African Studies

Films

Dakar to Port Loko: Perspectives from West Africa This wide-ranging, richly discussible documentary provides an unparalleled opportunity to experience everyday West African life and viewpoints from the ground level.

Dance With the Wodaabes This widely acclaimed and visually stunning ethnographic documentary explores, from the point of view of its participants, the complex cultural significance of one of Africa's most spectacular but frequently misunderstood and sensationalized ritual celebrations.

Festive Land: Carnaval in Bahia This perceptive and engaging documentary examines one of the largest and most extraordinary popular celebrations in the world, the week-long Carnaval that brings more than two million people to the streets of Salvador, the capital of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil.

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. It explores with irony and humor issues of authenticity, taste, and racial politics in the transnational trade in African art.

Lorang's Way A portrait of Lorang, the head of the homestead and one of the important senior men of the Turkana. The first part of renowned filmmakers David and Judith Macdougall's classic Turkana Conversations Trilogy.

Making Maasai Men: Growing Courage Toward Circumcision This remarkable ethnographic documentary explores the complex meanings of masculinity and Maasai ethnicity, and the place of circumcision and its attendant rituals in their cultural construction.

Mas Fever: Inside Trinidad Carnival Carnival in the New World is a synthesis of European elements -- Christian traditions and the masquerade -- and African elements -- primarily music and dance. In Trinidad, Carnival is a colorful, exuberant celebration of national focus and pride.

Nawi This classic ethnographic documentary, by the renowned filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores the nomadic life of the Jie of Uganda.

Orphans of Mathare This powerful documentary examines the lives of former street children now living at the Good Samaritan Children's Home, an orphanage and school in the sprawling Mathare slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Although it focuses on one orphanage in Mathare, the film lays bare the complicated relationship between poverty, violence, disease, Christianity, tradition, and the orphan crisis in Kenya and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Sanpachando: St. Pacho Is for the Revelers This exceptional and engaging documentary is an important contribution to the growing body of work on the African Diaspora and Latin America. It perceptively explores the intertwined cultural, religious, political, and afro-ethnic meanings of a vibrant festival honoring St. Francis of Assisi in Quibdo, Choco, on the northwest Pacific coast of Colombia.

To Live With Herds This classic film on the Jie of Uganda, produced by the renowned ethnographic filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, explores life in a traditional Jie homestead during a harsh dry season.

Under the Men's Tree At Jie cattle camps in Uganda men often gather under a special tree to make leather and wooden goods and talk, relax, and sleep. This brilliant ethnographic documentary by renowned filmmakers David and Judith MacDougall captures one particularly riveting discussion one afternoon under the men's tree.

Voices of the Orishas This innovative ethnographic documentary demonstrates the survival and strength of the Yoruba cultural and religious heritage in the contemporary life of Caribbean African-Hispanics.

The Wedding Camels One of Lorang's daughters is going to marry one of his friends and age-mates, but all does not go smoothly. The second part of renowned filmmakers David and Judith Macdougall's classic "Turkana Conversations Trilogy."

A Wife Among Wives This ground-breaking ethnographic documentary investiges the views of the Turkana, and especially Turkana women, on marriage and polygyny. The third and final part of renowned filmmakers David and Judith Macdougall's classic Turkana Conversations Trilogy.

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. 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.