Full film record made in association with the University of California, Los Angeles, Ethnographic Film Program documenting a male initiation ceremony among the Gisu of the Mt. Elgon region of eastern Uganda. Footage explores circumcision as a central social institution which defines adult male identity and the unity of the Gisu as a people. Footage includes: discussions among kinsmen of the candidates' fitness, dancing and drumming around the initiates' compounds,ll animal sacrifce and divination by reading entrails to assess the propitiousness of the event, brewing of millet beer for the ceremony, annointing of initiates with beer yeast, and initiates' seculsion and circumcision by a ritual specialist.
Local Number:
HSFA 1985.1.1
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Richard Hawkins Imbalu films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Edited film made in association with the University of California, Los Angeles, Ethnographic Film Program documents a male initiation ceremony among the Gisu of the Mt. Elgon region of eastern Uganda. The story of Gisu circumcision emerges through the narrative of two boys who announce their intention to undergo the ordeal of circumcision together. Film provides insight into circumcision as a central social institution which defines adult male identity and the unity of the Gisu as a people. Film includes: discussions among kinsmen of the candidates' fitness, dancing and drumming around the initiates' compounds, animal sacrifice and divination by reading entrails to assess the propitiousness of the event, brewing of millet beer for the ceremony, annointing of initiates with beer yeast, and initiates' seculsion and circumcision by a ritual specialist.
Local Number:
HSFA 1985.1.2
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Richard Hawkins Imbalu films, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
