Africa . 1984. 4 videocassettes (114 min each). Gives a history of Africa from many locations showing life as it is today plus archive film and dramatized reconstructions. VHS 588-591
African guitar solo: Finger style guitar music, composers and performers of Congo/Zaire, Uganda, Central African Republic, Malawi, Namibia, and Zambia : audio-visual field recordings, 1966-1993 . 1995. 1 videocassette (60 min.). African guitar presents cultural anthropologist Gerhard Kubik's personal field recordings from 1966-1993. This video offers a rare view into the rich textures of African fingerstyle guitar music. VHS 3645
The Africans: A triple heritage . 1986. [9 videocassettes] (ca. 540 min.). Shows how contemporary Africa is a product of three major influences: an indigenous heritage, Western culture, and Islamic culture. The three legacies coexist amidst diversity of cultural conflict and synthesis. VHS 1264-1272
Afrique, je te plumerai = Africa, I'm going to fleece you . The library of African cinema . 1992. 1 videocassette (89 min.). An overview of 100 years of cultural imperialism in Africa that makes the cultural and intellectual conflicts of present-day Africa easier to understand. Director Jean-Marie Teno uses Cameroon, the only African country colonized by three European powers, for a case study of the devastation of traditional African societies by imposed colonial cultures. Focuses on historical as well as contemporary European cultural domination, particularly in the publishing and media industry. VHS 3629
Afro@digital . 2003. 1 videocassette (53 min.). Looks as the information technology revolution which has become a daily reality in many African countries where the Internet, mobile telephones and digital video cameras are being used with extraordinary creativity. Visits a marabout who explains he no longer replies by letter to questions but uses his mobile phone and email to transmit his advice. Another illustration of the digital revolution in Africa is the rise of internet cafes and cyber teahouses. In some towns in Senegal and the Congo, increasing numbers are connecting to internet using a laptop computer with a mobile phone. VHS 7722
Bitter melons . 1986. 1 videocassette (30 min.). Portrays the difficulty of survival in the central Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. A native musician, a member of a Bushman group called the /Gwi, performs songs about animals, the land, and the social life. Describes the life of the /Gwi, including traditional music, dances, children's games, and hunting, planting, and food preparation. VHS 2168
Black Athena . Ethnic studies video collection. 1990. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Reviews evidence that the culture of ancient Greece had its origins in Africa and the East and that the West should recognize what it owes to Black and Eastern cultures. Explores the debate around Prof. Martin Bernal's book on the African origins of Greek culture, Black Athena. Leading classicists and Egyptologists discuss Bernal's indictment that 19th century scholars systematically denied the connections between Greece and the non-European cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean. VHS 1608
Black nations/queer nations?: Lesbian and gay sexualities in the African diaspora . 1996. 1 videocassette (52 min.). On March 9, 1995, a historic conference of scholars and activists took place in New York City about the state of affairs among lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people of African descent. Film uses pop culture images and film clips as well as highlights from the conference to explore such themes and topics as: black and queer identify, black nationalism and homophobia in black communities. VHS 5167
Chef! Chief. La tête dans les nuages = Head in the clouds . The Library of African cinema. 1999. 1 videocassette (96 min.). "In ... Chef!, Teno locates the roots of Africa's authoritarian regimes in the patriarchal family, reinforced by traditional kingship and the colonial experience. Teno insists that this film was not planned but imposed itself on him during a visit to his ancestral village, Bandjoun, in the Ghomala speaking region of Western Cameroon. He had gone to film dances dedicating a monument to King Kamga Joseph II, the filmmakers' great grand uncle, but the ceremony soon turned into a celebration of one-man rule, in particular Cameroonian President Paul Biya's"--From the California Newsreel Web site. "Teno investigates the ties between unaccountable government and an unproductive economy in La tête dans les nuages. Kleptocracy has become an accepted fact of Cameroonian life described by the proverb: "The goat grazes where it is tied." The government controlled formal sector, like its colonial predecessor, is essentially parasitical. An informal sector has emerged parallel to it which increasingly supplies the daily subsistence needs of the people. Irene, for example, works at the Ministry of Education for an unreliable and inadequate salary; she earns the money she needs to eat from selling beignets in the market. She also belongs to a tontine or "credit union" which offers its members a pool of capital to draw on for business ventures. Such clubs, ubiquitous among African market women, help fill the economic and social vacuum left by the decay of traditional society and the unresponsiveness of the formal banking sector"--From the California Newsreel Web site. VHS 5943
Chinua Achebe . A world of ideas. 1989. 1 videocassette (28 min.). Discusses the West's often inaccurate portrayal of Africa and how it is the African storyteller's obligation to be the collective memory of the African people. Chinua Achebe is president of the town council in his village in Nigeria, and a storyteller. His first novel, "Things Fall Apart," sold over 3 million copies in over 30 languages. Achebe serves as the collective memory of his society, chronicling the transition of African nations such as Nigeria from colonialism to democracy. He discusses his observations and criticisms of both African and Western politics and culture. VHS 1468
A clash of cultures . The Africans : a triple heritage. 1986. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Discusses the conflicts and compromises which emerge from the coexistence of many African traditions and modern life. Explores the question of whether Africa can synthesize its own heritage with the legacies of Islam and the West. VHS 1271
The day I will never forget . 2002. 1 videocassette (90 min.). "This film examines the practice of female genital mutilation in Kenya and the pioneering African women who are bravely reversing the tradition. In this work, women speak candidly about the practice and explain its cultural significance within Kenyan society. From gripping testimonials by young women who share the painful aftermath of their trauma to interviews with elderly matriarchs who stubbornly stand behind the practice, Director Kim Longinotto paints a complex portrait of the current polemics and conflicts that have allowed this procedure to exist well into modern times." --from www.wmm.com. VHS 5886
Different but equal: Mastering a continent . Africa: Africa (Chicago, Ill.). 1984. 1 videocassette (114 min.). Different but equal: This programme describes how some of the world's greatest early civilisations had their origins in the heart of black Africa and discusses some of their artistic, technical and scientific achievements. Mastering a continent: Looks at two important developments in early African society, the growth of cattle keeping and agriculture. Focuses on the activities of three communities, the Pokot in Northern Kenya, Sukor in Nigeria and the Dogon of Mali. VHS 588 pt. 1-2
Divine carcasse . The Library of African cinema. 1998. 1 videocassette (60 min.). "Divine Carcasse is an unusual hybrid, a half fictional, half ethnographic film. It is a study in cultural contrast, between a desacralized, materialistic European view of reality and an animist, pre-industrial African one. Belgian director Dominique Loreau has described her film as an encounter with another culture, another way of relating to the world, objects and death, one that challenges our own relationships to the world"--From the California Newsreel Web site. Home Use Collection VHS 6253
Egypt the habit of civilization . Legacy. 1991. 1 videocassette (57 min.). Pharaonic Egypt, dating from 3100 BC, was the longest lasting of the ancient civilizations and created the state institutions on which nations are still built - bureaucratic government, organized religion and international trade. VHS 1694
Finzan . Library of African cinema. 1990. 1 videocassette (107 min.). Film illustrates the subjugation of women with the story of two women who rebel against village customs. Nanyuma, a young widow, refuses her brother-in-law, the village fool, when he asserts his traditional right to "inherit" her. Fili, a young girl sent from the city by her conservative father, is brutally circumcised by the village women who are scandalized that she resists the age-old custom. VHS 1398
Forbidden fruit . 2000. 1 videocassette (30 min.). This docu-drama examines long held taboos about sexual identity and lesbian love in African society. VHS 7899
Global Africa . The Africans : a triple heritage. 1986. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Illustrates African contributions to contemporary culture, including the significance of the African diaspora, and examines the continuing influence of the superpowers on the affairs of the continuing. VHS 1272
Healers of Ghana . 1996. 1 videocassette (58 min.). Explores the traditional medical practices of the Bono people of central Ghana and how their healers are accommodating the conflict between the arrival of Western medicine and their religious beliefs. Traditionally, Bono tribal priests undergo a painful spiritual possession, during which deities reveal to them the causes of illnesses, which plants to use to treat them, who is perpetrating witchcraft, and which villagers might be endangering society through improper behavior. VHS 5968
The hunters . 1958. 1 videocassette (71 min.). In this classic documentary, the Kalahari Bushmen of Africa wage a constant war for survival against the hot arid climate and unyielding soil. Film focuses on four men who undertake a hunt to obtain meat for their village. The chronicle of their 13-day trek becomes part of the village's folklore, illustrating the ancient roots and continual renewal of African tribal cultures. Illustrates the whole hunting process of a giraffe, from the spotting of the animal to the distribution of its meat among tribesmen. VHS 4957
Imbalu ritual of manhood of the Bagisu of Uganda . 1988. 1 videocassette (69 min.). This video follows two adolescent Bagisu men as they prepare for the ritual of "imbalu", or circumcision. Done in the tradition of their ancestors, imbalu signals the passage from childhood into manhood. VHS 2849
In and out of Africa . 1992. 1 videocassette (59 min.). "During the colonial period in the 1920's, European interest in collecting African art stimulated a transnational trade between Africa and the West. Today this multi-million dollar trade lies largely in the hands of Muslim merchants. This is a story about Gabai Baaré, a merchant who brings 'wood' from West Africa to sell in the United States. It is a story about the meaning of art." VHS 3660
In search of human origins . 1994. 3 videocassettes (180 min.). In this three part series, anthropologist Donald Johanson and his team demonstrate how to collect and analyze fossil evidence. He tells of his discovery of "Lucy," which sparked a controversial change in our view of human origins. Evidence is presented that indicates the first hunter may have been Homo erectus, a later hominid. Finally, Johanson and his colleagues gather new evidence that may begin to explain the demise of the neanderthals and the origins of modern humans. Features a re-creation of ancient man's appearance by special effects artists aided by computer technology. VHS 2471-2473
Jaguar . 1996? 1 videocassette (93 min.). Part documentary, part fiction and part reflective commentary. Three young men from the savannah of Niger (Lam the herdsman, Illo the fisherman and their friend Damoure) leave their homeland to seek wealth and adventure on the coast and in the cities of Ghana. This is the story of their travels, their encounters along the way, their experiences in Accra and Kumasi, and after three months, their return to their families and friends at home. VHS 5558
The JVC Smithsonian Folkways video anthology of music and dance of Africa . The Bernice Johnson Reagon Collection. 1996. 3 videocassettes (156 min.). This anthology looks at many of the folk music traditions in Africa. VHS 7421
The language you cry in . The library of African cinema. 1999. 1 videocassette (53 min.). Tells a detective story about the origins of a song that reaches across hundreds of years and thousands of miles from 18th century Sierra Leone to the Gullah people of present-day Georgia. It recounts how African Americans have retained links with their African past and demonstrates the contribution of contemporary scholarship to restoring what narrator Grosvenor calls the "non-history imposed on Africa Americans." Film examines the history of a song, a burial hymn of the Mende people who were brought as slaves to the rice plantations of the Southeast coast more than two hundred years ago. Shows the preservation of the song in Georgia and the detective work that traced it back to a remote village in Sierra Leone. VHS 5863
A legacy of lifestyles . The Africans : a triple heritage. 1986. 1 videocassette (60 min.). This program explores how African contemporary lifestyles are influenced by indigenous, Islamic and Western factors. It compares simple African societies with those that are more complex and centralized, and examines the importance of family life. VHS 1265
The life and times of Sara Baartman "the Hottentot Venus" . 1998. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Sara Baartman was taken from her Cape Town home to London in 1810 where she was exhibited as a freak. A court battle waged by abolitionists to free her from her exhibitors failed. In 1814 she was taken to France and became the object of scientific and medical research that formed the bedrock of European ideas about black female sexuality. She died the next year. Using historical drawings, cartoons, legal documents, and interviews with noted cultural historians and anthropologists, film deconstructs the social, political, scientific and philosophical assumptions which transformed one young African woman into a representation of savage sexuality and racial inferiority. VHS 5976
Man-made famine . 1986. 1 videocassette (52 min.). When a New Internationalist staff writer noticed that African food production fell despite weather conditions, he and fellow journalists went to investigate. Their conclusions show that the social custom which makes women produce 80% of the food while maintaining the house and providing child care, plus using agricultural land to produce cash crops for export, were bigger factors in African famine than the weather. VHS 2563
Masai women . Disappearing world. 1990. 1 videocassette (52 min.). An ethnographic view of Masai culture and society, focusing on the preparation of young Masai girls for marriage and life in their society. Probes, through a candid interview with an older woman, the feelings of the Masai women about polygamy and their inability to own property. VHS 2953
Monday's girls . 1993. 1 videocassette (49 min.). A grandmother named Monday Moses in Ogoloma, Nigeria is responsible for taking the young girls of the village through the rites of passage into womanhood so that they will be ready for marriage. When a tribal chieftain's daughter who has lived in a large city for some time agrees to return to her native village for traditional pre-marital ceremonies involving body painting, public breast examination and five-weeks' confinement to "fattening rooms," her refusal to fully participate in the ritual sparks a crisis underlining the conflict between traditional and modern African lifestyles. VHS 3655
N!ai: The story of a !Kung woman . 1980. 1 videocassette (59 min.). A compilation of footage of the !Kung people of Namibia from 1951 through 1978. Focuses on the changes in the life of these people from a hunting, gathering economy to the settled life of a South African homeland, through the reflections of one woman, N!ai. VHS 2467
Naked spaces living is round . 1985. 1 videocassette (135 min.). Explores the rhythm and ritual life in the rural environment of six West African countries: Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Senegal. VHS 6810
New conflicts . The Africans : a triple heritage. 1986. 1 videocassette (60 min.). Explores conflicts and tensions inherent in the juxtaposition of the three heritages of Africa: traditional African, Western and Islamic. It looks at the ways these conflicts have contributed to the rise of nationalist movements, the warrior tradition of indigenous Africa, the jihad tradition of Islam, and modern guerilla warfare. VHS 1268
New gods . The Africans : a triple heritage. 1986. 1 videocassette (60 min.). This program examines the factors that influence religion in Africa, paying particular attention to how traditional religions, Islam, and Christianity co-exist and influence each other. VHS 1266
The Nuer: A film by Hillary Harris and George Breidenbach in collaboration with Robert Gardner . 1971. 1 videodisc (75 min.). Presents the most important relationships and events in the lives of the Nuer, Nilotic people in Sudan and on the Ethiopian border. Demonstrates the vital significance of cattle and their central importance in all Nuer thought and behavior. DVD 1028
The return: The N'Deup healing ceremony . 2001. 1 videocassette (30 min.). In Senegal and throughout West Africa, illnesses are believed to be caused by supernatural external aggression. The diagnosis is made by a traditional healer, a shaman, whose job is to locate and then placate the spirits, the rab, that are responsible for the illness. The N'Deup healing ceremony shown in this video enlists the local community under the direction of the healer. Drumming, dancing, herbal cures, as well as ritual bloodletting are employed in a dramatic effort to soothe and appease the agitated spirit. The goal of this complex and colorful ceremony is a return to the inner harmony the patient had earlier enjoyed. VHS 7734
Rhythm of resistance: The Black music of South Africa . Beats of the heart. 1988. 1 videocassette (47 min.). Takes you across the forbidden boundaries of apartheid to experience the authentic joy and sorrow of Black South African music. Features music that has been ignored, suppressed of ghettoized, some filmed clandestinely. VHS 3264
Rites . 1991. 1 videocassette (52 min.). The genital mutilation known as female circumcision is still a widespread custom affecting approximately 80 million women throughout 30 countries. The practice is described and discussed by many of those who have had this operation, as well as health and women's rights representatives, who are trying to have the custom stopped. Program considers three major contexts in which female genital mutilation (FGM) occurs. The first is "cosmetic," and the second is "punitive." Medical historian Dr. Ornella Moscurri describes how women in the late 19th and early 20th century were subjected to FGM if they stepped out of line. The third context is part of the cultural transition to adulthood and initiation into female life. Routine mutilation has been fiercely attacked by Western observers, although such attacks have themselves been the subject of accusations of cultural imperialism. VHS 1633
Roots of rhythm . 1997. 3 videocassettes (ca. 180 min.). Traces the origins of Latin music from Spain and Africa to the New World (program 1). Focuses on pop music developed in Cuba and examines how North Americans began to discover this island's musical treasures (program 2). Shows how Spanish-African music has become the basic part of popular musical culture of the U.S. (program 3). VHS 6857
Rouch in reverse . Library of African cinema. 1995. 1 videocassette (51 min.). French ethnologist/filmmaker Jean Rouch discusses his work with Manthia Diawara. Diawara also interviews some of Rouch's African subjects about Rouch's work in an attempt to view African anthropology from within the culture rather than from a cross-cultural perspective. VHS 3937
Saaraba . Library of African cinema. 1988. 1 videocassette (81 min.). A young man returns to his homeland after spending many years in Europe. He and his homeland have changed in the interval and he is caught between his simple upbringing, the Western influence he was exposed to, and the corruption existing around him. VHS 1401
Sex and social dance . Dancing. 1993. 1 videocassette (57 min.). This program examines the male and female roles in dancing in three different societies: USA, Morocco, and Cook Islands of Polynesia. Includes archival film footage. VHS 2293
Sisters of Gion Gion no shimai . 198. 1 videocassette (66 min.). Widely regarded as Kenji Mizoguchi's best pre-war film. Set in the Gion quarter of Kyoto, the film shows the daily lives of the people as it tells the tale of two geishas who are sisters. Umekichi is the longtime lover of the just bankrupt merchant Furushawa whom she feels obligated to help; Omocha, the younger one, sees the business more impersonally, refuses to get involved with her customers and thinks Umekichi should get rid of a loser like Furushawa. VHS 366
Strange beliefs . Strangers abroad, pioneers of social anthropology. 1990. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard was the first trained anthropologist to do work in Africa, where he lived among the Azande and studied their belief in witchcraft. VHS 1070
Sur les traces du renard pâle recherches en pays Dogon, 1931-1983 = Tracking the Pale Fox, studies on the Dogon . 1994? 1 videocassette (48 min.). Recounts ethnological research in the Dogon region of Mali, under the direction of Marcel Griaule. VHS 3177
Taboo . 2004. 4 videodiscs (611 min.). A series from the National Geographic Channel displays the world's exotic cultural taboos consisting of rituals, beliefs and practices handed down from generation to generation. DVD 2431
Taboo . 2005. 4 videodiscs (658 min.). Complex and controversial, this mesmerizing hit series offers an insider's view of closed worlds traditionally off-limits to outsiders. Witness stunning stories about rituals and traditions so shocking that you can't help but be attracted. DVD 2432
To live with herds . 1996? 1 videocassette (69 min.). A classic documentary on the Jie of pre-Amin Uganda that looks at life in a traditional Jie homestead during a harsh dry season. Film demonstrates the effects of nation building on the seminomadic pastoral Jie as government policy seem to attack rather than support the values and economic base of Jie society. VHS 4903
The tribal mind . The Human race. 1994. 1 videocassette (52 min.). South Africa isn't the only society where racial and tribal identity have profoundly marked the way people live together; it's just one striking example. Against a background of violence, some South Africans are rising above old tribal reflexes as they struggle towards democracy. South Africa may provide a model for the world where the tribal politics of narrow self-interest continue to be destructive. VHS 3452
Visages de femmes = Faces of women . International cinema. 1995. 1 videocassette (103 min.). Politically and stylistically adventurous film exploring the links between feminism, economics and tradition in modern-day Africa. African women, who daily face hardship and obstacles, mainly as a result of traditional social mores, explore ways to better their lot, to gain a measure of commercial and cultural freedom and equality. VHS 3402
When things fall apart: Breaking the cycle . Africa: search for common ground. 1997. 1 videocassette (26 min.). When Things Fall Apart: In the waning days of the Mobutu regime, people in Kinshasa return to traditional mechanisms to resolve conflict in a tribal court, in which the plaintiff, the accused, the lawyers, judge, and jury put their dispute into song and dance - and come up with a solution that the whole community accepts. Breaking the Cycle: Domestic Violence: In South Africa's Alexandra Township, we meet abusers and victims working to break the vicious cycle of domestic violence. Crucial to their strategy is involving men as part of the solution. VHS 7932
Wodaabe, les bergers du soleil = Herdsmen of the sun . Interama video classics. 1988. 1 videocassette (52 min.). Filming the Woodaabe in the drought stricken Sahara, Herzog focuses on one tribal ritual. Once a year in what amounts to a beauty pageant, the young men dress up and parade in front of the women. Each woman must then chose and spend the next few nights with the man she finds most beautiful. Home Use Collection VHS 6458
You Africa, Youssou N'Dour and Super Etoile the African tour . Library of African cinema. 1994. 1 videocassette (43 min.). Documentary of the 1994 tour of nine West African nations by legendary Senegalese performing artist, Youssou N'Dour, and his band and back-up dancers, Super Etoile. Youssou discusses the serious political and spiritual purposes behind his music interspersed with concert footage and views of the local areas. VHS 4337
Zan Boko . Library of African video. 1990. 1 videocassette (92 min.). Zan boko means "the place where the placenta is buried" and symbolizes the continuity between past and present in African village societies. A rural family's world is brutally disrupted when their ancestral village is absorbed by the expanding boundaries of their country's largest city. A crusading journalist takes up their case against the powerful interests whose policies overwhelm traditional African society. VHS 964
Page Created by Media Services
