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Diary of a Maasai Village series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village series
Buy Now: $1,360.00

"A rich man in Maasai has children and cows.... and he has wives - many wives."

This series of five films by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies looks at daily life among the Maasai. The films are presented as a diary of a 7-week visit to a single village. The structure is episodic and the content dependent on various events or stories, some of which are developed through more than one film. The tapes can be used independently or together, to give an in-depth sense of Maasai life.

The senior man in the village is the most important Maasai prophet and magician who is known as the Laibon. He is regarded as a wealthy man because he has so many wives and children. He has 13 wives living in the village as well as a large number of children, about 20 daughters-in-law, and 30 grandchildren. All the main characters in the films are somehow related to the Laibon, who was nearly 80 years old when the films were made.

A common thread to the events of all five films is the ever-present anxiety about the state of the herds. These appear to be slowly depleting due to drought, disease and an increasing need to sell livestock for cash. Cash and/or livestock are needed by the Laibon and his kin to trade for wives, to pay off debts and to compensate for previous thefts.

Films in the Diary of a Maasai Village Series

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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The Child the Stork Brought Home

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

The Child the Stork Brought Home
Buy Now: $320.00

The Child the Stork Brought Home is an intimate portrait of a gestational surrogacy arrangement, from the embryo transfer that "took" and got both the gestational surrogate and genetic parents "pregnant," to the birth of a slightly premature baby girl 34 weeks later.

The film captures, through spaced interviews and cinema verite scenes; doctor visits, the baby shower, the birth and its emotional aftermath. The ethical complexity of this most controversial of reproductive arrangements is revealed, at once celebrating its potential to transform understandings of the nuclear family and motherhood, while raising an alarm: that class privilege, and genetic laboratory assisted procreation, can seem to make breeders out of gestational surrogates.

The Child the Stork Brought Home has been used in Women's Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Science and Technology, Bioethics and Contemporary Studies classes at UCSC, UCLA, and U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The film was made at the Center for Visual Anthropology, at the University of Southern California.

An accompanying essay, "Body Boundaries, Fiction of the Female Self: An ethnographic perspective on power, feminism and reproductive technologies," has been published in Feminist Studies (Spring 2000, V.26, N.1, 113-140).

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A Darker Side of Fair

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

A Darker Side of Fair
Buy Now: $295.00

Shedding new light upon issues of global diversity, this documentary focuses on the extent to which a "fairness fetish" has permeated various levels of Indian society. Today in India fairness is a benchmark for beauty; marriages are decided on the basis of skin color; and fair means "lucky" whereas dark means "ugly." Fair skin as an ideal exists in all facets of Indian life: fashion, marriage, advertising etc.

Although historically women have been burdened with the need to conform to the societal perception of the "light-skinned beauty," increasingly today even young Indian men feel the need to opt for products and processes to enhance their skin tone. While the origins of the fair-skinned ideal can be traced back to the ancient Indian epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, today Western influences and media pressure have resulted in a growing market for fairness products and skin lightening treatments.

Fairness is a serious business in India, one with intensely psychological ramifications. With a focus on the emotional and psychological impact, this film addresses the historical and contemporary factors that contribute to the pressures thrust upon Indian women by a society obsessed with fair skin.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Memphis International Film Festival, 2004
Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting, 2005
Northeastern Anthropological Association Ethnographic Film & Video Festival, Lake Placid, NY, 2005
Heard Museum Film Festival, Arizona, 2005
American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington DC, 2005
10th Mostra Internacional do Filme Etnografico, Brazil, 2005

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Deep Hearts

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Deep Hearts
Buy Now: $320.00

Deep Hearts is a film about the Bororo Fulani, a nomadic society located in the central portion of the Niger Republic of Africa. The title is a reference to an important aspect of these people's thought and demeanor. The Bororo are immensely beautiful. They are also extremely envious of each other's looks. This envy accounts for their truly suspicious nature; one which leads quickly to feelings of fear. They are particularly fearful of being 'devoured' by both the eyes and mouths of those around them with whom they compete as beautiful creatures. The concept of a deep heart is useful because it accommodates their fears by providing a metaphysical space in which to hide their true feelings.

Deep Hearts describes the Gerewol, an occasion during the rainy season when two different and competing lineages come together at a designated watering place to choose the most 'perfect' Bororo male. It is close to being a physical and moral beauty contest in which the winner, selected by a maiden of the opposing lineage, is acclaimed the 'bull.' The film is also an attempt to let this ceremony of the Bororo be a way of speaking to the larger question of choice itself, something which confronts all human beings at all times.

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Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 3

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:04:00 GMT

Diary of a Maasai Village, Part 3
Buy Now: $320.00

Two Mothers focuses on gender relationships in a Maasai village. The principal events for the women are a "coming out ox" ritual and the birth of a child; for the men, the birth of a calf is the central theme.

About the Diary of a Maasai Villageseries

Thisseries of five films by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies looks at daily life among theMaasai. The films are presented as a diary of a 7-week visit to a singlevillage. The structure is episodic and the content dependent on various eventsor stories, some of which are developed through more than one film. The tapescan be used independently or together, to give an in-depth sense of Maasailife. The series includes the following five films:

Part 1: The Prophet's Village

Part 2: Two Ways Of Justice

Part 3: Two Mothers

Part 4: Two Journeys

Part 5: Nine Cows And An Ox

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Fashioning Faith

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Fashioning Faith
Buy Now: $295.00

When most Americans think of the Islamic veil, the image of Afghan women in blue burkas or the black chador of the Islamic Republic of Iran may come to mind. But what about the Muslim-American woman who easily combines her headscarf with jeans or haute couture gowns?

Fashioning Faith takes a behind the scenes look at the emerging world of Islamic fashion and US-based clothing designers who make it possible. The film interweaves interviews and verité footage from a diverse array of Muslim women with one goal in common – to express their faith through fashion.

Nzinga Knight is a young Brooklynite who has won fashion accolades for her modest evening dresses – a first for the Islamic style market in America. Jenneh Williams has been in the Islamic retail business for decades, recently opening up her own boutique in Queens that caters to the growing number of black converts to Islam. Sabrina Enayatulla is a blogger fashionista with a mission – to change negative stereotypes of Islam through stylish creations. Brooke Samad hopes that her pious clothing collection will hit home with young professional Muslims looking for new alternatives to traditional garb, while the designers of the Eva Khurshid label seek to attract all Americans — regardless of creed — to their stylish clothing by making modesty the new mainstream.

Through these women's stories, Fashioning Faith takes viewers on a colorful exploration of a world where fashion and faith fuse with often surprising results.

“An excellent film for introductory anthropology courses. At one level, Fashioning Faith is a primer on Muslim women in the United States and the fact that they actually freely choose to wear modest clothing. But at a deeper level, for anthropology courses this film offers teachers an opportunity to explore more deeply how gender empowerment does not necessarily equate to encouraging women to compete with men. …Fashioning Faith shows us how gender segregation sanctions women's economic empowerment through means that most Americans would mistakenly consider singularly repressive.”
— Carolyn Rouse, Current Anthropology, Vol. 53, No. 3 (June 2012), pp. 368-366

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The Girl Next Door

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

The Girl Next Door
Buy Now: $320.00

In 1995, Oklahoma housewife Stacy Baker posed for a photograph that changed her life. Encouraged by her husband to pose nude for a contest, she was soon gracing the cover of Hustler and accepting offers to perform in X-rated films. Finding liberation through breast implants and her new career, she files for divorce and becomes "Stacy Valentine." Award-winning filmmaker Christine Fugate spent two years documenting Valentine's rise to fame in the adult film industry, as well as her quest to find real love and happiness. The camera follows the actress through her daily grind: the tedious production days, unforeseen crises on the set, industry gossip circles, and frequent trips to the plastic surgeon. Eventually, Stacy Valentine earns the title of "Best American Starlet." Unlike her persona on the big screen, Stacy allows the filmmaker to witness her vulnerable side. Stacy's self-confident ambition and fierce independence gradually give way to signs of insecurity, cynicism and loneliness. An entertaining and humanizing portrait, The Girl Next Door allows us to experience the world of pornography through the eyes of one of its hardworking employees. Of interest to Gender Studies, the Anthropology of Work, Psychology, and Women's Studies.

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The Heart's Nebula

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:27:00 GMT

The Heart's Nebula
Buy Now: $320.00

A trip through the heart. A poetic, moving, cruel, ironic, at times a cynical trip. A trip that takes us deep into the heart of the film maker, into her aches, her joys, her medical problems, among them the placing of a pacemaker. It gives her an excuse to take a closer look at other hearts: the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the small mummified heart of Louis XVII and its weird wanderings, the heart of a transplantee. How does one live with someone else's heart? Hearts of sugar, hearts of gold in the Brussel's Heart Museum. Chicken, beef, and quail hearts at the butcher's. The heart of a surgeon who grafts hearts compared to a gardener's who grafts trees. The trips ends in the Ice Palace with a poem enjoining us to donate our hearts. "That sudden weakness of my heart, two years ago, brought me closer to death. I realized I was mortal, that my allotted span was shrinking, sadly shrinking away. Death? Ending as a small pile of dust or as a skeleton? Unable to think, unable to love, to become or not to become a wandering soul. What would I do, what would I change during the scant years I still had to live? Love more? Visit Easter Island? The fact is that I've not changed anything but hearing of physical heart problems does bother me. 'He died from a heart failure, an infarct, a heart attack...' I now relate to each of other peoples' heart stories" — Jacqueline Veuve

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A Group of Women

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

A Group of Women
Buy Now: $545.00

Ju/'hoan women often share an intimate sociability and spend many hours together discussing their lives, enjoying each other's company and children. In this short film, Ju/'hoan women rest, talk and nurse their babies while lying in the shade of a baobab tree. This film is a good illustration of "collective mothering" in which several women support each other and share the nurturing role. Part of the !Kung Series.

This film is available as part of the !Kung ShortFilms 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.

DiscOne:
A Curing Ceremony (bw) (9:00)
Group of Women (6:00)
A Joking Relationship (13:00)
N/um Tchai: The Ceremonial Dance of the !Kung Bushmen (bw)(20:00)
N!owa T'ama: The Melon Tossing Game (15:00)
The Lion Game (5:00)
An Argument About a Marriage (18:00)
Men Bathing (14:00)

DiscTwo:
Playing with Scorpions (5:00)
A Rite of Passage (15:00)
Debe's Tantrum (9:00)
The Wasp Nest (13:00)
The Meat Fight (14:00)
Baobab Play (8:00)

Orthography Note
The 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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Haitian Song

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Haitian Song
Buy Now: $320.00

Haitian Song is a lyrical portrait of life in a small village in rural Haiti. The film focuses on the "rituals" which compose the texture of everyday life: getting water from the river; making rope by hand from sisal; cooking rice and beans in an outdoor kitchen; planting and harvesting. Through intimate and detailed scenes, the film follows Gustav and Zilmen, a man and a woman, through the cycle of their day and follows the larger community through the cycles of the week: the market on Tuesday; the cockfight on Saturday; the dance on Sunday. Narrated entirely in Creole (with English subtitles) by Haitian peasants and interwoven throughout with haunting songs, the film evokes a mood and feeling of rural village life. It is highly visual, as well as informative and educational.

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