Conversations
Ada fetches the rifle from his hut, where it is locked away, to show to the documentation team. He explains that he borrows it from a Bulu farmer. In return, he gives the farmer a share of the hunted animals. Ada mainly uses to hunted animals for food for his family. If they have more than they can eat and share with the farmer, they sell the animals by the road. With the money, Ada buys new ammunition for the rifle. He goes on saying that he is a lot more efficient hunting with a rifle than hunting traditionally with spears and nets.
This is an interview with Ada who explains how he uses a borrowed rifle for hunting.
After the dancing ceremony has come to a close, the music has generally stopped, but some villagers such as Bekanda Jeanne are still singing to themselves. The Bagyeli take blades of grass and tie them around each person's neck which is supposed to protect them against the spirit of the mask. Then everybody returns to the middle of the village. Ngyemba sits down and plays a thumb piano while the villagers are conversing. They start to say goodbye to the visitors as they prepare to leave Ngolo, going back to Kribi. Some last minute requests are being made about what people like to have (money) and what Nadine should bring next time she comes as she is handed a baby.
This session was recorded after the "Bapeya" dancing ceremony at dawn.
After a long struggle with the generator which was supposed to provide electricity for the projector, Nadine shows the videos on her laptop. While watching the videos, the inhabitants of Ngolo comment freely on what they see and express their joy about the videos. Especially appreciated is the video about the honey collection of 2011 (in the procedural/observational collection) and the honey sharing afterwards.
This session is about the public viewing of documentary videos from Ngolo and the reaction of the Bagyeli who are happy to see themselves and their family.
The Bagyeli of Ngolo watch videos that have been captured in 2011 and 2012. After having shown videos from Ngolo, Nadine now also shows videos from Bibira, a Gyeli village in the Mabi contact region, for instance how the Bibira healer Ngyamba unfolds a long net used for hunting. Instead of retrieving the shown videos and their situations from memory, the audience now discusses what they see. The showing of the "Bapeya" dance and its impressive highlight, the dance in the palm tree, (in the Music and dance collection) causes a lot of excitement as well as watching their dogs.
This session is about the public viewing of documentary videos from Ngolo and the reaction of the Bagyeli who are happy to see themselves and their family.
Some villagers in Ngolo are sitting in a circle in a hut as it is raining and the normal seating area under the Indian almond tree in the village center is too wet. Ada arrives and greets the people who are already seated. Palm wine is brought in a canister and shared among the people as it is tradition in this region, also among the farming Bantu neighbors. Ada has his daughters Clarisse and Jacky on his lap who snuggle. Tata opens some plastic sachets with strong local alcohol and pours them into the canister with the palm wine, then the children get to suck the last drops out of the empty sachets. Nandtoungou and Ada talk about how they make a living. Nandtoungou says that she lives and works in the village and that she has some cassava fields. Ada occasionally works at SOCAPALM, a palm oil plantation.
Some Bagyeli are sitting together talking about drinking alcohol and how they make a living.
Ada explains that he is happy to work for SOCAPALM, a palm oil company, where he has a contract for day labor. Djiedjhie then asks him about his parents and siblings and wife. Ada calls the family members who are there: his parents Nze and Ngolo, his younger sister Aminu with her daughter Linda, and his older brother Apato. Nadine is taking notes of names and kinship words. Ngolo then continues to explain her family relations, naming her siblings and pointing out that her younger brother Délégué lives in the first house at the village entrance. Aminu and Djiedjhie are teasing Piano for not being married yet.
Djiedjhie and Nadine are interviewing some inhabitants of Ngolo about their life, their work, and how they are related to each other.
Nadine and Christopher have brought a football as a gift to the village. Bvuraga and his friends are playing with it between the huts. Some men sit on the benches in the village center and watch them, amused. They get Nadine involved in kicking the ball as well, and then later the older boys Mama and Mambi. Mama and a Bulu man later practice to kick the ball with their heads, using bamboo sticks as goals.
This session documents an instance of sociability between Bagyeli and the documentation team in a non-task-oriented situation, but just hanging out together and playing football.
After the public viewing of documentary videos, the Bagyeli disperse again either going into their huts or hanging out on the benches in the village center under the Indian almond tree. Nadine and Djiedjhie gather with Aminu, Nze, Tsimbo, Délégué, Ngolo, Nandtoungou, and a few children in a hut to discuss what else should be filmed in the next days.
After the public viewing, the audience disperses and plans are made in a hut for the recordings of the next days.
Nadine arrives in the village and greets the children and Délégué in his hut. Some children are opening the fruit of the Indian almond tree with a rock and eat the inside. Délégué and Ntemba set up plactic chairs in a hut for people to sit on as it is raining.
This session shows greetings as the researchers arrive in the village and how children open Indian almond tree fruit.
Interview with the chief of Ngolo and some of the young man of the village. They are talking about their family relations, the people who are living in the camp, and their lives in general.
The chief of Ngolo and some of the young men talk about the Bagyeli camp at Ngolo, their family relations and their life in Ngolo.
Interview with the chief of Ngolo and some young men of the village. The Bagyeli men are introducing themselves and their village since this is the first time the DoBeS team comes to Ngolo. After a while, the interpreter Severin explains the goals of the documentation project by saying that the researchers are interested in the traditions of the Bagyeli so that the ways of the grandparents will not be forgotten. As a reaction, the Bagyeli bring a spear and talk about their hunting weapons.
Christopher, Nadine, and Dand are in Ngolo for the first time and introduce themselves and the project's goals to the Bagyeli of Ngolo while the Bagyeli tell the team about the inhabitants of the village.
Angéline, Clarisse, and Bvuraga are sitting together, as Bagyeli children usually do for meals that they take separately from the adults, eating bread. A group of mostly men is sitting together next to the children in the hut. Tata is talking about the bad state of their huts, that the documentation team can see with their own eyes, and the need to build new houses. The men raise concern about the construction of the port and its impact on their village as they anticipate that roads and bridges will be built passing their village. A Bulu street vendor sells fried bean cakes to the Bagyeli and places the pot with the cakes in front of Nandtoungou. Aminu helps distributing them to the children while some men are smoking and drinking alcohol from plastic sachets. Ngolo and Segyua discuss the price with the Bulu vendor (this conversation is in Bulu with the money values in French). Ada, Ntemba, and Nadine are looking at some hornbills that are flying by, discussing which ones of the different types they are.
This session captures different interactions that are going on shortly together, including an interview about the infrstructure development in the region due to the construction of the deep sea port. Then there is a sales transaction between some Bagyeli and a Bulu girl who sells fried bean cakes and a conversation between Ada, Ntemba, and Nadine about birds they are watching.
Nadine is handing out photos she has taken during the last days and weeks and that she had developed in town. She now distributes them making sure everyone gets their picture. The more the Bagyeli watch their pictures, the more excited they become.
This is an instance of sharing the documentary outcomes with the community in form of photos.
Ngolo Dorothée explains how the Bagyeli train their dogs for hunts. She says that they start when the dogs are very small, using mainly positive reinforcement through rewards. They also use a kind of bell made out of a snail shell that they hang around the dog's neck so that they can hear the dog in the rain forest. Mama and Mambi demonstrate the snail bell with a larger dog, while Ngolo is accompanied by a puppy called Bubule ("ball"). Mambi explains that they give palm nuts as a reward to dogs. Bubule, however, is first hesitant to take the nut as he is afraid of the camera. The group is joined by some children, including Angéline and Minse, while some men still hang out on the benches in the village center where Djiedjhie is talking with Ada and Segyua is splitting nuts with a machete. Mambi and Mama then demonstrate sounds that animals that they hunt make and the signals that the Bagyeli use for specific types of animals. Mama demonstrates what he does when he crosses path with a Boa in the rain forest--the Bagyeli like to reenact situations rather than just explaining them.
This session is an interview on how to train dogs as hunting companions.
Nadine, Christopher, and Djiedjhie have arrived in Ngolo in the morning. It is raining. In a hut, we are discussing plans of what to record for the next days. Djiedjhie talks with some men and Ngolo Dorothée, making plans to build a thumb piano and a drum and to make some monkey traps. After the rain has stopped, villagers gather in the village center under the big tree again. Ada is cutting nuts with a machete and eats them. After another rain shower, Mambi climbs up into the Indian almond tree. Aminu joins the group and plays with her daughter Linda.
This session is a discussion of what we want to record in the following hours and days. While waiting for the rain to stop, people gather in the village, either waiting to participate in the recording or to watch.
When Nadine and Christopher arrive in Ngolo, Apato and Segyua bring a wheelbarrow to transport the sack of rice that they have brought. Meanwhile, Ada sharpens long sticks with a machete to make practice spears. He explains that the game is called "ngyendo" and consists of rolling a slice of a tree trunk while others, mostly children, try to hit the moving target with their practice spear. Ntemba Marin still sharpens spear heads in the background. Djiedjhie interviews Ada and Ntemba further about the game, pointing out that the Mabi also have a version of this game. Then a few men demonstrate how "ngyendo" works, under the cheering laughter of watching villagers. Finally, also the children play the game.
This session documents the Ngolo village life and a spear throwing game that is played in order to train for hunting.
The documentation team arrives in Ngolo. Some villagers help unload the car with the equipment and bring it to a hut. As the guests arrive, the villagers gather, waiting for what will happen, as a public viewing of documentary videos has been planned. The villagers and the team walk over to a school building that is under construction. Nadine and Dan are hanging a white bed sheet over a beam that will serve as a screen. In the meantime, the Bagyeli assemble in front of the screen. Djiedjhie explains what the team is doing and Ada plays with the top of a snail shell that he uses as a top in the sand. Djiedjhie hands out bread as a snack and Délégué, who cannot speak, shows is appreciation non-verbally. More and more Bagyeli arrive and settle in, waiting for the videos to start.
This session shows the preparations in Ngolo for public viewing of the documentary videos that have been collected so far.
Citation
Nadine Grimm (née Borchardt), Christopher Lorenz, Daniel Duke, and Maarten Mous. (2011 - 2012). Item "Conversations" in collection "Bagyeli/Bakola". The Language Archive. https://hdl.handle.net/1839/fc369002-51bf-4281-9a0e-950592fcef98. (Accessed 2023-05-30)
Note: This citation was extracted automatically from the available metadata and may contain inaccuracies. In case of multiple authors, the ordering is arbitrary. Please contact the archive staff in case you need help on how to cite this resource.