Educational Media Reviews Online

This film documents the interaction between the tradition-based knowledge of West African nomads and the advanced technological knowledge of the United States, represented by NASA and NOAA. Drought conditions have for centuries caused the Fulani herders of Mali to follow traditional migration routes from the edge of the Sahara to the Niger River Delta in search of pasture for their herds of cows. Recent competition from rice farmers has meant that pasture is no longer available or too expensive to use. The Fulani must abandon their village in search of water, but cannot use their ancient migration routes any longer. In Dakar, Senegal, scientists are assisting the Fulani by downloading satellite images from NOAA spacecraft and presenting this knowledge to the Fulani community.

Important questions are raised by this video about the nature of tradition and technology, localization and globalization in order to save the environment and ethnic cultures. It shows how creating a symbiosis between outside expertise/technology and tradition-based knowledge can be used as a means of saving the environment.

This film is a wonderful instance of how technology can assist in efforts to save the environment, climate, and diversity of the world in which we live. It can be shown in the K-12 age group, as well as college environmental, anthropological, and technology classes. I highly recommend this film to illustrate how technology can be used to save and preserve ethnic heritage and culture, rather than as a destroyer of these resources. This is another great video in the First Run/Icarus series, which always distributes media that challenges and opens up the eyes of its viewers.