when is this on?
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These two powerful documentaries follow three people in a complex journey that uses DNA to trace their ancestors going back generations.
Motherland - A Genetic Journey
Cut off from their ancestry by several centuries and a slave trade which uprooted 12 million people from Africa, three people - Mark, Jacqueline and Beaula - are given the opportunity, through DNA searches, to reconnect with their roots.
Through advances in DNA research and with the help of laboratories in the UK and America, it's now possible using a swab from the inside of a person's cheek to trace back twelve or thirteen generations to the tribe of their ancestors.
Mark's search leads him from London to reconnect with the Kanuri tribe in southern Niger. Jacqueline's family comes from Jamaica. She is mixed race and research reveals one ancestor was a slave owner. Beaula's DNA results lead her to Bioko island in Equatorial Guinea where the Bubi tribe still lives.
Motherland explores the emotional terrain of being cut off from one's roots. By following these intense journeys of re-discovery and re-connection, the film looks at issues of identity in the African diaspora.
Motherland: Moving On
This second film picks up their story two years later and continues their journey raising fundamental questions about identity and self image.
When Mark connects with the Kanuri tribe, he cannot communicate since there is a language barrier.
Beaula learns that she has ancestors that belong to more than one tribe and some of the tribespeople are only interested in what gifts she can offer them.
Jacqueline visits English cousins who are white who accept her as part of the family.
All three participants feel enriched by what they've discovered, but they also realise that DNA tracing may lead to complicated emotional discoveries.
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