Videos

Below videos have been broken up into their main themes and can be searched by using the links below. You can also browse all the titles by scrolling down. Each listing includes a short summary of the film as well as the location and call number of the film. Note the videocassette number and location (usually Bird-Media, Lower Level). Present your SUID along with the videocassette number to the staff at the Media Desk and they will give you the video and headphones to use with the equipment in Media. Videocassettes do not circulate, except to faculty for teaching purposes.

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General	Cultures	Women
Specific Geographies	Slavery	Health Issues/AIDS
Literature		Online Catalogs

General Africa Videos

African Ritual and Initiation

MLK Library - Cassette 154

Author and African shaman, Malidoma Patrice Somae, is interviewed by series host Jeffrey Mishlove, focusing on Dagari culture, customs and the life of a shaman. - Year: 1994 - Producer: Arthur Bloch -Format: VHS -Duration: 60 min.

Aimé Césaire

MLK Library - Cassette 96

In Part 3 or this 3 part series Cesaire responds to the disappointments of the post-colonial world and expresses his hopes for the future. In the 1960s his plays were among the first to warn of the dangers of neo-colonialism. French anthropoligist Edgar Morin, biographer Roger Toumson, novelist Maryse Conde and American writer Maya Angelou and others testify to Cesaire's central role as a "founding ancestor" for the current flowering of African Diaspora literature.Year: 1994 - Jean-Lou Monthieux - Format: VHS - Duration: 50 min.

Ashanti Kingdom

Bird - Cassette 6960

Ethnology Ghana Year: 1992 - Producer: Steve N'Gouan Format: VHS Duration: 14 min.

Black Athena

Bird - Cassette 6347

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.Year: 1991 - Producer: Christopher Spencer - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Divine Carcasse

Bird - Cassette 10685

"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 siteYear: 1998 - Producer: Dominique Loreau - Format: VHS - Duration: 61 min.

Life and times of Sara Baartman

MLK Library - Cassette 272

A documentary film of the life a Khoikhoi woman who was taken from South Africa in 1810 and exhibited as a freak across Britain. The image and ideas for "The Hottentot Venus" (particularly the interest in her sexual anatomy) swept through British popular culture. A court battle waged by abolitionists to free her from her exhibitors failed. In 1814, a year before her death, she was taken to France and became the object of scientific research that formed the bedrock of European ideas about Black female sexuality. Year: 1998 - Producer: Philip Brooks - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Mobutu, King of Zaire an African tragedy

Bird - Cassette 9132

"The definitive visual record of the rise and fall of Joseph Desire Mobutu, ruler of Zaire (the congo) for over 30 years. Drawing upon 140 hours of rare archival material found in Kinshasa, and 50 hours of interviews with those once close to him, it tells the story of the man at the heart of Central Africa's post-colonial history." - Year: 1999 - Producer: Christine Pireaux - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Return of Sara Baartman

Bird - Cassette 10829

Chronicles the return of the remains of Sara Baartman, a Black woman who had been exhibited as a freak in early nineteenth-century Europe. Her remains were returned to South Africa from France, where they had been kept at the Museum of Man (Musée L'Homme). On April 29, 2002, Sara's remains were officially handed back to the South African people at an emotionally charged ceremony at the country's Embassy in Paris and, on August 9 (National Women's Day), she was ceremonially buried on the banks of the Gamtoos River. Sara's repatriation involved years of lobbying by people in South Africa, including Professor Phillip Tobias, South African poet Diana Ferrus, and French senator Nicolas About who, when told that only a law could force the country to give up Baartman, introduced one. - Year: 2003 - Producer: Zola Maseko - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Simba

Bird - Cassette 6337

Records Martin and Osa Johnson's expedition to East Africa, the chief purpose of which was to capture on film rapidly disappearing African wildlife as well as East African peoples (Samburu, Boran, Turkana, Meru, Kikiyu, Dorobo, Nandi, Lumbwa) and their customs. Includes extensive footage of elephants, giraffes and lions. Also shown is the lion-spearing ceremony perfomed by the Lumbwa (part of this sequence was filmed by Carl Akeley and Alfred J. Klein). The film begins with an introduction by Martin and Osa Johnson in formal attire. - Year: 1992 - Producer: Martin & Osa Johnson - Format: VHS - Duration: 83 min.

The JVC Smithsonian Folkways video anthology of music and dance of Africa

Bird - Cassette 11662

A three-part educational project that focuses on local performance styles to present the folk music and dance traditions of Africa. Each cassette is accompanied by a book of written commentary containing background information to help the viewer better understand the performances. Year: 1996 - Producer: Katsumori Ichikawa - Format: VHS - Duration: 157 min.

 

Tree of iron

Bird - Cassette 7988

Documents archaeological work on ancient iron industry sites in East Africa. Recreates traditional African technology used in iron smelting, by the Haya people in Tanzania. Following the anthropological/ethnoarchaeological work of Peter R. Schmidt, overturns flawed notions about the history of technology in Africa. Year: 1998 - Producer: Peter O'Neill - Format: VHS - Duration: 57 min.

Veiled revolution

Bird - Cassette 11698

Discusses the modern Egyptian Muslim woman's question of whether to wear modest dress and the veil or Western dress. Also discusses the proper role of women in a modern Islamic society, with specific attention to the recent practice of women entering mosques to hold study meetings. Looks at the struggle for women's rights in Egypt within the framework of their own Islamic traditions. Year: 1982 - Producer: Diane Tammes - Format: VHS - Duration: 26 min.

Women of manga

Bird - Cassette 6333

The story of women in a warrior tribe in eastern Niger. Shows the life of the people, focusing on the traditions by which the women live, behave, and make themselves beautiful. Year: 1992 - Format: VHS - Duration: 12 min.

Yeelen

Bird - Cassette 6541

Shows the destructive conflict between a father and son who vie with each other for knowledge of the secrets of nature. Year: 1987 - Producer: Souleymane Cissé - Format: VHS - Duration: 105 min.

Zan Boko

Bird - Cassette 6683

Zan boko means "the place where the placenta is buried" and symbolizes the continuity between past and present in African village societies. The film tells the story of one village swallowed up by one of Africa's large cities and the change from agrarian society to a mass media culture. Year: 1997 - Producer: Andree Davanture - Format: VHS - Duration: 94 min.

African Cultures

Bahia: Africa in the Americas

Bird - Cassette 11345

Documentary on the elements of African culture which are powerfully expressed in the food, art, dance, and most importantly, the Candomblé (Umbanda) religion of the Afro-Brazilian majority of the state of Bahía. - Year:1991 - Producer: Michael Brewer - Format: VHS - Duration: 58 min

Divine Carcasse

Bird - Cassette 10685

"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 siteYear: 1998 - Producer: Dominique Loreau - Format: VHS - Duration: 61 min.

Masai today

Bird - DVD 11331

Describes the pastoral life of the Masai tribe in Africa. The program follows the life of a family over the course of seven years as a glimpse into the life of the Masai as they struggle with the clallenges of modernity. - Year: 2004 - Format: DVD - Duration: 53 min.

Pygmies of the rain forest

Bird - Cassette 9611

Details the everyday life of the Mbuti Pygmies in the remote Ituri Forest of Zaire, Africa - a life essentially unchanged for thousands of years. As nomads they grow no crops ; instead they utilize all of the resources of the forest for their daily needs ; shelter, clothing, utensils, food. - Year: 1976 - Producer: Kevin Duffy - Format: VHS - Duration: 51 min.

Simba

Bird - Cassette 6337

Records Martin and Osa Johnson's expedition to East Africa, the chief purpose of which was to capture on film rapidly disappearing African wildlife as well as East African peoples (Samburu, Boran, Turkana, Meru, Kikiyu, Dorobo, Nandi, Lumbwa) and their customs. Includes extensive footage of elephants, giraffes and lions. Also shown is the lion-spearing ceremony perfomed by the Lumbwa (part of this sequence was filmed by Carl Akeley and Alfred J. Klein). The film begins with an introduction by Martin and Osa Johnson in formal attire. - Year: 1992 - Producer: Martin & Osa Johnson - Format: VHS - Duration: 83 min.

Strange beliefs

Bird - Cassette 5693

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. - Year: 1990 - Producer: Andre Singer - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Women

Africa's Children

Bird - DVD 11333

Explores the pressures on female adolescents in the Third World through the stories of four young Kenyon women growing up in a time of cultural upheaval. Female circumcision, polygyny, AIDS, reproductive choice, equal access to education, and other issues are discussed with candor.Year: 2003 - Producer: Michael O'Connell - Format: DVD Duration: 58 min.

Female circumcision:human rites

Bird - DVD11293

Documents the rituaal of female genital mutilation (female circumcision), practiced among some African groups. This video also explores its roots in myth; and discusses movements underway to ban the practice. - Year: 1998 - Producer:Jean-Pascal Bublex - Format: DVD - Duration: 41 min.

Veiled revolution

Bird - Cassette 11698

Discusses the modern Egyptian Muslim woman's question of whether to wear modest dress and the veil or Western dress. Also discusses the proper role of women in a modern Islamic society, with specific attention to the recent practice of women entering mosques to hold study meetings. Looks at the struggle for women's rights in Egypt within the framework of their own Islamic traditions. Year: 1982 - Producer: Diane Tammes - Format: VHS - Duration: 26 min.

Women of manga

Bird - Cassette 6333

The story of women in a warrior tribe in eastern Niger. Shows the life of the people, focusing on the traditions by which the women live, behave, and make themselves beautiful. Year: 1992 - Format: VHS - Duration: 12 min.

Women with open eyes

Bird - Cassette 7454

Profiles contemporary African women in four West African countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Benin. We meet a woman active in the movement against female genital mutilation, a health care worker educating women about sexually transmitted diseases, and businesswomen who describe how they have set up an association to share expertise and provide mutual assistance. Year: 1994 - Producer: Anne-Laure Folly - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Specific Geographies

A Kalahari Family

Bird - Cassette 11246

International aid no longer benefits Namibian development programs. While farms fail many people are forced to return to poverty and squalid conditions of Tsumkwe. - Year: 2002 - Producer: John Marshall - Format: VHS - Duration: 85 min.

Bahia: Africa in the Americas

Bird - Cassette 11345

Documentary on the elements of African culture which are powerfully expressed in the food, art, dance, and most importantly, the Candomblé (Umbanda) religion of the Afro-Brazilian majority of the state of Bahía. - Year:1991 - Producer: Michael Brewer - Format: VHS - Duration: 58 min

Magical curing

Bird - Cassette 5388

Filmed between 1970 and 1972 during fieldwork with the Wape people of the West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. - Year: 1989 - Producer: William E. Mitchell - Format: VHS - Duration: 27min.

Mobutu, King of Zaire an African tragedy

Bird - Cassette 9132

"The definitive visual record of the rise and fall of Joseph Desire Mobutu, ruler of Zaire (the congo) for over 30 years. Drawing upon 140 hours of rare archival material found in Kinshasa, and 50 hours of interviews with those once close to him, it tells the story of the man at the heart of Central Africa's post-colonial history." - Year: 1999 - Producer: Christine Pireaux - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Namibia

Bird - Cassette 6680

Nora Chase of the Namibian Council of Churches describes how occupying countries have enriched themselves off her country's vast mineral resources, while the indigenous people have been condemned to poverty. - Year: 1984 - Producer: Paul Hamann - Format: VHS - Duration: 49 min.

Taxi to Timbuktu

Bird - Cassette 1031

A documentary about the drought-stricken Malian village of Batama and how the men of this village have gone abroad trying to find jobs and earn enough money to send home to their families. Year: 1994 - Producer: Christopher Walker - Format: VHS - Duration: 50 min.

Veiled revolution

Bird - Cassette 11698

Discusses the modern Egyptian Muslim woman's question of whether to wear modest dress and the veil or Western dress. Also discusses the proper role of women in a modern Islamic society, with specific attention to the recent practice of women entering mosques to hold study meetings. Looks at the struggle for women's rights in Egypt within the framework of their own Islamic traditions. Year: 1982 - Producer: Diane Tammes - Format: VHS - Duration: 26 min.

Women of manga

Bird - Cassette 6333

The story of women in a warrior tribe in eastern Niger. Shows the life of the people, focusing on the traditions by which the women live, behave, and make themselves beautiful. Year: 1992 - Format: VHS - Duration: 12 min.

Zan Boko

Bird - Cassette 6683

Zan boko means "the place where the placenta is buried" and symbolizes the continuity between past and present in African village societies. The film tells the story of one village swallowed up by one of Africa's large cities and the change from agrarian society to a mass media culture. Year: 1997 - Producer: Andree Davanture - Format: VHS - Duration: 94 min.

Zimbabwe after the hunger and drought

Bird - Cassette 6663

A series of interviews with Zimbabwe's literary figures about the role of the writer in society, freedom of expression, and the place of tradition in modern literature. The issues these intellectuals confront are crucial to any developing society grappling with the challenge of nation-building. Year: 1987 - Producer: Olley Maruma - Format: VHS - Duration: 53 min.

Slavery

Language you cry in

MLK Library - Cassette 198

The film tells an amazing scholarly detective story reaching across hundreds of years and thousands of miles from 18th century Sierra Leone to the Gullah people of present-day Georgia. It recounts the even more remarkabel saga of how African Americans has retained links with their African past through the horrors of the middle passage, slavery and segregation. The film dramatically demonstrates the contribution of contemporary scholarship to restoring what narrator Vertamae Grosvenor calls the "non-history imposed on Africa Americans:"This is a story of memory, how the memory of a family was pieced together through a song with legendary powers to connect those who sany it with their roots." - Year: 1999 - Producer: Alvaro Toepke - Format: VHS - Duration: 53 min.

Unearthing the slave trade

Bird - Cassette 7313

On the eve of the American Revolution, New York City had the largest number of enslaved Africans of any colonial settlement outside Charleston. Though this has seldom been acknowledged, African labor was essential in the building of New York. Today, archeological excavation of sites on both sides of the Atlantic is bringing to light aspects of the slave trade long buried in the liberal minds of those north of the Mason-Dixon line. Year: 1994 - Producer: Tom Naughton - Format: VHS - Duration: 28 min.

Health Issues/AIDS

Africa's Children

Bird - DVD 11333

Explores the pressures on female adolescents in the Third World through the stories of four young Kenyon women growing up in a time of cultural upheaval. Female circumcision, polygyny, AIDS, reproductive choice, equal access to education, and other issues are discussed with candor.Year: 2003 - Producer: Michael O'Connell - Format: DVD Duration: 58 min.

Everyone's Child

MLK Library - Cassette 356

In a rural village in Zimbabwe, Tamari and Itai are devestated when both their parents die of AIDS. For the four children this is a time of fear and survival as family and neighbors turn their heads away because of the stigma of AIDS. The city is just as hostile as is the village. in the end it is only tragedy that can bridge the gulf of denial and make the community realize that these are everyone's children. - Year: 1996 - Producer: Jonny Persey - Format: VHS - Duration: 90 min.

Female circumcision:human rites

Bird - DVD11293

Documents the rituaal of female genital mutilation (female circumcision), practiced among some African groups. This video also explores its roots in myth; and discusses movements underway to ban the practice. - Year: 1998 - Producer:Jean-Pascal Bublex - Format: DVD - Duration: 41 min.

State of denial

MLK Library - Cassette 355

South Africa is the country with the highest number of HIV positive people in the world. This video illustrates how they must fight not only the disease but the drug cartels and the inactivity of their own government to get treatment. - Year: 2003 - Producer: Elaine Epstein - Format: VHS - Duration: 83 min.

Women with open eyes

Bird - Cassette 7454

Profiles contemporary African women in four West African countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Benin. We meet a woman active in the movement against female genital mutilation, a health care worker educating women about sexually transmitted diseases, and businesswomen who describe how they have set up an association to share expertise and provide mutual assistance. Year: 1994 - Producer: Anne-Laure Folly - Format: VHS - Duration: 52 min.

Literature

African Ritual and Initiation

MLK Library - Cassette 154

Author and African shaman, Malidoma Patrice Somae, is interviewed by series host Jeffrey Mishlove, focusing on Dagari culture, customs and the life of a shaman. - Year: 1994 - Producer: Arthur Bloch -Format: VHS -Duration: 60 min.

Aimé Césaire

MLK Library - Cassette 96

In Part 3 or this 3 part series Cesaire responds to the disappointments of the post-colonial world and expresses his hopes for the future. In the 1960s his plays were among the first to warn of the dangers of neo-colonialism. French anthropoligist Edgar Morin, biographer Roger Toumson, novelist Maryse Conde and American writer Maya Angelou and others testify to Cesaire's central role as a "founding ancestor" for the current flowering of African Diaspora literature.Year: 1994 - Jean-Lou Monthieux - Format: VHS - Duration: 50 min.

Zimbabwe after the hunger and drought

Bird - Cassette 6663

A series of interviews with Zimbabwe's literary figures about the role of the writer in society, freedom of expression, and the place of tradition in modern literature. The issues these intellectuals confront are crucial to any developing society grappling with the challenge of nation-building. Year: 1987 - Producer: Olley Maruma - Format: VHS - Duration: 53 min.