Way of the Wodaabe
odd: label: General
content: HSFA 1990.1.2
name: label: Collection Creator
content: National Geographic Society (U.S.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Geographic Explorer videos
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Videocassette (28 minutes, color sound)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1988
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Videocassettes
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film produced for the National Geographic Society Explorer television series was shot in 1987 and shows Wodaabe life, preparing for celebrations at the end of the rainy season, and relations with American photographer Carol Beckwith who has lived with and extensively photographed the Wodaabe. A pastoralist people of the African Sahel, Niger, the Wodaabe are seen setting up camp and performing gender divided labor according to strict tribal tabus, drinking tea at the men's morning tea ceremony, searching for a water hole, and sewing and doing bead work. Film concludes with two dances which are performed at the end of the rainy season--a celebration which had not been performed since before the severe drought of 1985. Preparations for the dances include elaborate face painting.