Bitter Melons

Object Details

Collection Collaborator: McElwee, Ross; Blitz, Daniel; Bishop, John Melville; Baker, Peter; Ritchie, Claire; Young, Robert; Terry, John; Galvin, Frank; Bestall, Clifford; Gardner, Robert; Asch, Timothy, 1932-1994
Collection Creator: Marshall, John, 1932-2005
Collection Collaborator: Marshall, Lorna

See more items in: John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman film and video collection; John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman film and video collection / Series 2: Published Films and Videos

Sponsor: Finding aid has been funded through generous support from the Arcadia Fund.

Collection Citation: The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection, 1950-2000, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Contact the repository for terms of use. Information on reproduction and fees available from repository.

Scope and Contents: This film, shot in 1955, is about a small band of /Gwi San living in the arid landscape of the central Kalahari Desert (in present-day Botswana). The hardships of their everyday survival are woven into the songs of a blind musician, Ukxone, who composes music on a hunting bow. His songs evoke the /Gwi landscape and its diverse wildlife; they depict the routine of their daily lives: gathering food, collecting water, hunting for animals, and sharing as a community. Bitter Melons, his favorite song, is about a woman who learned from her Bantu neighbors to plant melon seeds despite the agriculturalists protesting that wild melons taste bitter.

Collection Restrictions: The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection is open for research. Please contact the Archives for availabilty of access copies of audio visual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played. Materials relating to Series 6 Production Files are restricted and not available for research until 2048, 2063, 2072. Kinship diagrams in Series 13 are restricted due to privacy concerns. Various copyrights and restrictions on commercial use apply to the reproduction or publication of film, video, audio, photographs, and maps.