62rivers

The Hamar are a relatively isolated people who inhabit dry scrub country in south‑western Ethiopia. They practise mixed farming, keeping cattle and growing sorghum, essential tasks which fall respectively to men and women. Highly personal and controversial, Rivers of Sand attempts to explore the tensions and divisions which exist between men and women in Hamar society, concentrating in particular upon the physical and psychological domination of women by men.

Women do not raid or hunt as men do, and they are shown carrying out their daily tasks: sweeping dung, fetching water, preparing food, harvesting and grinding sorghum, caring for children and looking after their husbands. It is this last aspect of a woman's life, her relationship with tier husband, which is explained in vivid terms by a Hamar woman in a series of interviews. Women are beaten by their husbands and live in a state of fear, fetching and carrying for their men. Once married they have nowhere else to go and must learn to become reconciled to their life with 'his people'.

Emphasis is placed on the way in which Hamar men and women decorate and beautify their bodies. The scarification of a young woman is shown in detail, and men are followed through the process of restoring their clay head‑dresses and painting themselves for a ritual performance. The ceremonies surrounding the death of a woman in childbirth are documented, as are the final stages of a young man's initiation.

After the harvest, when there is a relative abundance of food, much ritual singing and dancing takes place, and in one ritual young unmarried women are shown being whipped by men of a clan into which they may marry. The social and psychological connections between this ritual whipping ‑ which women appear to enjoy ‑ and the customary beating of wives by husbands is not made clear, and Gardner's interpretation of a Hamar woman's life has been criticised by the anthropologists involved in the making of the film (Lydall and Strecker, 1978).

M.L. Bender, 1977. Review of the film. American Anthropologist, Vol.79, pp.196‑197.

--- 1978. 'Reply to Lydall and Strecker on Rivers of Sand'. American Anthropologist, Vol.80, p.946.

J. Lydall and I. Strecker 1978. 'A Critique of Lionel Bender's Review of Rivers of Sand'. American Anthropologist, Vol.80, pp.945-946.

--- 1979. The Hamar of Southern Ethiopia. I. Work Journal. Arbeiten aus dem Institut fűr Vőlkerkunde der Universität zu Göttingen - Vol.12. Klaus Renner, Hohenschäftlarn.

--- 1979. The Hamar of Southern Ethiopia. II. Baldambe Explains. Arbeiten aus dem Institut für Völkerkunde der Universität zu Göttingen ‑ Vol‑13. Klaus Renner, Hohenschaftlarn.

L. Mair, 1974. Review of the film. RAIN, 4, p.11.

A. Simon (ed.), 1979. Musik der Hamar. Recordings and written commentary by I. Strecker (in English and in German). Musical Collection of the Museum fűr Vőlkerkunde, Berlin No.6. (Stereo gramophone record.)

I. Strecker, 1979. The Hamar of Southern Ethiopia. III. Conversations in Dambaiti.Arbeiten aus dem Institut fűr Vőlkerkunde der Universität zu Göttingen ‑ Vol.14. Klaus Renner, Hohenschäftlarn.