SMELTING VIDEO.
INTRODUCTION.
The technological process of smelting in this particular instance
seems to be a variety that is not commonly described. All the other descriptions
of furnaces that I have come across mention a chimney for example, and several tuyeres.
However ritual is a significant part of the process. That the actual technical process
is a skilled and complicated procedure there is no doubt, the ritual may act to disguise
the technical process, thus ensuring the privileges
Smelting in Africa has a varied and widespread history. Today traditional smelting
has all but died out, and the industry was initially affected by the importation
of cheap European iron at the turn of the century. That the iron smelting in the
film was occurring as late as 1937 is in itself by all accounts unusual.
The film is also of interest as it is a piece of work that has been carried out by
two of Major Powell-Cotton’s daughters, Diana and Antoinette. This fact allows for
another perspective on the museum collection. Also women ethnographic film makers
in the 1930’s were a rare breed.
The movie contains several good examples of ritual behaviour. Also I have had access
to the field notes of the people who made the film. What I have tried to achieve
by the combination of video and text is not only an insight and explanation of the
Ovambo and their smelting tradition, but also some insight into the thinking and
construction of the film makers themselves. Neither women were anthropologists and
I am sure that this is apparent from looking at the notes in terms of how much more
information there could be, as well as some of the descriptive comments. The typed
field notes have been reproduced as they were found in the museum archives, including
spelling and grammatical errors, in order to give the user a sense of comparison
with the film. Things discussed in the field notes are not necessarily recorded in
the film.
To smelting ethnographies article.