A hidden guarantee: identity and Gule wankulu between Mozambique and Somalia

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Title:	A hidden guarantee: identity and Gule wankulu between Mozambique and Somalia
Editor:	Declich, Francesca
Year:	2008
Language:	Italian
Geographic terms:	Mozambique Somalia Indian Ocean
Subjects:	Bantu-speaking peoples migration slave trade secret societies masquerades identity oral history documentary films (form) videos (form)
Abstract:	This short documentary shows the area of the Indian Ocean as a cultural and trade corridor where commodities as well as people were exchanged. The trade in people brought Bantu-speaking individuals and groups from the northern coast of Mozambique to the southern areas of Somalia. Initiation dances and in general masked dances related to secret societies like the 'Gule wankulu' were important factors that helped to reconstruct human and social relations among people escaped from the uprooting experience of slavery. The documentary presents oral historical narrations recounted by elders in Somalia about their countries of origin. The documentary reveals the similarities between masked 'anyago' dances, filmed in Somalia in 1988, before the civil war, and others filmed in 2007 in Mozambique. [Abstract reproduced from dvd-video]