.png){kind=icon}
Brondo, Cultural Anthropology: Contemporary, Public, and Critical Readings 2e Student Resources
Explore Resources:
- Anthropology: An Introduction
- Cities and States
- Culture
- Economics
- Environment / Sustainability
- Evolution and Genetics
- First Humans
- Gender and Sexuality
- Globalization
- Human Variation
- Inequality: Race, Ethnicity, Class
- Kinship, Marriage, and Family
- Language
- Material Culture and the Arts
- Medical Anthropology and the Body
- Methods and Fieldwork
- Neolithic Revolution and Transition to Agriculture
- Power and Politics
- Primates
- Religion
- Subsistence / Foodways
6 Generations
The Film: 6 Generations
Directed by Paul Goldsmith, ASC
color, 57 min, 2011
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Ernestine De Soto is a Chumash Native American whose mother Mary Yee was the last speaker of her native Barbareño language. In 6 Generations, her family reaches back to the days the Spanish arrived in Santa Barbara and made first contact. Ernestine tells this history from the perspective of her female ancestors, making her a unique link with the past
Famous anthropologist John Peabody Harrington, whose work focused on native peoples of California, started research with her family in 1913 and continued with three generations for nearly 50 years. This inspired Ernestine's mother to begin taking notes and, combined with mission records (which survived intact from the late 1700s), they form the heart of this story. Because of these circumstances, her story, possible only in California, is unique in America.
The impact of loss of land, language, culture, and life itself is made all the more clear as this story is told in Native American voices, who describe the events as they experienced them. Ultimately, it is a story of survival and the fierce endurance of Ernestine's ancestors, particularly the women.
Why this clip is important:
Because language is so closely intertwined with social relationships, institutions, and world views, the death of any language has important consequences for any culture. In this clip we are exposed to the consequences of language death through the story of Ernestine, a Chumash woman who was raised in a household where Barbareño (the language of the Santa Barbara Chumash) was spoken. She talks about reviving the language — with the assistance of anthropologists who have also studied the language — which she believes will allow her to pass on the knowledge of her people, knowledge that flowed through women. The Spanish colonizer’s view that the Chumash people were like children and wards of the court contributed to their historical decline, including, on some level, the death of their language. This clip explores how language, social power, gender, and language revitalization efforts — issues of critical concern to linguistic anthropologists — are intertwined.
To think about and discuss:
- Ernestine says she views speaking Chumash language as a link to the past. What does she mean? Do you feel that your use of English or another language you may speak links you to the past in the same ways? Why or why not?
- Based on what you heard in the clip and what you’ve read for class about the relationship between language, power, and social inequality, what are some possible reasons for the disappearance of the Barbareño language?
- In the film clip we see Ernestine working with an anthropologist. What role can and should anthropologists play in supporting Babareño language revitalization efforts?
- Ernestine places great emphasis on women as key agents in protecting Chumash knowledge and language. What do you think this might say about the relationship between gender and language among the Chumash?
- What questions do you have?
A Country Auction
The Film: A Country Auction
Directed by Bob Aibel, Ben Levin, Chris Musello, Jay Ruby, Milton Machuca
color, 58/6/47 min, 1983/2012
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
A Country Auction Film Project, based on the ethnographic research of Robert Aibel, Chris Musello, and Jay Ruby, consists of a trio of films covering a period of almost 30 years.
In 1983 three ethnographers and a documentary filmmaker collaboratively produced two films — A Country Auction and Can I Get A Quarter? — that documented ethnographic research conducted on estate sales held in a rural Central Pennsylvania community. Over the next 25 years, these films were screened in numerous film festivals, broadcast on public television, and reviewed in academic journals.
The consensus among the filmmakers was that few people appeared to comprehend their intentions in producing the films. In 2008 they decided to return to the community where A Country Auction was filmed and hold an anniversary screening. In addition, the four filmmakers came together for a critical discussion about the successes and failures of the original Auction film. This discussion became the basis of a third film, Reflexive Musings: A Country Auction Study Film.
Why this clip is important:
To anthropologists, the creation of value—the relative worth of an object or service—is a complicated socio-cultural phenomenon. In this clip we meet Joe Herman, an antiques dealer who is attending an auction. He gives a relatively quick look at some furniture he may want to buy as he explains that his presence at an auction is (usually, though not always) received well by families selling off their goods, especially because they know it will make sales for them. As he says “we buy anything we make a dollar on,” and that as soon as he looks at a piece “I know what I want to pay for it.” At the anthropologist’s prompting, he admits he doesn’t always make much money on something, but “it’s just the fun of owning it for a while…it went through my hands, it makes me happy.” This clip is about how value is established and how that process connects to culture and the creation of meaning, both of which are central themes in economic anthropology.
To think about and discuss:
- Joe gives what seems like a very quick look at each object. What do you think might be going through his head as he decides how much money he will offer in the auction?
- An auction is a particular type of exchange. How is the value of something established in an auction?
- How does an auction compare and contrast with other forms of exchange you have read about or know about from your everyday life, such as a supermarket, an exchange of holiday presents between loved ones, or a barter system among post-Soviet Russian citizens?
- A substantivist analysis of Joe’s activities at the auction would focus on how his transactions are embedded within and inseparable from social institutions such as politics, religion, kinship, social identity, gender relations, etc. Can you identify how his transactions relate to any of these other social domains?
- Joe’s observation that, even if he doesn’t make money on something, it’s fun to own it for a while, doesn’t align at all well with the view of neoclassical economists that people are coldly rational when they make economic decisions. How do you explain Joe’s comment?
- What questions do you have?
A Country Auction
The Film: A Country Auction
Directed by Bob Aibel, Ben Levin, Chris Musello, Jay Ruby, Milton Machuca
color, 58/6/47 min, 1983/2012
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
A Country Auction Film Project, based on the ethnographic research of Robert Aibel, Chris Musello, and Jay Ruby, consists of a trio of films covering a period of almost 30 years.
In 1983 three ethnographers and a documentary filmmaker collaboratively produced two films — A Country Auction and Can I Get A Quarter? — that documented ethnographic research conducted on estate sales held in a rural Central Pennsylvania community. Over the next 25 years, these films were screened in numerous film festivals, broadcast on public television, and reviewed in academic journals.
The consensus among the filmmakers was that few people appeared to comprehend their intentions in producing the films. In 2008 they decided to return to the community where A Country Auction was filmed and hold an anniversary screening. In addition, the four filmmakers came together for a critical discussion about the successes and failures of the original Auction film. This discussion became the basis of a third film, Reflexive Musings: A Country Auction Study Film.
Why this clip is important:
This clip is about the deep relationships people have with objects. Ostensibly discussing which objects they plan to sell at an auction, family members end up talking more about the things they’d like to keep and the significance of those things to their lives. The brother talks about a bookshelf and his father’s desk he has decided to hold back from the auction, and the fact that his children want certain things for themselves as well. The man’s sister, it seems, is the one who is most ambivalent about getting rid of things. Some of the objects, including several quilts, have never even been used but she emphasizes that they were made by family members. As the brother and sister talk about and handle some of the toys they played with when they were kids, we learn that their parents made some of them as well. When asked how she will decide what will stay or go, the sister expresses her ambivalence most strongly. This clip illustrates poignantly several issues of central concern in the anthropology of art, especially how the meanings of objects change and how people express their biographies through objects.
To think about and discuss:
- Each of the objects shown in the film clip has multiple dimensions. Choose an object and see how many dimensions of it you can identify.
- How do the individuals express their biographies through these objects?
- In what senses have the meanings of the objects shown in the film clip changed over time?
- The siblings explain that certain of the objects were either used or, in the case of the quilts and toys, made by their parents. Aside from sentimental value, can you think of other reasons why they appear reluctant to give up the objects?
- The sister says deciding what to keep or sell at auction is difficult. She recognizes that she needs to be selective about it. It is quite likely that you will face such a situation some day, if you haven’t already. What criteria of selectivity do you think you would use to decide which objects in your life might stay and which objects go? How might those criteria differ from or mimic criteria this woman might use?
- What questions do you have?
Afflictions: Shadows and Illuminations
The Film: Shadows and Illuminations
From the Afflictions: Culture and Mental Illness in Indonesia series
Directed by Robert Lemelson
color, 35 min, 2010
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Shadows & Illuminations follows an older Balinese man, Nyoman Kereta, as he struggles with the intrusion of spirits into his consciousness. Kereta says he has been living in two worlds, the world of his family and community and the world of the spirits, for the past 40 years. His experiences skirt the borders of cultural and spiritual norms, simultaneously manifesting and exceeding Balinese beliefs about the supernatural world and the possibilities for human interaction with it.
Kereta's reported experiences seem credible or explicable to some, bizarre and extraordinary to others, enigmatic or doubtful to his wife, and the sign of major mental illness to his psychiatrist. The film documents his painful history of trauma, loss, and poisoning, and draws on his family members' interpretations of his struggles and distress. Central questions of how to interpret his experiences, and what role a schizophrenia diagnosis entails, are explored.
Why this clip is important:
In this clip individuals provide different interpretations of Kereta’s unusual experiences of hearing voices and seeing apparitions of evil spirits. Kereta describes the things he sees and hears, and his wife, who doesn’t see or hear any of them, explains that she gets scared when her husband thrashes about trying to get the invisible spirits away from him. The anthropologist probes how much community members and other members of his family believe the spirits exist or if they believe he suffers from illness. There is no consensus. As the individuals and anthropologist struggle to make sense of Kereta’s unusual experiences, it is clear that 1) diagnoses and interpretations of mental illness are not simply matters of biology, but also intersect with individual experience and culture in complex ways; and 2) local categories of understanding and social norms shape people’s ideas about what is (or isn’t) a mental illness. Grappling with these issues is one of the key concerns of biocultural approaches in psychological anthropology.
To think about and discuss:
- Kereta’s wife believes he is ill, although she is not sure of the cause and she doesn’t believe it is caused by evil spirits. Yet when villagers learn of his experiences, many of them believe the spirits are making him ill. How is it possible to explain these different interpretations?
- Kereta draws a picture of one of the spirits he sees, which is Rangda, a demon queen in traditional Balinese mythology. What do you think the appearance of this particular image means? How would you interpret it?
- The narrator explains that Balinese villagers believe that spirits and beings pervade their lives and daily activities. What relevance might this fact have in making sense of Kereta’s unusual experiences?
- Western psychiatry would most likely diagnose Kereta as suffering from a biochemically-based disorder, and put him on some kind of drug and/or institutionalize him in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. What consequences do you think this might have for him, for his family, and for other villagers? Recognizing that you do not know all the details of the situation, but based on what you know about culture and mental illness, do you think pharmaceutical intervention and/or institutionalization would be an appropriate way to proceed in this setting? Why or why not?
- How would you describe Balinese notions of personhood based on what you’ve seen and heard in this clip?
- What questions do you have?
Agustín Fuentes
The Video: "Agustín Fuentes"
Produced by the Boas Network
4:45 min, 2016
The mission of the Boas Network, which produced this short interview with our co-author Agustín Fuentes, is to communicate anthropology in an engaging manner in the public sphere. Their website (http://boasnetwork.com/) is a great resource for videos, news items, and other materials related to all four fields of anthropology. This particular video comes from a series produced in collaboration with the American Association of Physical Anthropology that profiles the ethnic and gender diversity of biological anthropologists.
Why this clip is important:
Fuentes has written extensively on many issues that interest biological anthropologists, including evolutionary theory and the biocultural synthesis. One of his research specialties is the study of primates. He is one of the leading figures in the field of ethnoprimatology, which studies the interface of human and ape communities. In this video clip, Fuentes describes how he got into the study of primates as an anthropology undergraduate, and why ethnoprimatology is important in the current global context. One of the useful aspects of this clip is how he places his research focus in the broader context of the field of biological anthropology, as well as how he describes some of the important background conditions that affect how and why anthropologists study primates. He explains that the field confronts many challenges in the study of human diversity, as well as in diversifying the community of scholars who study biological anthropology.
To think about and discuss:
- What drew Fuentes to the field of biological anthropology?
- Why is the study of primates important in anthropology?
- According to Fuentes, what are the big challenges facing biological anthropology as a subfield? Do you think the study of primates has any relationship to those broader challenges?
- What is Fuentes’s perspective on the cultural, ethnic, and gender make-up of biological anthropology? Why do you think this might be an important concern for the study of primates?
- What questions do you have?
Are We Really 99% Chimp?
The Video: "Are We Really 99% Chimp?"
Created by Henry Reich
3:17 min, 2015
Distributed by Minute Earth
Why this clip is important:
The video “Are We Really 99% Chimp?” asks how to make sense of claims about genetic relationship between species, challenging the potential for oversimplification when attempting to establish the quantity of genetic overlap by comparing the genomes. The video asserts that during the past 6-8 million years, chance mutations and natural selection in both human and chimp populations have led to quite different genetic “scrolls” and “text” (chromosomes and genetic sequences). When scientists compare the genomes, it is easier to tally small differences in the specific letters of DNA in the whole genome. Differences between large sequences are more difficult to quantify, leading to their elimination in the attempt to develop a quantification of genetic overlap. This has led to flawed claims about genetic overlap, because, as the video observes, 18% of chimp genome and 25% of human genome are eliminated from the comparison. The video also points out that exploring overlap in genomes doesn’t address the functionality of genes. As the video states, a few mutations may make a big difference in an animal’s traits, while many mutations can make little or no difference. The broader point here is that we must use great caution when making genetic comparisons between species.
To think about and discuss:
- In relation to the human-chimp comparison, do you think there are other criteria beyond DNA or genetic sequences that could generate a meaningful comparison to shed light on our evolutionary relationships?
- What do we gain or lose by constructing our understanding of human and chimpanzee behavior through the analysis of DNA?
- What questions do you have?
Cheerleader
The Film: Cheerleader
Directed by Kimberlee Bassford
color, 24 min, 2005
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Cheerleader explores the quest to be a champion, the experience of being female, and the ins and outs of an All-American pastime, all through the eyes of some of the nation’s youngest cheerleaders. Cheerleading began more than a century ago in the nation’s all-male colleges, and it wasn’t until the 1920s that women became involved. Like most cheerleaders, the Tigers spend their weekends supporting the football team. Their cheers are cute, flirty, and, some would even say, sexy. And while yesterday’s cheerleaders stood on the sidelines, the Tigers want center stage. They dance like Paula Abdul and backflip like Mary Lou Retton. They’re athletic, perky, and polished – a winning combination in the world of competitive cheerleading. Through the Tigers’ story and the unfolding of cheerleading’s own history, Cheerleader looks at the complexity of the sport and shows how cheerleading remains a robust image in our society – one that influences how we see women and how women see themselves.
Why this clip is important:
As with many stereotypes, there are gaps between images of cheerleaders and the more complex realities of the activity and the people who do it. Images of cheerleaders as “good girls,” as hyper-sexualized, or as vapid blondes have circulated for decades. But as young girls have moved into the activity and taken it in new directions, new debates have emerged over whether or not it’s a good thing for girls. Does it teach outmoded sexist ideals, or how to be a good citizen and leader? These debates, which raise very practical questions for parents about how to raise their daughters, are set against a backdrop of shifting ideas about womanhood and gender inequality. As anthropologists have known since the times of Margaret Mead, gender roles and identities always have powerful meanings in any society, and this clip explores how changing relations of gender and sex in contemporary American society are understood and negotiated.
To think about and discuss:
- Cheerleading is a dynamic activity that has seen important changes over the past century, among them a shift from men to women, and, more recently, its performance by increasing numbers of young girls. Why do you think these changes have occurred?
- One mother expresses some ambivalence about her daughter’s involvement in cheerleading. What does she seem to be concerned about?
- Cheerleading became an athletic outlet for women when there were few formal opportunities for women’s sports. Now that women in the U.S. have more opportunities to play sports, how has the meaning of cheerleading shifted?
- Based on this clip, do you think cheerleading is “teaching outmoded sexist ideals” or “how to be a good citizen, a leader”? Why do you think that?
- In what ways is cheerleading a good lens on shifting American attitudes toward sex and gender? In what ways is it not?
- What questions do you have?
Darker Side of Fair
The Film: Darker Side of Fair
Directed by Deepak Leslie
color, 25 min, 2004
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Shedding new light upon issues of global diversity, this documentary focuses on the extent to which a "fairness fetish" has permeated various levels of Indian society. Today in India fairness is a benchmark for beauty; marriages are decided on the basis of skin color; and fair means "lucky" whereas dark means "ugly." Fair skin as an ideal exists in all facets of Indian life: fashion, marriage, advertising, etc. Although historically women have been burdened with the need to conform to the societal perception of the "light-skinned beauty," increasingly today even young Indian men feel the need to opt for products and processes to enhance their skin tone. While the origins of the fair-skinned ideal can be traced back to the ancient Indian epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, today Western influences and media pressure have resulted in a growing market for fairness products and skin lightening treatments. Fairness is a serious business in India, one with intensely psychological ramifications. With a focus on the emotional and psychological impact, this film addresses the historical and contemporary factors that contribute to the pressures thrust upon Indian women by a society obsessed with fair skin.
Why this clip is important:
This film asserts that Indians have a preference for light skin, or, as the narrator claims, “a fetish for fairness has permeated the Indian psyche.” Parents hope their babies will have fair skin, pregnant mothers take milk and saffron to lighten the skin of their babies, and people claim that a fair-skinned child brings happiness. Speakers in the clip offer several reasons for this preference, among them colonialism, mythical stories in the Mahabarata, and class differences in Indian society. Some people in the clip seem somewhat bemused by it (“it’s a weird colonial hangover”), others resigned (“a sad truth”), and still others hopeful (with the political and economic rise of the southern states, where predominantly dark-skinned people live, attitudes are bound to change). The clip examines one of anthropology’s key interests, which is understanding the relationship between race and culture, and how skin color — an arbitrary and highly variable phenotypic characteristic — organizes people into hierarchies that feel natural but are upheld by beliefs, prejudice, discrimination, and social privilege.
To think about and discuss:
- The Indian caste system based on notions of moral purity and pollution maintains widespread social inequality. Does the fact that skin color is another marker of social superiority or inferiority in India surprise you? Why or why not?
- How do you think these preferences for fair skin relate to caste groups? Would you expect one (light skin) to map onto the other (high caste)? Why or why not?
- A number of people in the film clip make an association between preferences for light skin color and European colonialism. Do you agree with the person who explains it was to better fit in with the invaders? Or do you think there are other reasons?
- Referring to the preference for light skin, one man says “it’s simply perception.” What do you think he means?
- How do you think the idea that light skin is preferable is perpetuated and reinforced in Indian society?
- What questions do you have?
Fambul Tok
The Film: Fambul Tok
Directed by Sara Terry / Catalyst for Peace
color, 82 min (2012)
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Seven years after the last bullet was fired, a decade of brutal fighting in Sierra Leone finds resolution as people come together to talk around traditional village bonfires. Some had perpetrated terrible crimes against friends or family. Some had faced horrible losses: loved ones murdered, limbs severed. But as they tell their stories, admit their wrongs, forgive, dance, and sing together, true reconciliation begins. This is the story of Fambul Tok (Krio for "family talk"), and it is a story the world needs to hear.
Why this clip is important:
This clip explores how the acts of violence that took place in Sierra Leone during its civil war continue to affect people’s everyday lives and the prospects for reconciliation after the war has ended. The clip begins with a chilling segment in which a man explains that he feels powerless because in his daily life he has to interact with people who killed his loved ones and burned down his house. It then turns to the efforts of Fambul Tok, an organization dedicated to resolving disputes and promoting reconciliation based on the commitment to, as its founder explains, “find ways—unique ways—to deal with our unique conflict. It’s complex but there are ways within Sierra Leone culture to handle this process.” That process is fambul tok, a traditional form of dispute resolution. The end of the clip focuses on a community meeting where a villager expresses her skepticism about it since so many other efforts to promote reconciliation have failed. This clip emphasizes a major theme that lies at the heart of political anthropology: how violence, power relations, and attempts to resolve disputes are always shaped by and rooted in local social processes and cultural dynamics.
To think about and discuss:
- The man at the beginning of the clip explains that having to regularly interact with people who committed such horrid acts of violence against you is a form of powerlessness. How is that a form of powerlessness and what impact do you think it has on social relations in the village?
- Fambul tok is an old Sierra Leonian tradition of dispute resolution. What kind of dispute resolution process is it, and how do you think it actually might work? Why—or why not—might it be up to the challenge of alleviating the sense of powerlessness expressed by the man in the film?
- The woman in the village expresses skepticism about past reconciliation processes. What are her reasons for her skepticism? What does she suggest is a good way forward?
- Although it has attracted little international funding, fambul tok is similar to other programs of Alternative Dispute Management around the world. In what senses? What does ADM do well, and what are its limitations?
- What role do you think the NGO Fambul Tok can and should play in the process of reconciliation at the village level?
- What questions do you have?
Fantome Island
The Film: Fantome Island
Directed by Sean Gilligan and Adrian Strong
color, 82 min, 2011
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
In 1945 seven-year-old Joe Eggmolesse was diagnosed with Leprosy. He was taken from his family under police escort and transported by rail and sea over a thousand kilometres to Fantome Island where he was to be incarcerated for the next ten years.
The isolated tropical island off the North Queensland coast became home to a close-knit community of indigenous “lepers” whose marginalized existence was hidden from white society and has until now remained absent from the mainstream historical record. Cared for by nuns from the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, their isolation was the consequence of apartheid-like policies developed by the Queensland government and medical establishment which espoused a eugenicist philosophy and regarded racial segregation as standard practice.
As one of the few surviving former patients, Joe returns to the island for a long awaited event, the Fantome Island Remembrance Day. As a 73-year-old Elder, he confronts the memory of his childhood on the island to pay tribute to those who lived and died there and to inscribe his own unique story into official Australian history. Drawing on an evocative archive, this film exposes how an ideology of racism and eugenics worked to justify horrific treatment of Australia's Indigenous communities. In uncovering this shameful history, Fantome Island is a testimony of strength and endurance, demonstrating one man's incredible capacity for forgiveness and love.
Why this clip is important:
In Western societies, such as the Australian example explored in this clip, the twentieth century saw the expansion of medical power with the professionalization of medical training and practice. This clip shows how, when they are supported by powerful beliefs and social institutions, medical professionals have cast their net of authority over people with profound consequences. Australian settlers and officials during the early part of the twentieth century used the Lock Hospital on Fantome Island as a prison-hospital for local aboriginal people. But how “sick” were those people, and did their health conditions justify their internment? In Australia’s northern territories, authorities wanted to intensify white settlement. Enmeshing fears of disease with racism, they forced unwell aboriginal individuals into the hospital-prison where, one speaker observes, “they lost their human rights” and white settlers could take their lands. The medical authorities in charge were segregationists and eugenicists who sought to maintain the separation and purity of the white race, and though they were publically referred to as “protectors” of the aboriginal people, they used medical reasons and practices to control and undermine aboriginal communities. This clip demonstrates a key insight of medical anthropology: that cultural assumptions and institutional power are as relevant as physiological or epidemiological concerns in shaping the actions of medical practitioners.
To think about and discuss:
- How do you think the stories of abuses of aboriginal peoples at Lock Hospital were hidden for such a long time? What role do you think informational films about the island, such as the one excerpted in the first part of the clip, played in this?
- Can you think of other examples in which fear of disease is directed toward a vulnerable and discriminated group in society?
- One of the speakers in the clip discusses white Australian beliefs that living in the tropics is burdensome and that blacks are well suited to doing “heavy lifting.” What impacts do you think this belief had on race relations in Queensland?
- How and why would physicians, who generally want to do good for people, be involved in abuses of human rights of aboriginal people?
- What do you think are the long-term consequences of this episode in Australian history for aboriginal people’s relationships with Western biomedicine?
- What questions do you have?
Framing the Other
The Film: Framing the Other
Directed by Ilja Kok and Willem Timmers
Color, 25 min, 2011
In English and Mursi with English and French subtitles
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Framing the Other portrays the complex relationship between tourism and indigenous communities by revealing the intimate and intriguing thoughts of a Mursi woman from Southern Ethiopia and a Dutch tourist as they prepare to meet each other. This humorous yet simultaneously chilling film shows the destructive impact tourism has on traditional communities.
Why this clip is important:
People have always encountered humans, languages, and behaviors that are different from their own. These days opportunities for such encounters have proliferated for many reasons, including media, migration, globalization, and--the theme this film clip treats--international tourism. This clip exposes the complicated expectations and relationships across cultures that exist in touristic encounters in rural Ethiopia, specifically focusing on a Mursi woman’s explanation of how she and her co-villagers prepare for the arrival of European tourists. Touristic encounters like this one raise interesting questions about concerns that are central to the discipline of anthropology, including the status of cultural diversity in the world today; how people make sense of their encounters with cultural others; and the ethics of cross-cultural encounter.
To think about and discuss:
- The Mursi woman talks about what she thinks is beautiful, which among other things involves removing her eyelashes and undergoing other facial modifications. Many Europeans and North Americans would not necessarily find these things beautiful. How do you explain those differences in perspective?
- What do you think brings Europeans to this remote village? What are they looking for and seeking to do?
- Now that tourists come, the Mursi woman explains, they have new ways of dressing up and they have invented certain decorations “just for show.” What do you think this says about Mursi attitudes toward tourists? Do you think the Mursi show the Europeans their “authentic” culture?
- The Mursi are aware of what tourists want to see and photograph, and they prepare things specifically for that purpose. Do you think these processes are destructive or exploitative of Mursi culture? Why doesn’t the Mursi woman care if she wears something “fake” for tourists?
- Do you think touristic encounters like the one presented here can lead to greater understanding across cultures? Why or why not? What ethical dilemmas do such encounters raise?
- What questions do you have?
Funeral Season
The Film: Funeral Season
Directed by Matthew Lancit
color, 87 min / 60 min, 2011
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
“We pray to our ancestors but we do not worship them. You, you need an intermediary, the priest. But for us, our intermediary is the ancestor who is sitting next to God,” says Poundé, the old Cameroonian ethnologist, to the young Jewish director from Canada. And with this conclusive statement, everything becomes clear: the funerals in memory of “the dead who are not dead,” organized several days or even years following the burial, the chants, brass bands, and traditional dancers who accompany and punctuate the village rituals. The ancestral rites struggle to survive in a continuously westernized society of consumption by parading wealth and excess for all to see — even the dead.
Funeral Season takes the viewer through the red dust of Cameroon's laterite slopes and into the heart of the Bamileke country, where one funeral flows into the next. These death celebrations provide an opportunity to see elaborate costumes and masks, festive songs and dances, and lavish feasts, while illuminating the communal links which bind the Bamileke as an ethnic group and society. Along the way, the director befriends his guides and becomes increasingly haunted by memories of his own ancestors. At times, the dialogues alienate him from the locals; at other times they bring the two closer together. Like the dead and the living, they belong to two different worlds often mirroring each other.
There is a lightness to be found in this subjective ethnographic film which imaginatively and symbolically turns the gazes of two different worlds upon each other.
Why this clip is important:
Culture shapes everything from the most mundane aspects of life, such as the clothing people wear and the meanings they give to it, to a community’s most expressive activities, such as funerals, parades, feasts, and so on. Symbols, traditions, norms, and values lie at the heart of culture, and this film clip explores how they interconnect to create a distinctive approach to, in this case, funerals and mourning rituals among the Bamileke of Cameroon. In placing himself in front of the camera and showing his own attempts to make meaning of Bamileke funerary beliefs and practices, the filmmaker, who is Canadian and Jewish, also demonstrates how the process of understanding another culture is filtered through his own cultural lens. This clip shows the power culture has to make certain meanings and behaviors—which are quite “artificial” or humanly-constructed—feel normal and taken-for-granted. It is the cross-cultural nature of the encounter here, though, that makes those cultural meanings stand out and become recognizable.
To think about and discuss:
- For the Bamileke, uniforms carry different meanings than the filmmaker says he is accustomed to. What are those meanings?
- A funeral among the Bamileke looks like a celebration. Why do you think that is?
- The Bamileke tailor explains that “ready to wear” clothing (European imports) is more expensive than locally-designed and made clothing. The filmmaker responds that back home in Canada custom-made clothing is more expensive, but that he prefers the custom-made clothing here where it is more affordable. How do you explain the differences between these societies in the value and meanings they give to clothing?
- Compare and contrast the shots of the Bamileke funeral with the Jewish funeral described by the filmmaker, or a funeral you have attended. How and why do you think the funerals differ?
- The filmmaker seems to share a lot of his opinions, judgments, and perspectives about Bamileke cultural traditions. Do you think that’s an appropriate part of studying another culture?
- What questions do you have?
Gods and Kings
The Film: Gods and Kings
Directed by Robin Blotnick and Rachel Lears
color, 87 min, 2012
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
In the muddy market square of Momostenango, Guatemala, where shamans burn offerings in the shadow of the Catholic church, prehispanic gods dance beside horror movie monsters and dictators from the dark days of the Cold War. Unlike the folkloric performances long studied by anthropologists, this new dance won't show up on any postcard. In some villages, it's even been banned for frightening tourists. So how did these fiberglass masks of Xena: Warrior Princess come to be blessed in the smoke of Maya altars?
Presenting a striking case never before documented on film, Gods and Kings illuminates the way creations of mass-culture take on new meanings as they travel around the world. In a town where a Hollywood B-movie villain is a real evil spirit, stories can't be taken lightly and it always matters who's telling them.
Why this clip is important:
Although it feels enduring and stable to its practitioners, religion is a dynamic area of human belief, meaning, and action. This clip explores the ongoing hybridization of traditional Maya devotional dances and folkloric performances, as traditional images and symbols are mixed with images and symbols drawn from contemporary mass media. A man explains that some people claim these dances come from the Devil, are a waste of time, or are meaningless. He disagrees, and observes that their performance brings many blessings after the dancing is over. The dances can be dangerous, and as devotional dances they enact big existential questions about how to conduct one’s life and make sense of it. But these traditional practices morph and take on new forms in a contemporary context. To understand the special significance of a Rugrats costume shown in the clip in such performances it is not enough to see it as a symbol of greater global interconnectedness, although that interconnectedness is clearly important for people’s lives in Momostenango. Just as important to the anthropology of religion is the necessity of understanding how the meaning of a Rugrats costume is reshaped to fit the community’s worldview and the powerful moods and motivations its use in a performative ritual creates for spectators and participants.
To think about and discuss:
- Who in the Maya community do you think would criticize these dances as coming from the Devil or as meaningless? Why would they claim that? What does such disagreement suggest about the practice of religion in Momostenango?
- One man claims that these costumes inspired by mass media characters have “rescued” regional dances that were going out of style. Why would those dances be going out of style in the first place?
- Why and how do you think images and symbols drawn from mass media would provide inspiration to revitalize these dances?
- Do you think the costumes—traditional or modern—have a magical presence for spectators and participants? What kind of magic do they have?
- What does this situation tell you about the conditions under which religion can change?
- What questions do you have?
Love Stories: Women, Men, & Romance
The Film: Love Stories: Women, Men, & Romance
Directed by Richard Broadman
color, 85 min, 1987
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
In our grandparents' time, most women and men committed themselves to each other for better or worse. Today, many men and women struggle to redefine relationships in a society where more women are in the workforce, where divorce is common, and where the marriage commitment is rapidly changing. How did this happen? What opportunities and barriers has it created in women's and men's lives? Love Stories: Women, Men, & Romance provides both a history of changing attitudes and expectations and a portrait of today's conflicted society — in which the old and new values clash, fueling debates over lifestyle, sex roles, and birth control.
Why this clip is important:
In every society a gap exists between ideal family relationships and actual relationships. In this clip, American women explain what they expect out of their romantic relationships with men, which tends to be some version of a fairy tale in which a handsome prince swoops in to take his bride and everything is, as one of the speakers on film says, “lovey-dovey.” But as the narrator observes, realizing those dreams remains elusive. The difficulties of finding the right person and high rates of divorce are not the only issues; there are fundamental ambiguities about whether that individual is a friend or a lover, if careers or family should be take precedence, if commitment is more important than freedom. American individualism, the clip seems to suggest, plays a role in complicating our romantic relationships with others. The dynamic complexities of love, sex, and power explored in this clip, as well as the specific ways these issues interact in any particular society, are central to anthropological interest in kinship and marriage.
To think about and discuss:
- Where do you think the ideals about romance and marriage communicated in the film come from?
- The “traditional” suburban American family portrayed in sitcoms between the 1950s and 1970s was a short-lived phenomenon. By the 1980s, when this film was made, that pattern had already changed substantially. What do you think were some of the changes that happened? How are they reflected in what people in the film are saying?
- In many societies, marriage has nothing to do with romantic love because marriage serves other social purposes. If romantic love seems so elusive in our society, as this film clip suggests, what is the purpose of marriage in American life?
- The narrator observes that the dream of romance may not fit the world we live in, but says everywhere we go, “from job to job and town to town,” it follows us. How and why is it so persistent?
- The narrator asks, “Is there some way to remake relationships between men and women to fit this world?” What do you think?
- What questions do you have?
Mallamall
The Film: Mallamall
Directed by Lalita Krishna
color, 74 min, 2012
In English and Hindi with English subtitles
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
India is undergoing a retail revolution in which the aspiring middle-class is demanding more Western goods and services. Modern malls are muscling into the traditional marketplace, pushing India's economic infrastructure to the limits and threatening to put thousands of bazaar owners and small farmers out of business.
Why this clip is important:
This clip focuses on one element of India’s experience of globalization, the arrival of Western-style retail malls and super stores like Walmart catering to the country’s emerging middle class, in a country where small-scale family-centered retail businesses in bazaars, street corners, and markets continue to be where most people do their shopping. We meet an activist who, along with others, is resisting these new malls, insisting there is no demand for such super stores because the middle class is so small. It is a point he makes against a visual backdrop of poor people living in the shadow of a new mall. We also meet a woman who works as a retail executive who moved from Canada because she heard of the great business opportunities to promote Western retail in India, and knew she could live a comfortable lifestyle like she lived in Canada. This clip illustrates the complex relationship between culture and globalization, in which the world does in some senses seem to be getting smaller, but at the same time demonstrates that not everybody participates equally in global interconnections.
To think about and discuss:
- What consequences do you think developing malls and super stores has on traditional retailers who sell their goods in bazaars and farmers' markets? On farmers? On consumers?
- What do you think the attractions of a super store in India might be? Who might resist their arrival, and why?
- The activist says Walmart-style super stores are “part of the problem rather than a solution.” What do you think he means?
- The retail executive chose to buy a house in a middle-class area because it resembles suburban Canada. How might this affect her perspective on the Indians whose shopping habits she wants to change?
- Do you agree with the activist’s observation that the model of mass retail is being resisted and rejected in the West? Why or why not?
- What questions do you have?
Meet Anthropologist Dr. Jonathan Marks!
The Video: "Meet Anthropologist Dr. Jonathan Marks!"
Produced by the Boas Network
5:03 min, 2014
The mission of the Boas Network, which produced this short interview with Jonathan Marks, is to communicate anthropology in an engaging manner in the public sphere. Their website (http://boasnetwork.com/) is a great resource for videos, news items, and other materials related to all four fields of anthropology. This video comes from a series called “Meet the anthropologist of the week…” that profiles prominent individual anthropologists.
Why this clip is important:
Biological anthropologist Jonathan Marks is an innovative thinker who has pushed his subfield to study human biological diversity in more critical ways. He is one of the prominent proponents of the biocultural approaches toward human evolution, and in this clip he explains why the biocultural perspective is so important for differentiating human evolutionary processes from those of other species. His key point is that in biological anthropology the subject-object distinction taken for granted in other scientific fields melts away. From there, he argues that biological anthropology is not a science as we customarily understand the term, but a “different kind of science.” Understanding cultural processes, he argues, has to be at the center of biological anthropology. He also gives a very brief overview of the historical development of biological anthropology and concludes by sharing his thoughts on creationism vs. evolution.
To think about and discuss:
- Marks asserts that biological anthropology is different from other sciences. How does it differ?
- He says, “if you want to understand human evolution, you have to be an anthropologist, not a biologist.” Why?
- According to Marks, what did biological anthropologists learn over the course of the 20th century about human evolution?
- How does he explain the shift from “physical anthropology” to “biological anthropology?”
- What questions do you have?
Neanderthals Mated with Modern Humans Much Earlier Than Previously Thought
The Video: "Neanderthals Mated with Modern Humans Much Earlier Than Previously Thought"
Produced by the Boas Network
2:11 min; 2015
The mission of the Boas Network, which produced this short interview with Adam Siepel, is to communicate anthropology in an engaging manner in the public sphere. Their website (http://boasnetwork.com/) is a great resource for videos, news items, and other materials related to all four fields of anthropology. This video explains how an international research team, by using several different methods of DNA analysis, has found what they consider to be strong evidence of an interbreeding event between Neanderthals and modern humans that occurred tens of thousands of years earlier than any other such event previously documented.
Why this clip is important:
Dr. Siepel describes how access to the complete genome of archaic humans made this project possible. Thanks to that genome, we know there are bits of archaic human DNA in certain contemporary human populations, and Siepel indicates that some of this interbreeding with modern humans happened after they migrated out of Africa. Along with scientists in Germany, Siepel and his team analyzed and compared full genome sequences of archaic humans, some new partial genome sequences of archaics, as well as those of modern humans. Their findings supported the previously discovered interbreeding, but also something unexpected: an earlier event of interbreeding between archaic humans and modern humans coming out of Africa. That event is earlier than the other interbreeding events, taking place perhaps 100,000 years ago. These findings reinforce the idea that interbreeding was important to the evolution of modern humans and the extinct archaics.
To think about and discuss:
- The rapid development of the field of genomics in recent decades is the key to unlocking the genetic relationships between modern and archaic humans. But do you think there are other methods or approaches that might suggest the existence of interrelationships between archaic and modern humans?
- Do you think this research project’s findings support any one of the three theories of where modern humans originated?
- Do you think this research project’s findings support a view of humans as a single species that goes back to at least Homo erectus?
- Does it surprise you that the different hominin groups interbred? Why or why not?
- What questions do you have?
Out of Eden
The Video: "Out of Eden," Episode One of Guns, Germs, and Steel documentary series
Lion TV
54:35 min; 2014
Based on Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, Guns, Germs, and Steel traces humanity’s journey over the last 13,000 years – from the dawn of farming at the end of the last Ice Age to the realities of life in the twenty-first century. Inspired by a question put to him on the island of Papua New Guinea more than thirty years ago, Diamond embarks on a world-wide quest to understand the roots of global inequality.
In Episode One of this three-part series, Diamond learns that the act of transplanting a wild plant and placing it under human control totally transforms that plant's DNA. Characteristics that aid survival in the wild disappear in favor of qualities that suit human consumption. The plant becomes domesticated – and wholly dependent on human control for survival.
Only a handful of places in the world played host to this agricultural revolution. In most cases, plant domestication was a precursor to the development of advanced civilizations. Along with the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, independent domestication of wild plants is believed to have occurred in Ancient China, in Central and Southern America, in sub-Tropical Africa, and in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Why this clip is important:
The transition from foraging to agriculture has long been one of the most intriguing puzzles for archaeologists. Although we call it the Neolithic Revolution, it was not a single event and it didn’t affect everybody around the globe in the same ways or at the same time. The first studies of the Neolithic Revolution were conducted in the Middle East, which this film clip also documents. It follows Canadian archaeologist Ian Kuijt, whose research project at Dhra in Jordan has uncovered an 11,000-year old granary, which may be the oldest food storage facility ever discovered. Its significance is that very early on people had figured out how to store food to protect it from pests and humidity. Kuijt describes the importance of domestication of wild plants as a watershed moment in human history, though he suggests that in its early phases, humans may have been driving the processes “unconsciously” and without realizing they were changing the very nature of the plants around them.
To think about and discuss:
- What are some possible reasons people in Dhra may have decided to seek greater control of plants through domestication?
- If you had to reconstruct the process that led to the invention of the granary pictured in the film clip, how do you think it might have happened? How do you think archaeologists could study that process of invention?
- How do you think the invention of the granary impacted the people’s economy?
- Do you agree with Kuijt that the people of Dhra were seeking greater control over plants “unconsciously?” Or do you think they had some level of deliberate and precise knowledge about plants before this process?
- What do you think some of the social consequences of domestication might have been for the people of Dhra?
- What questions do you have?
Out of the Maya Tombs
The Film: Out of the Maya Tombs
Directed by David Lebrun
color, 96/54 min with 46 min of extras, 2017
in English and Spanish
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Over the past 50 years, thousands of exquisitely painted Maya vases, almost all looted from royal tombs, have flooded into the world's public and private collections. These amazing works of art, filled with humor and mystery, have opened an extraordinary window on the Maya past. But the race to unearth these treasures has destroyed ancient temples and palaces, culminating in the takeover of entire ancient cities by looter armies.
Out of the Maya Tombs enters the world of the vases to explore the royal life and rich mythology of the Maya, as well as the tangled issues involved in the collection and study of Maya art. The story is told by villagers, looters, archaeologists, scholars, dealers, and curators. For each, these vases have a radically different value and meaning.
On a purely sensual level, Out of the Maya Tombs celebrates the artistry of these vases. It uses visual fascination as the doorway to intellectual and emotional engagement. Dramatic re-enactments and animated graphics created from ancient artwork bring Maya history and culture to life.
Why this clip is important:
Out of the Maya Tombs is a film about the flood of Maya objects into museums and private collections. The fact that the objects came to light because they were looted raises important methodological and ethical questions for archaeologists who are trying to understand their meaning.
The clip begins with how archaeologists study looted Maya vases. The challenge of studying them is that all of the contextual details about an artifact’s provenience that archaeologists record during an excavation is missing. In this clip, we see how scientists can identify very precise details about a vase, including its maker and the workshop it came from, by collecting a sample of clay powder from it and running the sample through machines that bombard it with neutrons and then measure the results through spectrographic analysis. Archaeologists use this method to unlock aspects of the Maya world, specifically the social and geographic dimensions of the vase’s creation. But not all archaeologists approve of working with looted objects, arguing that it produces weak data and encourages more looting. One archaeologist in the clip argues that the useful data is located in its context, not content; another follows up that it is a good point, but that Maya vases, which often have rich imagery and engravings on them, can be full of important information on their own. This clip usefully reveals ongoing debates among archaeologists about the potentials and dilemmas involved in researching the past.
To think about and discuss:
- Can you identify other techniques archaeologists might use beyond the study of the clay powder sample (shown in the clip) that might help them date the objects and understand their place in Maya social life?
- Aside from the fact that, as some archaeologists claim, working with looted objects legitimates looting, there are other ethical dilemmas associated with the practice. What do you think they are?
- What questions do you have?
Owners of the Water
The Film: Owners of the Water
Directed by Laura R. Graham, David Hernández Palmar, Caimi Waiásse
color, 34 min, 2009
with subtitles in English, Spanish, or Portuguese
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
A unique collaboration between two indigenous filmmakers and an anthropologist, Owners of the Water is a compelling documentary with groundbreaking ethnographic imagery. A central Brazilian Xavante, a Wayuu from Venezuela, and a U.S. anthropologist explore an indigenous campaign to protect a river from devastating effects of uncontrolled Amazonian soy cultivation. Xavante and Wayuu are nationally and internationally prominent political actors and both face challenges over water.
Owners highlights a civic protest showing strategic use of culture to bring attention to deforestation and excessive use of agritoxins in unregulated soy cultivation. The film features a diversity of Xavante opinions and evidence that non-indigenous members of the local population both support and oppose indigenous demands. The film showcases indigenous efforts to build networks among different native peoples and across nations.
The film results from long collaboration between anthropologist Laura Graham and Xavante and more recent collaboration with Wayuu. The Association Xavante Warã, a Xavante organization that promotes indigenous knowledge and ways of living in the central Brazilian cerrado (a spiritually and materially integrated space that Xavante know as 'ro) and conservation of this unique environment, invited Graham to tell the story of its campaign to save the Rio das Mortes. David Hernández Palmar, a Wayuu (Iipuana clan) from Venezuela, accompanied Graham to meet the Xavante and learn about their struggles over water. After the trip the Xavante and Wayuu filmmakers and the anthropologist made this film based on the ethnographic footage of their intercultural encounters.
Why this clip is important:
As industrialized agriculture and settlement encroach on indigenous lands in Amazonia, communities such as the Xavante in Brazil are struggling with the consequences of pesticide run-off and other pressures on their livelihoods. In this clip, Xavante describe the effects of pesticide run-off from nearby soy plantations. It is more than a fight for ensuring their subsistence base, however. As Hiparidi explains, the “fight for the river is a spiritual matter.” It is also a fight for health: the pollution in the water causes illness and, as Hiparidi’s mother says, “It’s killing us.” In the clip Hiparidi returns to his home village to get his father’s blessing to participate in a protest with other indigenous groups against unregulated agricultural run-off. This clip has several overlapping issues that interest environmental anthropologists, including indigenous views of the environment, how the most vulnerable (indigenous people, women) are often on the front-lines of environmental degradation, and the rise of environmental justice movements.
To think about and discuss:
- When Hiparidi says the fight for the river is a spiritual matter, what do you think he means?
- Why do you think it’s so important for Hiparidi to seek his father’s approval to participate in the protest?
- Hiparidi’s mother observes that it is the women who have noticed the pollution in the rivers. Why would women be among the most affected by environmental degradation?
- Hiparidi’s father asks “Where can we live? Where can we breathe?” to underline how desperate and vulnerable they are. Other than the public protest being planned, what recourse do the Xavante and other indigenous groups have to deal with their plight?
- This film was made as a collaboration between an anthropologist and indigenous activists from Venezuela and Brazil. What kinds of opportunities and dilemmas would such a collaboration mean for an anthropologist? For indigenous activists?
- What questions do you have?
Pueblo Voices: Migrations
The Video: "Thirteenth Century Migrations"
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
3:11 min; 2015
This short film is taken from a series created by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (Colorado) called “Voices: Perspectives on Pueblo History and Culture.” This is the introduction to the film series:
Pueblo Indians’ historical perspectives are shaped by their deep cultural heritage, kept alive through oral tradition. Archaeologists’ understanding of Pueblo history derives primarily from the application of the scientific method. In this series of videos, Pueblo people and archaeologists discuss aspects of Pueblo history and culture from their different—but often complementary—perspectives. (https://www.crowcanyon.org/index.php/voices)
Why this clip is important:
Archaeologists have long hypothesized that environmental stresses caused the ancestral Pueblo people to migrate from the area around Mesa Verde to points further south, where their descendants still live today. In this clip, we hear from an archaeologist who shares the latest thinking about why people migrated from Mesa Verde, suggesting that there was no single cause but a combination of factors that possibly include overhunting, drought, social and political conflict, and others. Contemporary Pueblo peoples have oral histories about why their ancestors moved, and we hear from two individuals who offer their own explanations. One of them suggests that factionalism, not environmental reasons, drove the migration. She also suggests that they “sang a song” so they could remember where they came from, emphasizing that contemporary Pueblos maintain a connection to the Mesa Verde region their ancestors left centuries ago. This clip proposes that archaeological and indigenous knowledges about the past can be complementary.
To think about and discuss:
- What factors does the archaeologist believe drove 13th-century Pueblos to migrate?
- The contemporary Pueblo man who speaks in the film suggests that genealogical knowledge can help explain the process of migration. What does he actually say?
- Archaeological and indigenous knowledge are not always complementary. Can you imagine a situation in which they are not? Whose voice should have priority?
- There is no mention of the term “collapse” (the concept promoted by geographer Jared Diamond) in explaining Pueblo migration. Why not?
- What questions do you have?
RACE: Are We So Different?
The Film: RACE: Are We So Different?
American Anthropological Association
5:51 min Introduction to multi-part DVD; 2008
The American Anthropological Association produced this video for its public service project, RACE: Are We So Different? This statement describes the project:
We expect people to look different. And why not? Like a fingerprint, each person is unique. Every person represents a one-of-a-kind combination of their parents’, grandparents’, and family’s ancestry. And every person experiences life somewhat differently than others.
Differences… they’re a cause for joy and sorrow. We celebrate differences in personal identity, family background, country, and language. At the same time, differences among people have been the basis for discrimination and oppression.
Yet, are we so different? Current science tells us we share a common ancestry and the differences among people we see are natural variations, results of migration, marriage, and adaptation to different environments. How does this fit with the idea of race?
Looking through the eyes of history, science, and lived experience, the RACE Project explains differences among people and reveals the reality – and unreality – of race. The story of race is complex and may challenge how we think about race and human variation, about the differences and similarities among people. (http://www.understandingrace.org/about/index.html)
Why this clip is important:
This video, which provides a visual introduction to the AAA’s RACE: Are We So Different project, argues that race is a cultural construction that emerged during the period of European colonialism. It begins with the experience of the Virginia colony, where skin color and other physical differences did not initially matter in society. But the growth of slavery and, eventually, the rise of racial science and notions like the “one-drop rule” shaped and reinforced an unequal social order and its maintenance through racism, discrimination, and a worldview that understands that order to be rooted in nature. Today, knowledge about human ancestry demonstrates that race has no biological basis, but the idea persists in a worldview that ranks people on the basis of arbitrarily-chosen physical traits. The clip invites viewers to reexamine their own views on race in light of what anthropology knows about race – that race is a cultural creation.
To think about and discuss:
- This video asserts that race is a social creation that emerged at a particular historical moment. What was that moment, and why did the idea of race emerge at that time?
- What factors have sustained the unequal social order based on race?
- The video asserts that race is a flawed worldview with destructive effects on people’s lives. It also blinds us to the privileges that some people enjoy. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- Based on your course readings on human variation and race, what do you think is missing from this video’s argument about the relationship between race and biology?
- Do you have any questions?
Returning Souls
The Film: Returning Souls
Directed by Hu Tai-Li
85 min.; 2012
Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources
The carved pillars of the matrilineal Amis tribe’s famed ancestral house recount tribal legends such as The Great Flood and The Glowing Girl, and are home to the ancestral spirits of the Amis. The pillars, however, were removed from the village for exhibition in Taiwan’s Institute of Ethnology Museum after a typhoon toppled the house 40 years ago.
This film follows a group of young Amis who seek to restore their people’s connection with their ancestors. Working with female shamans, the Amis are successful in reconstructing the ancestral house. Their efforts for cultural revitalization, however, are complicated by the influence of Western religions, national land policy and local politics. This documentary interweaves reality and legends in its presentation of a unique case of repatriation.
Why this clip is important:
Around the world, the repatriation of objects to the indigenous communities that made and once owned them has become an important issue for governments, museums, and cultural heritage organizations. For many indigenous groups, such as the Ami from Taiwan who are the focus of this film clip, the effort to repatriate important objects can be difficult and contentious. It requires negotiation with institutions with considerable power, such as museums, that may not want to give up the objects. In this case, a group of young Ami activists are concerned about problems of social discord in their village, and have decided that one way to unite the community is to rebuild an important community building that was torn down in the 1950s during a typhoon. When that happened, some important carvings were taken to a museum. Their first step, which we see in this clip, is meeting with officials of the museum that houses the carvings to explain their reasons for seeking repatriation.
To think about and discuss:
- What reasons do the young Ami activists give for seeking repatriation of the carvings?
- Recognizing that you know few details of the case, what kinds of challenges do you think they might need to surmount if they are going to succeed?
- Do you think the meaning of the carvings in question has changed over time? If so, how?
- Why do you think questions of ownership over cultural objects are so contentious?
- What questions do you have?
Smokin' Fish
The Film: Smokin' Fish
Directed by Luke Griswold-Tergis and Cory Mann
color, 80 min, 2011
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Cory Mann is a quirky Tlingit businessman hustling to make a dollar in Juneau Alaska. He gets hungry for smoked salmon, nostalgic for his childhood, and decides to spend a summer smoking fish at his family's traditional fish camp. The unusual story of his life and the untold history of his people interweave with the process of preparing traditional food as he struggles to pay his bills, keep the IRS off his back, and keep his business afloat. By turns tragic, bizarre, or just plain ridiculous, Smokin' Fish tells the story of one man's attempts to navigate the messy zone of collision between the modern world and an ancient culture.
Why this clip is important:
This clip examines Tlingit salmon fishing, a livelihood that is rapidly disappearing. Cory decides to go fishing for salmon. He stops by the office of Alaska Fish and Wildlife because, he says, he needs a permit to fish on his own people’s land. The office being closed, he is unable to get a permit, but he goes fishing anyway because, he says, “fish don’t wait.” He takes his nephew with him. As they go out in a canoe, Cory gives the inexperienced young man instructions on paddling the canoe and techniques of fishing, suggesting (perhaps) that the fishing way of life is disappearing since young people are not learning the ways of traditional fishing. Cory also shows an old fishing house where family used to gather. This clip is about important themes that anthropologists have studied for a long time, including how foodways change and the difficulties of maintaining a traditional mode of subsistence such as fishing (a version of hunting and gathering) in a rapidly changing world.
To think about and discuss:
- At the beginning of the clip, Cory goes to the Fish and Wildlife office because he needs to get a government permit “to fish on our own land.” Do you think Native Alaskans should need to get fishing permits to fish on their traditional waters? Why or why not? What effects do you think this legal requirement has on the traditional Tlingit mode of subsistence?
- Cory doesn’t seem to care that he can’t get a fishing license. Why not?
- What is at stake for the Tlingit community that a young man like Cory’s nephew seems so inexperienced with fishing?
- The clip ends with nostalgia for times past, and nostalgia permeates Cory’s relationship with salmon and the activity of fishing. What does this say about what is happening to Tlingit foodways? What is the relationship between nostalgia and foodways?
- Knowing what you do about the conditions under which foodways change, can you identify 1) what forces might be undermining traditional Tlingit fishing, and 2) why Cory seems so insistent on hanging on to the practice?
- What questions do you have?
The Disappearing of Tuvalu: Trouble in Paradise
The Film: The Disappearing of Tuvalu: Trouble in Paradise
Directed by Christopher Horner and Gilliane Le Gallic
75 min/55 min; 2004
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
A detailed overview of contemporary life in the tiny South Pacific country of Tuvalu, this film documents the earth’s first sovereign nation faced with total destruction due to the effects of global warming. With a population of about 11,000 living on a total landmass of only 20 square miles – smaller than Manhattan – spread over nine low-lying atolls 600 miles to the north of Fiji, Tuvalu has been inhabited for over four millennia. The warm-spirited and highly community-oriented people of this ex-British colony struggle to survive economically while confronting the likelihood of having to evacuate their homeland en masse within the next 50 years.
As the industrial world just begins to address the threat and causes of global warming, rising seas and increasingly violent changes in climate have already left their marks on this poor island nation. The government of Tuvalu and other concerned organizations are directing their pleas for solutions to the wealthy countries whose high pollution emissions could be the central human contribution to this phenomenon. Observation, narration, and interviews with Tuvalu citizens from various walks of life flesh out a full portrait of a unique community confronting a dubious future on the front lines of a global environmental assault.
Why this clip is important:
Because of climate change, the challenges facing the Pacific island of Tuvalu are considerable. But not everybody understands the problems created by climate change for the low-lying islands in the same way. Not all people conceive of nature in the same ways--even within the same society. In this clip, we learn that all Tuvaluans are thinking about the future, but while some turn to “old ways beliefs” (the Christian Bible) to explain what is going in the natural environment, others (especially young people) turn to science for explanations. We encounter a wider range of perspectives, and people draw their understandings of what is happening to the environment based on local history, traditional belief systems, direct experience, and knowledge of broader global dynamics. The issues confronting Tuvalu are basically beyond their control; their situation could be considered an environmental justice problem because their livelihoods are threatened by declining environmental conditions that they had almost no hand in creating.
To think about and discuss:
- How does climate change threaten Tuvalu?
- How do you think Tuvaluans would define the concept of ‘sustainability?’
- The ideas that people have about the natural world are guides to action. Do you see any particular ways in which some of the knowledge expressed here would guide people’s actions in their relations with the natural world?
- Do you think disagreements in the community about how to interpret environmental change undermine coordinated social action to protect Tuvalu’s resources?
- What responsibilities do people living in the industrialized world, where most of the emissions creating climate change originate, have toward Tuvaluans?
- What questions do you have?
The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish
The Video: "The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish"
Created by Michael Baym, Harvard University
1:55 min, 2016
Creative Commons license
Why this clip is important:
“The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish” relates to dynamics of bacterial evolution and why human attempts to control bacteria with antibiotics contribute to the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This video uses time-lapse video and a special template for microbial growth to monitor how mutations in E. coli bacteria allow them to resist increasingly strong applications of an antibiotic. (For an overview of the process and the creation of the video itself, see this article in The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/stunning-videos-of-evolution-in-action/499136/). One of the things that has long made evolution difficult to study—and also subject to popular disbelief—is that it happens over many generations and is not easily observable in a direct way. In this case, mutation appears to be the key mechanism of evolution. Mutations are generally rare, but because bacteria populations are so large and have fast generation times (typically days, hours, or even minutes), evolution can happen very quickly.
To think about and discuss:
- Anthropologists are careful to caution that “seeing is not believing.” And yet what is so compelling about the video on bacterial evolution is that it visualizes evolution actually taking place. How do you think we could apply that caution to the video?
- How do you think scientists could figure out which mutations really matter in the ability to resist antibiotics that some bacteria acquire?
- What questions do you have?
To Find the Baruya Story
The Film: To Find the Baruya Story: An Anthropologist at Work with a New Guinea Tribe
Directed by Allison and Marek Jablonko, and Stephen Olsson
color, 64 min, 1969/1982
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
This multi-faceted film, photographed in both 1969 and in Paris in 1982, illustrates an anthropologist's actual fieldwork methods and personal relationships among the Baruya, and provides an in-depth view of the Baruya's traditional salt-based economic system. The film follows Dr. Godelier as he explores the complexities of food production and the effects of new technologies. He comments: "I have to find and bring together the different pieces of Baruya culture...That's my job, to find the story."
Why this clip is important:
This clip shows renowned French anthropologist Maurice Godelier reflecting on and conducting fieldwork among Baruya horticulturists in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. He explains that he spent months with people in their gardens and in the bush, where they taught him many things about soil qualities and agricultural techniques. But he adds that many of the things he learned were not about agriculture at all, especially when he started mapping the gardens. As we watch Godelier interviewing Baruya men about a particular garden, some of those other things come out. It allows us to see not only what ethnographic fieldwork can look like in actual practice, but also how the ethnographic method, which elicits mundane and everyday details, can support the holistic interests of anthropologists.
To think about and discuss:
- Godelier observes that big changes in his fieldwork started to occur when he began to map the gardens of the Baruya. What kinds of changes do you think he was referring to?
- Godelier explains that the Baruya recognize twenty different types of soil and know the relative qualities of each. He thinks that talking with people about the soils in their gardens is a “very good point of departure” for his ethnographic study. What do you think he means?
- What kinds of questions does Godelier actually ask the Baruya men?
- One of the subtitles explains that the anthropologist speaks pidgin, and has to use a translator to work with Baruya who don’t speak pidgin. What do you think are the advantages and limitations of using a translator during ethnographic fieldwork?
- Godelier writes down details the Baruya men tell him about the garden in a field notebook. Why do you think he does that, and what do you think he will do with those notes?
- What questions do you have?
Visible Silence
The film:
Visible Silence
Directed by Ruth Gumnit
color, 43 min, 2015
Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources
Visible Silence is a rare glimpse into the unspoken lives of Thai toms, dees, and lesbians striving for recognition, authenticity, and acceptance in a traditional Buddhist society. It is an intimate story of self and family, love and sexuality, and self-determination where conformity is prized. The film highlights the experience of masculine women (toms) who visibly transgress gender norms, yet are bound to remain silent about who they really are. Visible Silence gives voice to their unspoken truths.
Why this clip is important:
Like sexual cultures everywhere, Thailand’s culture of sexuality has certain particularities, expectations, and social categories that are closely related to assumptions about appropriate gender roles and behaviors. There is strong pressure in Thai society for women to conform to ideas about how women should be, and those who don’t conform stand out, which is not what women are “supposed to do.” Lesbian women who do not conform to those expectations—in their looks, behavior, sexual preferences, and so on—are considered to be of lesser value than “normal” women. The clip introduces us to two categories of lesbian: “toms” who are expected to “be a little macho,” have confidence, “take a lead,” and have a girlfriend; and “dees,” who are the “females” in a relationship with a tom. The clip helps us understand how toms and dees define themselves and shape their own identities in a social context in which control over sexuality and gender expectations can be strict.
To think about and discuss:
- You may not know much about Thai cultural expectations regarding gender-appropriate appearance and behavior for women, but based on what you have seen and heard in this video, what do you think those expectations might be?
- How you think this film clip shows sexuality to be culturally patterned and socially conditioned?
- What kinds of social consequences do you think toms might experience for their transgression of gender norms?
- How do you think being a tom or dee might affect an individual’s relationships within a family?
- What questions do you have?
Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign
The Film: Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign
Directed by Hubert Smith
color, 31 min, 1977 / 2015
Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources
Yucatec Maya Deaf Sign follows linguistic anthropologist Hubert Smith, who in 1976 set out with a group of researchers to visually document Yucatec Maya society within the village of Chican. This project resulted in the 4-part series, “The Living Maya.” During filming, however, it was impossible to ignore the use of sign language in the village. Smith and his team saw a lot of the deaf residents, filmed them often, and went back to have these sign exchanges translated. As Margaret Mead, who served as an advisor to the project before her death, once remarked, “The language is one thing, but what is remarkable is that the entire community uses it!”
Why this clip is important:
The focus of this clip is the attempt to understand a unique Maya sign language. The clip follows linguist Bob Johnson, who is in a Yucatec Maya village where an unexpectedly large number of the population is deaf. Johnson observes that most ethnographers who have studied the Maya completely ignore deaf people, imposing Western ideas about deafness onto another society and missing an opportunity to examine a totally unique system of communication. He explains that deafness is so widespread that a lot of hearing people can sign with their deaf relatives, and that it affects a broader area than this one village. He goes off in search of deaf people in other villages, observing that “nobody knows about them, but everybody knows about them,” and that he needs to “ask the right questions” to find out where they are. The clip shows how a linguistic anthropologist begins to study an unfamiliar system of communication.
To think about and discuss:
- The linguist Bob Johnson asserts that he has a theory about how widespread deafness is in the Maya community. What is his theory, and how does he go about attempting to find evidence to support it?
- In the clip, Johnson criticizes ethnographers, but much of what he seems to be doing is ethnographic. How do linguistic and ethnographic methods overlap? How do they differ?
- What questions do you have?