Day 3: Wednesday 27 February 2013: Transmission of Cultural Heritage of Slavery in the Indian Ocean on Film

Key information

Date
Time
5:00 pm to 7:30 pm
Venue
Russell Square: College Buildings
Room
KLT

About this event

Part of the History on Film: Slavery & the African Diaspora from a Global perspective workshop.
17:00-17:15: Introduction
17:15-17:45:
Film: A Hidden Guarantee: Identity and Gule Wankulu between Mozambique and Somalia by Francesca Declich (2008, 17 min)

Gule Wankulu is an African Masquerade danced from Mozambique to Somalia. Francesca Declich films here, how this ritual dance continued to be practised by descendants of slaves in Somalia until the 1990s. It helped them to maintain their own heritage and to alleviate their uprooting. It was mostly danced within secret societies and in some specific cases even allowed some slaves to run away.

17:45-18:45:
Film: Sidis of Gujarat: Maintaining Traditions and Building Community by Beheroze Shroff (2010, 53 minutes)

The traditions of the Sidis (Afro-Indians) of Gujarat in North India: annual urs celebration to consecrate the sacred stream at the shrine of the Sidi Saint, Bava Gor, Khichdi (rice) ceremony to Mai Mishra (sister of Bava Gor), Balka ceremony (where Sidi men & women are initiated as Fakirs) and goma dance (both as spectacle and as sacred ritual), are captured in the film. Along with the celebration and festivities, Sidis voice their concerns as they struggle to maintain their traditions and also earn a livelihood with dignity.

18:45-19:00:
Film: Maldives: African Migration and Bodu Beru (Big Drums) (5 minutes) introduced by Shihan de Silva

This film shows the musical traditions that were introduced to the Maldives by African migrants. Bodu Beru (meaning big drums) has now become a popular form of music and tourist attraction in the Maldives.

Film: Sri Lanka: Afro-Sri Lankans and their musical traditions (5 minutes) introduced by Shihan de Silva

In this film, members of the largest Afro-Sri Lankan community are playing manhas and singing in creolised Portuguese, the language of trade and commerce for three hundred and fifty years on the island. Their unchoreographed dancing connects them to Africa, an imagined homeland.

19:00-20:00: Discussion

Chair: Marie Rodet (SOAS)
Francesca Declich (University Urbino)
Beheroze Shroff (University of California, Irvine)
Shihan de Silva (Institute of Commonwealth Studies)