Abstract
AN interesting experiment in the instruction of the Bantu peoples in their tribal history and traditions has been undertaken, involving the co-operation of the administration and the people themselves. Major L. A. Notcutt, director of the Bantu Educational Cinema Experiment, has made a film dealing with the history, traditions and customs of the Wasamba, who live in the mountainous region behind Tanga in Tanganyika Territory. The members of the tribe, who took part in the film, it is stated in The Times of May 13, were directed by Mr. L. Vickers-Haviland, District Officer of the Wasamba tribe: while the tribal authorities agreed to contribute £40 towards expenses out of the amount the tribe receives for its treasury out of taxation for the pay of native courts, officials and other tribal expenses. The subject chosen by the members of the tribe themselves was the life of Mbega, a chief who lived some three hundred years ago, and was responsible for the foundation of the tribe as it exists to-day. The film shows his life in a series of major and minor incidents, beginning with the refusal of his father, an Arab, to allow him to be killed in accordance with the custom which prescribed that children who cut the upper teeth first, and consequently were believed to be evil, should be killed. Later incidents deal with his life as a hunter and wanderer, and the story closes with his consolidation of a number of tribes, of which he becomes the supreme chief. The natives, the producer states, took the greatest interest in ensuring accuracy of detail, and definitely elected for a film of an educational rather than a 'comic' character. The main work of the Bantu Experiment is to produce films of African life for educational purposes. It is promoted by the Department of Industrial and Social Research, and has received financial assistance from the Carnegie Trustees, the Union Government of South Africa and the Governments of the two Rhodesias.
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Native Africa and the Cinema. Nature 141, 932 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141932b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141932b0