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| Title: | The 'Discovery' of the Himba: The Politics of Ethnographic Film Making |
| Author: | Wärnlöf, Christofer |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
| Volume: | 70 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 175-191 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Namibia |
| Subjects: | Himba television cinema Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Literature, Mass Media and the Press |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160814 |
| Abstract: | This article examines the relationship between ethnographic filmmaking and television, arguing that the fundamental dilemma of the ethnographic film screened on television is that it must legitimize its position by differentiating itself from fiction, i.e. by establishing some sort of realism, while at the same time employing fictional devices to dramatize ethnographic 'stories' in order to make the film appealing to viewers. These issues are illustrated by a film project on the Himba living in Kaokoland in northwest Namibia. The project was undertaken in July 1994 for Discovery Channel and the film was shown in Europe and America in February 1995. The author discusses the local setting, the choice of a story line - the appointment of a new headman, the interaction between the film team and the community, and dilemmas surrounding the filmmaking process. He shows that the film had certain aims which made it 'construe' the Himba according to some kind of invented 'tradition' which fitted what the viewers expected to see. Furthermore, the film team instantly influenced the local political situation, favouring one section of the community in order to fulfill its mission of producing an ethnographic film. As a consequence, the community split into two factions. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. |
