Lorang's Way (David and Judith MacDougall, 1977) (Patreon)

As usual, in my Writing 1302 courses we are studying documentary form. Since the students have to write a final research paper, I find it useful for them to examine documentaries, good and bad, in order to understand how arguments are constructed and how they incorporate evidence. And although it's a much denser read than it needs to be, I always assign this essay by Bill Nichols called "The Voice of Documentary." Like a lot of Nichols' work, this essay looks at the history of documentary as a set of formal changes that emerge when audiences stop having total faith in the truth claims of an older form. He breaks it down into expository form (Grierson, The March of Time), cinema vérité, the interview based format, and finally self-reflexivity. It's a simplified but mostly accurate timeline.

Anyway, Nichols has always cited the ethnographic films of David and Judith MacDougall as exemplary, because they ushered in a new era of reflexivity in ethnographic film. Until now, I had never watched a film by the MacDougalls, and it seemed like an oversight. It was a pleasant surprise, since Lorang's Way (the first part of a trilogy) makes small but pivotal adjustments in ethnographic practice, resulting in a film that holds up to aesthetic scrutiny. One does not need to have an abiding interest in the Turkana tribes of northwest Kenya to get something from Lorang's Way.

Instead of purporting to expose the truth about the Turkanas, Lorang's Way focuses on one man, the chief Lorang, who explains his community and his own history to the ethnographers. They do not appear in the film per se, but every question they ask appears as onscreen text. Also, they divide the film into three short parts, according to the specific situations Lorang is commenting on or responding to. In other words, the film follows Lorang's own meaning-making, and while the MacDougalls expect us to understand Lorang's situation (livestock wealth, multiple wives, political frustrations) to speak to the general way of life among the Turkanas, the film presents Lorang as an individual, with his own particular history and personal quirks.

Lorang's Way offers the expected scenes of the landscape, with camel caravans crossing the desert in long shot, or exploratory follow-shots through the village. But much of the film is devoted to Lorang talking, sharing his philosophy on life. Unlike many of his neighbors and tribesmen, Lorang was conscripted by the Kenyan military, and so he lived part of his life in Nairobi. When his service was complete, he returned to the village, because he preferred to make his way as an owner and caretaker of cows, goats, and camels. In the context of the Turkana, Lorang is a rich and powerful man, and as we spend time with him, we learn that he is a shrewd businessman, always engaging in livestock trading to increase his family's holdings.

The MacDougalls also speak with with Lorang's oldest son, who is a witty storyteller and a bit of a playboy. We also hear from one of Lorang's old friends, who describes the chief while sitting in a small home filled with furniture. Without putting too fine a point on it, Lorang's Way debunks one of the basic assumptions of ethnographies of non-Western cultures. Those Turkana who live in woven grass huts, or wear clothing that would seem inadequate to the elements, are all actively choosing this life. They have other possibilities, are aware of them, and prefer living in a "primitive" state. Lorang's Way upends the racist assumptions of Western ethnography. We are introduced to a culture that is probably quite different from the one inhabited by the film's spectators. 

And without reducing that difference, the MacDougalls show some clear commonalities. They work on a barter system, but Lorang and a few others are devoted to increasing their family holdings, in the same manner as any Western entrepreneur. The chiefs are also seen complaining about "Harambee," a sort of government tax wherein the herders are expected to donate a portion of their livestock. Lorang says that he has paid his Harambee, but sees no governmental improvements, suggesting that the administrators of said taxation are corrupt. Near the end of the film, Lorang opines that he'd rather keep his own holdings, take care of himself and his family, and be left alone. In short, Lorang is a tribal paleo-conservative. So the MacDougalls are profiling a civilization not unlike our own, appointing a spokesperson whose perspective is embedded but resolutely partial. Where ethnography traditionally assumed metonymy (e.g., Nanook = all Inuits), Lorang's Way allows us to watch people negotiating their personal desires within a complex set of relations, dialectically.