Click on a film title to see more

The Dream Becomes a Reality (?)
Six young Eritrean women who participated in the 30-year military struggle for independence from Ethiopia are featured in this documentary.
Hopes on the Horizon
This extraordinary and multifaceted film explores the rise and spread of pro-democracy movements in six African countries during the 1990s. The countries examined are Benin, Nigeria, Rwanda, Morocco, Mozambique, and South Africa.
In and Out of Africa
This extraordinary documentary is one of the most intelligent, perceptive, and engaging films ever made on African culture and art.
Mammy Water: In Search of the Water Spirits in Nigeria
Mammy Water is a pidgin English name for a local water goddess worshipped by the Ibibio, Ijaw, and Igbo speaking peoples of southeastern Nigeria.
Nubia and the Mysteries of Kush
Hidden away in the Butana region of northern Sudan lie the ruins of ancient Nubia, a once-great African civilization that for many centuries was the rival of Ancient Egypt. Its golden age, the Kingdom of Kush, existed from about 800 BC to 350 AD and left behind a rich legacy of political power, cultural achievements, and technological innovation in the Nile Valley.
Rise Up and Walk
Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world today. This film shows how several independent African Christian churches interpret and live the Christian faith in the context of their own pre-Christian cultural traditions.
Scattered Africa: Faces and Voices of the African Diaspora
This eye-opening documentary examines the African Diaspora, from the violent scattering of African people away from their continent of origin to their contemporary participation in a global community. The film focuses on the contributions of Africans and their descendants to the wealth and power of the Americas, and portrays elements of African culture that characterize everyday life throughout the Americas today.
Sons of the Moon
The Ngas, who live in Nigeria's Jos Plateau, believe the moon governs the growth of crops and schedules all important human events, including the symbolic rite of passage of boys into manhood.
South Africa: Building Democracy
This authoritative three-part series on the "new" South Africa examines the historic transformations sweeping the country. Each episode focuses on the illuminating stories of two exemplary South Africans, while the series as a whole provides an outstanding collective portrait of the formidable challenges facing people who are dedicated to building a truly democratic society. See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Special series price: $425.
To Live with Herds
A classic film on the Jie of Uganda, produced by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall. Explores life in a traditional Jie homestead during a harsh dry season.
Turkana Conversations Trilogy
These three feature-length documentaries on the Turkana -- relatively isolated seminomadic herders who inhabit the dry country of northwestern Kenya -- are among the most important and influential ethnographic films of the last 20 years. The three films, which were produced by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, are Lorang's Way, The Wedding Camels, and A Wife Among Wives.
Womanhood and Circumcision: Three Maasai Women Have Their Say
This thought-provoking documentary sensitively explores the cultural context of female genital-cutting practices among the Maasai. A mother and her two daughters discuss their feelings about circumcision (excision) and its meaning in their lives.


The Dream Becomes a Reality (?)

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

Eva Beth Egensteiner
eegenst@ufl.edu

Six young Eritrean women who participated in the 30-year military struggle for independence from Ethiopia are featured in this documentary. During the war these women fought in combat and worked in various aspects of revolutionary media as members of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). Today, in postwar Eritrea they are working in the media, the arts, and research. These positions enable them to disseminate and critique the revolutionary ideology adopted during the war. The women speak about tragedies and accomplishments of the war, the gender egalitarianism among the liberation forces, and their current thoughts on the situation of women in postwar Eritrea. Includes significant background history on the liberation struggle and scenes of a wide range of contemporary Eritrean society. By Eva Egensteiner.

43 min. Color 1996 Catalog #38337
Sale: video $195; Rental: video $60


The best short documentary on Eritrea that I have seen. It deals with some of the most interesting and significant features of the liberation struggle. It shows how a group of articulate and gifted women grew to maturity in the war, and their determined and realistic plans to build a new society in which women will be respected. An excellent video for a variety of courses in history, African studies, anthropology, women's studies, and political science.-- Roy Pateman, Prof. of Political Science and African Studies, UCLA

An intimate and unique documentary that illuminates the tension between long-entrenched tradition and social change in an emerging African state. -- Andrei Simic, Prof. of Anthropology, USC


African Studies Assn. honoree


Hopes on the Horizon

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(after July 15, 2004)

Few documentaries possess the scale, sweep, or depth to capture the major historical trends of our times, but this extraordinary and multifaceted film accomplishes this remarkable task. "Hopes on the Horizon" explores the rise and spread of pro-democracy movements in six African countries during the 1990s. The countries examined are Benin, Nigeria, Rwanda, Morocco, Mozambique, and South Africa.

The film chronicles the stories of the men and women who initiated, witnessed, and participated in some of the most tumultuous events of the final decade of the 20th century. Through thought-provoking on-camera interviews and vivid documentary footage of landmark events, "Hopes on the Horizon" recounts the dramatic and often perilous efforts to bring about fundamental changes in social structure, governance, and economic and human rights in these countries.

Although each featured country is unique, the film highlights the shared experiences and connections among the events examined. During the 1980s and 1990s a new generation of Africans established a voice for themselves. These new leaders renewed the struggle for democracy that had been building throughout the 1950s and 1960s, when many African countries succeeded in throwing off their colonial rulers. In many nations, the governments that formed in the decades after independence were single-party or military dictatorships. In the 1990s, pro-democracy movements, which had been steadily growing, gained more support as opposition to dictatorships, corruption, and military rule strengthened and national economies weakened.

Pro-democracy leaders directed their attention not only at the legacies of colonial domination, but also at an older generation of African leaders who were perceived as having "let down" their descendants in the struggle for democracy. By the late 1980s, individuals and groups in many African countries began to assert their rights to be represented in government, educate their children, change economic structures, own land, document their history, and gain equal rights for women and ethnic minorities.

"Hopes on the Horizon" illustrates the broad issues of democratization through the stories of people whose struggles represent universal human aspirations. It powerfully demonstrates that democratization is more than just politics: Human rights, economic development, social reform, and citizen involvement are all shown to be essential parts of the democratic process. In so doing, the film provides exemplary case studies of many key issues covered in courses on politics, development, human rights, Third World studies, sociology, anthropology, and economics.

In addition, the film offers a memorable portrait of the dynamism and variety of scenery, lifestyles, architecture, and communities of an African continent made up of multiple races, ethnicities, languages, religions, histories, cultures, climates, and geographic features. As a result, it is essential viewing in a wide array of courses in African studies. "Hopes on the Horizon" was produced by Blackside, Inc., the award-winning production company best known for the acclaimed series, "Eyes on the Prize."

120 min. Color 2001 Catalog #38514
Sale: video $295, Rental: video $95


 


In and Out of Africa

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

Berkeley Media LLC
info@berkeleymedia.com
http://www.berkeleymedia.com
(after July 15, 2004)

This extraordinary documentary is one of the most intelligent, perceptive, and engaging films ever made on African culture and art. It explores with irony and humor issues of authenticity, taste, and racial politics in the transnational trade in African art. Interweaving stories of Western collectors, Muslim traders, African artists and intellectuals, and the filmmakers themselves, the film focuses on a remarkable art dealer from Niger. It shows how (through occasionally hilarious and frequently fantastic tales about the art objects) he adds economic value and changes the "meaning" of what he sells by interpreting and mediating between the cultural values of African producers and Western consumers. Produced by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Taylor; featuring Gabai Baare; based on original research by Christopher Steiner.

59 min. Color 1993 Catalog #38230
Sale: video $295, Rental: video $75


The film's thematic unity, perceptive subtitling, and reflexive irony make it a groundbreaking masterwork.... Advances the art of ethnographic filmmaking to new heights. -- Prof. Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Dir., African and African American Studies Project, UC San Diego

A first-rate addition to the curriculum of all courses and educational programs on African art and culture. -- Enid Schildkrout, Anthropology Curator, American Museum of Natural History

A superbly thick description of the trade in African art. Nothing is taken for granted, least of all the very idea of art itself, as we follow the trade that transforms bois into $2,000 objets d'art. The trade between use value and exchange value, the expectations that such art must fill in the minds of dealers and collectors to earn the title authentic, and the gradual ascension of this art to museum status while the makers and intermediaries fade in a nebulous haze of mystified origins: these are but a few of the themes pursued in this intriguing documentary. -- Bill Nichols, Prof. of Theater Arts, UC Santa Cruz


Royal Anthropological Institute Commendation
Society for Visual Anthropology honoree
African Studies Assn. honoree
Natl. Educational Film Festival Award
American Film Festival Award
Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree

Mammy Water: In Search of the Water Spirits in Nigeria

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

Berkeley Media LLC
info@berkeleymedia.com
http://www.berkeleymedia.com
(after July 15, 2004)

Mammy Water is a pidgin English name for a local water goddess worshipped by the Ibibio, Ijaw, and Igbo speaking peoples of southeastern Nigeria. The water goddess traditionally gives wealth and children, compensates for hardships, and is sought in times of illness and need, especially by women. Her various cults are led, predominantly, by priestesses. This insightful film shows numerous rituals and ceremonies associated with Mammy Water, while devotees provide commentary. An important depiction of the strength of traditional religion in contemporary Nigeria. By Dr. Sabine Jell-Bahlsen.

59 min. Color 1991 Catalog 38097
Sale: video $295, Rental: video $70


The most important ethnographic film on the region to date.... I highly recommend it for courses in African anthropology and religion, art history, and women's studies. -- Prof. Sidney L. Kasfir, Dept. of Art History, Emory Univ.

Superb and fast-flowing. It's nearly perfect. -- Dr. Robert Farris Thompson, Yale Univ.; author, Flash of the Spirit


American Anthropological Assn. Selection
African Studies Assn. honoree
Natl. Educational Film Festival Award
Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree
Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris

Nubia and the Mysteries of Kush

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

Berkeley Media LLC
info@berkeleymedia.com
http://www.berkeleymedia.com
(after July 15, 2004)

Hidden away in the Butana region of northern Sudan lie the ruins of Ancient Nubia, a once-great African civilization that for many centuries was the rival of Ancient Egypt. Its golden age, the Kingdom of Kush, existed from about 800 BC to 350 AD and left behind a rich legacy of political power, cultural achievements, and technological innovation in the Nile Valley.

This exceptional and informative documentary examines the scientific processes and technological advances enabling archaeologists, historians, and other scholars to make new and important discoveries about the ancient civilization of Nubia. Most of Ancient Nubia's achievements were lost to the world until large-scale archaeological excavations were launched in the 1960s by the United Nations to uncover and document its temples, pyramids, language, and artifacts.

The film depicts a fascinating variety of excavations currently in progress and explores the history and significance of the Kingdom of Kush through the commentary of European, American, and native Sudanese researchers. This is a story of unfolding evidence revealing the fragmented known history of Kush and the processes of observation and analysis employed to interpret and characterize this ancient culture and people.

This compelling film interweaves scientific evidence, ancient myth, and contemporary folklore to bring the extraordinary cultural achievements of ancient Nubia to life. It is essential viewing in any course on African history or archaeology and will stimulate discussion in a wide array of courses in African studies, anthropology, archaeology, world history, and cultural diversity. It was produced by Judith McCray for Juneteenth Productions and features an artistically fitting original music score by the renowned Nubian artist, Hamza El Din.

27 min. Color 2002 Catalog #38543
Sale: video $195, Rental: video $75


 
"An outstanding work both of research and of reportage: accurate in its historical details and highly informative in showing the volume and variety of archaeological research that is currently in progress, and is adding daily to our understanding of one of the world's neglected civilizations. The film should certainly be considered essential for any course on African history, and would be a valuable addition to any course on world history as well." -- William Y. Adams, Prof. Emeritus of Anthropology, Univ. of Kentucky, author of "Nubia: Corridor to Africa"

"Interesting, clear, and well-documented, a real pleasure!" -- Charles Bonnet, Prof. of Archaeology, Univ. of Geneva, Switzerland

"This film introduces a number of important topics and develops them through well-narrated and presented footage shot in the Sudan. Not only does it introduce students to the ancient cultures of Nubia through beautiful images of the country and archaeologists working in it, but it raises and clearly explores the important issue of how 'history' is written. The topics covered in this well-done documentary make it an important tool for teaching history, art history, African history, and cultural diversity, as well as for sensitizing students to the particular ways in which our understanding of the past has and is being shaped." -- Janice Yellin, Prof. of Art History, Babson College

"New evidence about Africa's role as the birthplace for human civilizations is being unearthed everyday, and Nubia is central to this unfolding drama. This is a well-done and effective resource which should be used in many courses to develop a deeper appreciation of our common human heritage." -- Ronald W. Bailey, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Knoxville College, former Prof. of African American Studies, Northeastern Univ.


African Studies Assn. honoree
American Anthropological Assn. selection
Society for Visual Anthropology selection


Rise Up and Walk

Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world today. This film shows how several independent African Christian churches interpret and live the Christian faith in the context of their own pre-Christian cultural traditions. Discussion guide. Produced by John Ankele.

long version: 55 min. Color 1982 Catalog #37139
Sale: video $195, Rental: video $60

short version: 28 min. Color 1982 Catalog #30045
Sale: video $125, Rental: video $50


Extremely authentic, well balanced, and honest. Will be of use to all who are interested in African Studies. -- Edward Lifschitz, the Smithsonian Institution


CINE Golden Eagle Award
Margaret Mead Film Festival honore

Scattered Africa: Faces and Voices of the African Diaspora

This eye-opening documentary examines the African Diaspora, from the violent scattering of African people away from their continent of origin to their contemporary participation in a global community. The film focuses on the enormous -- though largely unknown, unacknowledged, and unremunerated -- contributions of Africans and their descendants to the wealth and power of the Americas, and portrays elements of African culture that characterize everyday life throughout the Americas today.

Dr. Sheila Walker's discovery of her own heritage in Africa led her to seek out "scattered Africa" in the Americas, and to bring together leaders of African Diasporan communities to discover their common heritage. These leaders found that although their African legacy has been denigrated or denied, the fundamental contributions of their ancestors to all of the societies of the Americas constitute essential elements of their national patrimonies. "Scattered Africa" features important scholars and community leaders from countries such as Argentina and Uruguay, where the African past and presence is scarcely known and even officially denied, and Surinam and Brazil, where African cultural forms are key aspects of everyday life. Emphasizing both differences and similarities between their societies, participants discuss their own discoveries of their heritage and of the scattered transnational community that is the contemporary African Diaspora.

"Scattered Africa" will provoke thought and discussion in a wide array of courses in African studies, African American studies, Latin American studies, American history, cultural anthropology, and race relations. It was produced by Sheila Walker, Prof. of Anthropology, Univ. of Texas, Austin, and Exhibit Media.

55 min. Color 2002 Catalog #38546
Sale: video $250, Rental: video $95


 
"A remarkable addition to the growing body of work on the African Diaspora. This video nicely straddles the divide between the scholarly and popular domains by giving an animate vitality to material too often imbedded in dry scholarly discourse, and by doing so in a fashion that is, just the same, seriously informative. Africans have been engaged in the historical development of every modern country in the Western Hemisphere. This engagement, and its legacies, are captured in the faces, voices, and snippets of cultural performances in which they are contextualized. For those engaged in the formal study and teaching of African-centered communities in the Americas this will be a stimulating resource. To others it could serve as an awakening to a dimension of our hemispheric history that is finally being addressed seriously." -- John Stewart, Prof. of African American and African Studies, Univ. of California, Davis

"Like Egyptian God/King Osiris, whose body was torn to pieces and scattered over the earth, African descendants are also scattered over the earth -- mainly, but not only, in the Americas as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. In this must-see documentary, cultural anthropologist Sheila Walker, as Queen Isis did for Osiris, locates the pieces and (re)assembles members of this African Diaspora community, giving voice for the first time to cultural leaders from communities whose very existence is often denied, in the company of major scholars in the field." -- Yvonne Daniel, Prof. of African American Studies and Dance, Smith College

"This superb video succeeds admirably in establishing the historical basis for a paradigm shift in the approach to African Diasporan studies in the Western hemisphere. Based on the powerful demographic reality that, from 1492 to 1800, 75 percent of the non-indigenous peoples in the Americas were of African descent, it situates African Diasporan studies as central to the understanding of the fundamental nature and subsequent cultural, political, and economic development of the modern world. What makes this video seminal is the thoroughness of its discussion of the complexity and consequences of the African presence in the Americas, and the demonstration of the pervasiveness of that presence, even in nations such as Peru and Argentina that previously have not been known by most people to be part of the African Diaspora." -- Olly Wilson, Prof. of Music, Univ. of California, Berkeley


African Studies Assn. honoree
Assn. for the Study of African American Life and History honoree
TransAfrica Forum (Washington, DC) honoree
Natl. Council of La Raza honoree


Sons of the Moon

The Ngas, who live in Nigeria's Jos Plateau, believe the moon governs the growth of crops and schedules all important human events, including the symbolic rite of passage of boys into manhood. This unusual film, told from the point of view of an Ngas bard, traces the moon's influence on Ngas work and thought through an entire growing season. By Dierdre LaPin and Francis Speed.

25 min. Color 1984 Catalog #37158
Sale: video $125, Rental: $50


This first-rate film should be useful for courses in introductory anthropology, African ethnography, peasants, and religion. It is enhanced by a 38-page study guide. -- Stella B. Silverstein, Boston Univ., in the American Anthropologist


Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree


South Africa: Building Democracy Part 1
Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, a Roman Catholic priest, was tortured and imprisoned during the apartheid era. He was recently elected to Parliament and helps pass a new Constitution. His work with both whites and blacks in Parliament shows that reconciliation is possible. Claudette Yakobi lives in an infamous squatter camp called Phola Park. Although the living conditions are shocking, Claudette and the other residents of this squatter camp work together to build a better life for themselves. With a grant from a private agency and money from the new government, they are able to buy small plots of land. They hope that someday they will be able to exchange their shacks for real houses. Prooduced by Sam Kauffman.

52 min. Color 1999 Catalog #38474
Sale: video $195, Rental: video $70


 
"An extremely valuable teaching tool for courses in African studies, history, politics, and race relations. The dramatic events that followed the collapse of apartheid in South Africa provide a rare opportunity to observe how a diverse polity, confronted with deeply rooted social and economic problems, can nevertheless create genuinely democratic institutions. The films capture this process vividly and admirably. They tell a powerful story through the voices of those who are working under extremely difficult conditions to consummate this historic transformation. I highly recommend this series." -- Glenn C. Loury, Dir., Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston Univ.


African Studies Assn. honoree


South Africa: Building Democracy Part 2
Sarah Khambane is a health worker in the Northern Province of South Africa, a province known for its right-wing Afrikaners. Sarah teaches primary health care to black farm workers on white-owned farms. She confronts one Afrikaner farmer about the appalling conditions of farm workers on his farm. Throughout the episode Sarah tries to implement urgently needed improvements in health care by working directly with the affected farm workers. She says that little progress has been made in rural health care since the 1994 elections, and she wonders how long it will be before any change takes place.

Selven Chetty, a violence monitor, struggles to help contain the simmering civil war that has long threatened the stability of the province now called KwaZulu-Natal. By demanding that an investigation of a brutal massacre be conducted by police living outside the region, he is able to bring the perpetrators to justice. At the conclusion of the episode, Selvan is given an award for his work by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Produced by Sam Kauffman.

52 min. Color 1999 Catalog #38475
Sale: video $195, Rental: video $70


 
"An extremely valuable teaching tool for courses in African studies, history, politics, and race relations. The dramatic events that followed the collapse of apartheid in South Africa provide a rare opportunity to observe how a diverse polity, confronted with deeply rooted social and economic problems, can nevertheless create genuinely democratic institutions. The films capture this process vividly and admirably. They tell a powerful story through the voices of those who are working under extremely difficult conditions to consummate this historic transformation. I highly recommend this series." -- Glenn C. Loury, Dir., Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston Univ.


African Studies Assn. honoree


South Africa: Building Democracy Part 3
Dawie De Villiers, an Afrikaner businessman living in Pretoria, tries to conduct business in a country now run by blacks. Like many whites, his love of South Africa is undercut by his disdain for the black government, which he considers incompetent. He threatens to leave the country if standards begin to slide and crime is not brought under control

Thandi Orleyn-Sekete, a lawyer, is national director of IMSSA, South Africa's largest independent mediation and arbitration service. Under apartheid, she struggled to get a decent education that would enable her to compete with whites. Having managed to earn a law degree and build a career as an attorney, she bristles at the charges of black incompetence leveled by whites. Thandi proves by example that, with training, blacks can deliver the same standards as whites. She cautions, however, that providing high standards for everyone is a lot harder than providing high standards only for whites.

Produced by Sam Kauffman.

52 min. Color 1999 Catalog #38476
Sale: video $195, Rental: video $70


 
"An extremely valuable teaching tool for courses in African studies, history, politics, and race relations. The dramatic events that followed the collapse of apartheid in South Africa provide a rare opportunity to observe how a diverse polity, confronted with deeply rooted social and economic problems, can nevertheless create genuinely democratic institutions. The films capture this process vividly and admirably. They tell a powerful story through the voices of those who are working under extremely difficult conditions to consummate this historic transformation. I highly recommend this series." -- Glenn C. Loury, Dir., Institute on Race and Social Division, Boston Univ.


African Studies Assn. honoree


To Live with Herds

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

Berkeley Media LLC
info@berkeleymedia.com
http://www.berkeleymedia.com
(after July 15, 2004)

A classic film on the Jie of Uganda. Explores life in a traditional Jie homestead during a harsh dry season. The talk and work of adults go on, but there is hardship and worry, exacerbated by government policies that seem to attack rather than support the values and economic base of Jie society. In Jie, with English subtitles. By David and Judith MacDougall.

70 min. B&W 1974 Catalog #37461
Sale: video $195, Rental: $70


One of the most humorous, touching, informative, and (in both spirit and aesthetic) beautiful anthropological films I have ever seen... A prophetic look into the human costs of the political changes sweeping the new African states. -- Karen Cooper, Film Forum, New York City


Grand Prize, "Venezia Genti," Venice Film Festival


Turkana Conversations Trilogy

These three feature-length documentaries on the Turkana - relatively isolated seminomadic herders who inhabit the dry country of northwestern Kenya - are among the most important and influential ethnographic films of the last 20 years. Made by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, these films are essential viewing for anyone interested in ethnography. To quote the Royal Anthropological Institute's James Woodburn, the films "cannot fail to appeal to a wide audience and to prompt discussions in any teaching situation." All three films are in Turkana, with English subtitles.

Save More Than 10%
Special Series Price: $795

First Royal Anthropological Institute Film Prize, 1980 (best ethnographic film of the past five years)
Prix Georges Pompidou (best ethnographic film), CinÈma du RÈel Festival, Paris
Berlin Film Festival honorees
Edinburgh Film Festival honorees
Hong Kong Film Festival honorees
Festival dei Popoli (Florence, Italy) honorees
Margaret Mead Film Festival honorees

Lorang's Way

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

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(after July 15, 2004)

A portrait of Lorang, the head of the homestead and one of the important senior men of the Turkana. Most Turkana (including Lorang's son) see their way of life continuing unchanged into the future. But Lorang thinks otherwise, for he has seen something of the outside world. This is a study of a man who has come to see his society as vulnerable and whose traditional role in it is shaped by that realization.

70 min. Color 1980 Catalog #37132
Sale: video $295, Rental: $70

The Wedding Camels

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(after July 15, 2004)

One of Lorang's daughters is going to marry one of his friends and age-mates. Because of the close ties between the two men everything should go smoothly, but the pressures within the two families are such that the wedding negotiations over the bridewealth almost break down altogether.

108 min. Color 1980 Catalog #37145
Sale: video $295, Rental: $95
A funny, informative and thoroughly delightful documentary.... Through the MacDougalls' resourceful direction and their brisk, well-organized editing, this one social occasion becomes indicative of what the general life of the tribe is like. -- Janet Maslin, The New York Times

A Wife Among Wives

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

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(after July 15, 2004)

An investigation of how the Turkana, and especially Turkana women, view marriage. As the plans for a marriage in a nearby homestead unfold we learn why a woman would want her husband to take a second (or third) wife, and how the system of polygyny can be a source of solidarity among women while at the same time it may brutally disregard individual feelings

72 min. Color 1982 Catalog #37147
Sale: video $295, Rental: $70


Womanhood and Circumcision:
Three Maasai Women Have Their Say

This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact:

Berkeley Media LLC
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(after July 15, 2004)

This thought-provoking documentary sensitively explores the cultural context of female genital-cutting practices among the Maasai. It will stimulate discussion and reflection in a wide variety of courses in cultural anthropology, women's and gender studies, African studies, and development studies.

A mother and her two daughters discuss their feelings about circumcision (excision) and its meaning in their lives. The three women discuss their experiences from the perspective of three different stages of the life cycle: Alice, a young woman (enkitok), looks back eleven years to the time when she became a woman. Sikaine, a shy, giggly 14-year-old girl (entito), enjoys the attention of her family and community as she anticipates undergoing the procedure, which she has seen performed on other girls. Tipaya, the mother, is a post-menopausal woman (entasat); she remembers her surgery from several decades back.

The film follows Sikaine through all aspects of the process except the surgery itself. She is shaven in preparation for the surgery; neighborhood girls crowd around the window of the room where SikaineÕs operation is going on; immediately after the surgery, Sikaine stands and walks to the bed where she smiles proudly as she lies down to rest while the elders sing in her honor. Both Alice and Tipaya offer interesting comparisons of the pain of circumcision and that of childbirth.

These engaging women make their perspective on excision comprehensible to western audiences, who are seldom exposed to positive commentary on this practice. The film provides viewers with a new respect for the women who bravely endure this painful surgery. "Womanhood and Circumcision" was produced by Barbara G. Hoffman, Assoc. Prof. of Anthropology, Cleveland State Univ.

30 min. Color 2002 Catalog #38551
Sale: video $225, Rental: video $75


 
"An excellent film for teaching and talking about the controversial subject of female circumcision. Short, engaging, and direct -- we hear and watch Maasai women discuss their own feelings and experiences, without layers of scholarly interpretation and judgement. The multi-generational perspectives, and the comparisons some women make between the pain of childbirth and circumcision, contribute to the debate in insightful ways. A must-see film for courses that explore women and gender in Africa." -- Dorothy L. Hodgson, Assoc. Prof. of Anthropology, Rutgers Univ.


African Studies Assn. honoree
Society for Visual Anthropology honoree
American Anthropological Assn. selection