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Melon Tossing Game
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Secondary Title:
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(N!owa T'ama)
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Filmmaker Name:
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John Marshall
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Film Length:
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15 min
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Film Year:
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1970
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Duration:
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0-20 min
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Decade:
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1970s
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Series:
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!Kung series
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Color:
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color
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Region:
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Africa
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Subject:
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Social and Cultural Life
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Women from three separate Ju/'hoan bands have gathered at a mangetti grove at !O to play an intense game in which undertones of social and personal tensions become apparent.
The game itself is simple: women form a semi-circle which moves counter-clockwise as each woman, in turn, runs to the center of the circle where she dances several steps and tosses the melon to the next woman at the proper moment in the song. Men intrude and dance spectacularly and an old woman, N/aoka, goes into a trance-like state. The game begins to disintegrate when N!ai, the wife of the male dancer /Gunda, taunts and teases N/aoka.
This
film is available as part of the !Kung Short Films set. This collection combines fourteen of Marshall's short !Kung films
onto two remastered/re-authored DVDs, complete with a full-color booklet
containing photos, writings, and additional information about the series.
Orthography NoteThe group of people depicted in these films
are the Ju/'hoansi, speakers of the Ju/'hoan language. Ju/'hoan is part
of the !Kung language group; the term !Kung was previously used by the
Marshall family and others to refer to Ju/'hoansi. Although the term is
outdated, it has been retained here for the sake of consistency with
John Marshall's previously published work. The films and their related
printed materials also employ antiquated spellings of names and places.
For current Ju/'hoan orthography, please see the Ju/'hoan - English Dictionary, compiled by Patrick Dickens and the Ju/'hoan Peoples Literacy Committee.
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