The Wodaabe

United Kingdom, 1988

Film
Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

Episode number 1 of Series “Disappearing world”.
The Wodaabe are among the world’s last true nomads. They follow their herds in an endless migration across African borders. They have no houses, no huts and no tents. They live and sleep under the skies. Although droughts have ravaged their lands since the 1960’s, anthropologist Mette Bovin sees their life as a balance between hardship and joy. They have an obsession with male beauty and Wodaabe men wear more make-up than Wodaabe women. “We like to see people who are handsome” says one. The Wodaabe insist they will remain nomads despite mounting pressures for them to settle down and lead a “normal” life.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Leslie Woodhead

production company

Granada Television International

Duration

00:51:00:00

Production places
United Kingdom
Production dates
1988

Appears in

Disappearing world

Group of items

Disappearing world

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

325122

Language

English

Audience classification

G

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81067--the-wodaabe/ |title=The Wodaabe |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=19 April 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}