The Kwegu (Disappearing World- In Search of Cool Ground-The Mursi Trilogy episode 2) (1982)
Title
The Kwegu (Disappearing World- In Search of Cool Ground-The Mursi Trilogy episode 2) (1982)
Subject
Assimilation (Sociology)
Cultural geography.
Population.
URL
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Description
Content description from Films Media Group (https://films.com/id/25280/The_Kwegu_Disappearing_World.htm) :
Along the banks of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia, an almost feudal relationship plays out between the 500-strong Kwegu, a small group of hunters and cultivators, and the Mursi, who number 5,000. Every Kwegu offers ferrying, honey-gathering, and metalworking services to his Mursi patron. In exchange, the Mursi offers security—defending his Kwegu from attack by other members of the stronger tribe—and the all-important cattle, without which, in the complex tribal bride-price rituals, no Kwegu marriage can take place nor Kwegu children thus be born. Unfortunately for both Mursi and Kwegu, their mutually profitable relationship cannot last much longer. With birth rates falling among the already depleted Kwegu, and once-taboo intermarriages becoming more accepted, the Kwegu are gradually being absorbed into the tribe of the Mursi. Part of the series Disappearing World.
Ephemera: Available through the CCDR Collections at Arizona State University. One full size paper with handwritten notes by JWK.
Limitations: This page displays video content associated with a videotape in the CCDR Collections audiovisual library recorded by Joann W. Kealiinohomoku. Please be advised that, because this videotape has not yet been digitized for direct access, we cannot guarantee that the video content on this page is an exact match with the content originally recorded by Dr. Kealiinohomoku. We also cannot guarantee function or access for re-hosted video content.
Along the banks of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia, an almost feudal relationship plays out between the 500-strong Kwegu, a small group of hunters and cultivators, and the Mursi, who number 5,000. Every Kwegu offers ferrying, honey-gathering, and metalworking services to his Mursi patron. In exchange, the Mursi offers security—defending his Kwegu from attack by other members of the stronger tribe—and the all-important cattle, without which, in the complex tribal bride-price rituals, no Kwegu marriage can take place nor Kwegu children thus be born. Unfortunately for both Mursi and Kwegu, their mutually profitable relationship cannot last much longer. With birth rates falling among the already depleted Kwegu, and once-taboo intermarriages becoming more accepted, the Kwegu are gradually being absorbed into the tribe of the Mursi. Part of the series Disappearing World.
Ephemera: Available through the CCDR Collections at Arizona State University. One full size paper with handwritten notes by JWK.
Limitations: This page displays video content associated with a videotape in the CCDR Collections audiovisual library recorded by Joann W. Kealiinohomoku. Please be advised that, because this videotape has not yet been digitized for direct access, we cannot guarantee that the video content on this page is an exact match with the content originally recorded by Dr. Kealiinohomoku. We also cannot guarantee function or access for re-hosted video content.
Original Format
TV broadcast recorded off air by JWK: Betamax tape
Creator
Leslie Woodhead (director)
Andy Harries (director)
Andy Harries (director)
David Turton (anthropologist)
Publisher
Granada Television International
ITV - Independent Television
ITV - Independent Television
Date
1982 March 23
Citation
“The Kwegu (Disappearing World- In Search of Cool Ground-The Mursi Trilogy episode 2) (1982),” Cross-Cultural Dance Resources Collections, accessed April 20, 2025, https://ccdrcollections.omeka.net/items/show/623.