Monday's Girls.
(eVideo)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Contributors
Status

Description

Loading Description...

More Details

Published
[San Francisco, California, USA] : Kanopy Streaming, 2015.
Format
eVideo
Language
English

Notes

General Note
Title from title frames.
Date/Time and Place of Event
Originally produced by California Newsreel in 1993.
Description
Monday's Girls explores the conflict between modern individualism and traditional communities in today's Africa through the eyes of two young Waikiriki women from the Niger delta. Although both come from leading families in the same large island town, Florence looks at the iria women's initiation ceremony as an honor, while Azikiwe, who has lived in the city for ten years, sees it as an indignity. Ngozi Onwurah, director of such feminist classics as Coffee Coloured Children and Body Beautiful, herself an Anglo-Nigerian, turns a wry but sympathetic eye on the cross-cultural confusions. The five week long iria ritual is overseen by post-menopausal women headed by the redoubtable Monday Moses (hence the title.) The girls are paraded bare-breasted before the entire community so their nipples can be examined to determine whether they are still virgins. They are then confined to the "fattening rooms," their legs immobilized in copper impala rings, where they are pampered and fed. Finally, the girls, now women, are presented to society, wearing yards of fabric around their waists indicating each family's wealth - and suggesting pregnancy. The film traces the girls' contrasting responses to each stage of the ritual. Florence, who is Monday's granddaughter, comments at the end of the ceremony, "I'm not fat, but I am grown up now," but even she decides to postpone marriage until she completes her education. Azikiwe refuses to bare her breasts and, as a result, her father is fined by the outraged villagers and she is sent back to the city in disgrace. She concludes: "There are some traditions people should forget." "Skillfully blends relationships and spectacles in a film that grips and moves...A shot in the arm for ethnographic television." - Time In (London) "A daring look at the negotiation of multiple issues of gendered identities, individual versus communal voices, traditions versus modernity." - Maureen Eke, Central Michigan University. Monday's Girls calls into question the idea of a single, "ethnographically correct" representation of tradition. Rituals are revealed as fluid, polysemous texts, social contracts continuously renegotiated between individuals and communities. For millions of Africans like Azikiwe, tradition is increasingly seen as a matter of individual choice not social coercion.
System Details
Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Also in this Series

Checking series information...

More Like This

Loading more titles like this title...

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Onwurah, N. 1. (2015). Monday's Girls . Kanopy Streaming.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Onwurah, Ngozi 1964-. 2015. Monday's Girls. Kanopy Streaming.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Onwurah, Ngozi 1964-. Monday's Girls Kanopy Streaming, 2015.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Onwurah, Ngozi 1964-. Monday's Girls Kanopy Streaming, 2015.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Staff View

Grouped Work ID
73ce312a-dc5d-caed-fb0e-b3ce4a34f934-eng
Go To Grouped Work

Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID73ce312a-dc5d-caed-fb0e-b3ce4a34f934-eng
Full titlemondays girls
Authorkanopy
Grouping Categorymovie
Last Update2022-10-14 11:50:17AM
Last Indexed2024-03-27 02:16:35AM

Book Cover Information

Image Sourcesideload
First LoadedJul 28, 2023
Last UsedFeb 17, 2024

Marc Record

First DetectedOct 14, 2022 11:53:33 AM
Last File Modification TimeOct 14, 2022 11:53:33 AM

MARC Record

LEADER03774ngm a2200385 i 4500
001kan1139713
003CaSfKAN
00520140402113757.0
006m     o  c        
007vz uzazuu
007cr una---unuuu
008150414p20151993cau048        o   vleng d
02852|a 1139713|b Kanopy
035 |a (OCoLC)908378090
040 |a CaSfKAN|b eng|e rda|c CaSfKAN
043 |a e-fr---
24500|a Monday's Girls.
264 1|a [San Francisco, California, USA] :|b Kanopy Streaming,|c 2015.
300 |a 1 online resource (1 video file, approximately 49 min.) :|b digital, .flv file, sound
336 |a two-dimensional moving image|b tdi|2 rdacontent
337 |a computer|b c|2 rdamedia
338 |a online resource|b cr|2 rdacarrier
344 |a digital
347 |a video file|b MPEG-4|b Flash
500 |a Title from title frames.
518 |a Originally produced by California Newsreel in 1993.
520 |a Monday's Girls explores the conflict between modern individualism and traditional communities in today's Africa through the eyes of two young Waikiriki women from the Niger delta. Although both come from leading families in the same large island town, Florence looks at the iria women's initiation ceremony as an honor, while Azikiwe, who has lived in the city for ten years, sees it as an indignity. Ngozi Onwurah, director of such feminist classics as Coffee Coloured Children and Body Beautiful, herself an Anglo-Nigerian, turns a wry but sympathetic eye on the cross-cultural confusions. The five week long iria ritual is overseen by post-menopausal women headed by the redoubtable Monday Moses (hence the title.) The girls are paraded bare-breasted before the entire community so their nipples can be examined to determine whether they are still virgins. They are then confined to the "fattening rooms," their legs immobilized in copper impala rings, where they are pampered and fed. Finally, the girls, now women, are presented to society, wearing yards of fabric around their waists indicating each family's wealth - and suggesting pregnancy. The film traces the girls' contrasting responses to each stage of the ritual. Florence, who is Monday's granddaughter, comments at the end of the ceremony, "I'm not fat, but I am grown up now," but even she decides to postpone marriage until she completes her education. Azikiwe refuses to bare her breasts and, as a result, her father is fined by the outraged villagers and she is sent back to the city in disgrace. She concludes: "There are some traditions people should forget." "Skillfully blends relationships and spectacles in a film that grips and moves...A shot in the arm for ethnographic television." - Time In (London) "A daring look at the negotiation of multiple issues of gendered identities, individual versus communal voices, traditions versus modernity." - Maureen Eke, Central Michigan University. Monday's Girls calls into question the idea of a single, "ethnographically correct" representation of tradition. Rituals are revealed as fluid, polysemous texts, social contracts continuously renegotiated between individuals and communities. For millions of Africans like Azikiwe, tradition is increasingly seen as a matter of individual choice not social coercion.
538 |a Mode of access: World Wide Web.
650 0|a Igbo (African people)|x Rites and ceremonies|x Marriage rites and ceremonies |z Africa|z Nigeria.
650 0|a Women|x Social life and customs|x Puberty rites|z Africa|z Nigeria.
655 7|a Documentary films.|2 lcgft
7001 |a Onwurah, Ngozi |d 1964-.|e film director.
7102 |a Kanopy (Firm)
85640|u https://oremlibrary.kanopy.com/node/139714|z A Kanopy streaming video
85642|z Cover Image|u https://www.kanopy.com/node/139714/external-image