Bitter Melons

Synopsis: Shows a small band of G/wi people in their desert environment as they engage in a variety of daily activities: making music, dancing, gathering roots and wild melons, setting a snare for a duiker, butchering a gemsbok, cooking a live turtle, travelling to join other bands. Centres on Ukxone, a blind musician and songmaker, who plays a musical bow and sings about the plants and animals on which life depends and about the social life of his people. The first part of the film illustrates the problem of finding food and water in a hostile environment; the second is about the social organisation and culture of the G/wi. Note: The material for the film was shot in 1955.
Series: Kung and G/Wi Bushmen, Series
Language: English
Country: United States
Medium: Film; Film. 16mm. sd. col. 30 min.
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of production: 1966
Availability: Hire
Notes: Reviewed by A Lomax in ‘American Anthropologist’, Vol 74, 1972, p. 1018-20.
Documentation: Supplementary materials: ‘Bitter Melons: a study guide’, by S Reichlin, Documentary Educational Resources, 1974
Uses: Courses in anthropology. *RAI
Subjects: Anthropology
Keywords: Africa; social life and customs

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