Africa
odd: label: General
content: Local Numbers: HSFA 1987.9.27
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Boulton, Laura, 1899-1980
setName: label: See more items in
content: Laura Boulton films
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (90 minutes, color silent; 3,240 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1947
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Footage shot in South-West Africa (Namibia) as part of a University of California expedition to Ovamboland and areas of South Africa. Ethnic groups depicited include the Kuanyama Ambo (Ovambo), San, and Herero. Documentation among the Ovambo features scenes of the Efundula, an Ovambo girls' puberty ceremony, including girls dancing in initiation costumes consisting of "head nets," ofiti (ankle bracelets), and efungu (dancing wands); close-ups of neophytes' ceremonial coiffure and the omatela headdress worn by "ash girls" (constructed from wire, fiber, and human hair and wound into a five-peaked hat smeared with fat and red ochre); peregrinations of initiates in a labyrinthian kraal; and pairs of candidates pounding grain in ground mortars with weighted pestles. Additional footage of the Ovambo includes: men crafting woven roof for a hut, panoptic scenes of lake and waterfalls, and men playing various musical instruments including slit gongs and large double membrane drums. Footage also includes scenes in Windhoek of Herero and Kalahari San in European garb, San dancing (near Windhoek), and urban (probably Zulu) dance performances in South Africa.

Legacy Keywords: Houses circular thatched South West Africa ; Cattle kraals Ovambo South West Africa ; Corrals rituals in Ovambo South West Africa ; Musical instruments xylophones Zulu ; Mining gold salt South Africa ; Musical instruments slit gongs South West Africa ; Smoking water pipes Ovambo South West Africa ; Musical instruments efundula drums Ovambo ; Ceremony efundulu Ovambo ; Rites of passage efundulu womanhood Ovambo ; Adornment ritual hair Ovambo ; Garb ritual skirts necklaces Ovambo ; Food preparation mortar and pestle Ovambo ; Initiations efundula women Ovambo South West Africa ; Musical instruments bows Bushmen South West Africa ; Acculturation dress Herero South West Africa ; Language and culture