diaspora female of African descent is primarily considered in the context of the dynamics of her race and class, and how they influence her essence.
Ultimately, this paper speaks of a postcolonial research project centred on black (media) representation: One which aims to open a space that includes the contributions of Nigerian diasporic stakeholders, to the subject-matter of knife-crime in London, in which their youths are nuancedly implicated, by UK media.
Key words:Postcolonial storytelling, migration, black female protagonist, cultural tensions, black teenage identity, practice-led research.