Browse Titles - 320 results
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Disappearing World, Asante Market Women
directed by Claudia Milne, fl. 1982; produced by Claudia Milne, fl. 1982, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1982), 53 mins
As retailers, wholesalers, and negotiators, Asante women of Ghana dominate the huge Kumasi Central Market amid the laughter, argument, colour and music. The crew of this `Disappearing World' film have jumped into the fray, explored, and tried to explain the complexities of the market and its traders. The success o...
Sample
directed by Claudia Milne, fl. 1982; produced by Claudia Milne, fl. 1982, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1982), 53 mins
Description
As retailers, wholesalers, and negotiators, Asante women of Ghana dominate the huge Kumasi Central Market amid the laughter, argument, colour and music. The crew of this `Disappearing World' film have jumped into the fray, explored, and tried to explain the complexities of the market and its traders. The success of this crew is impressive. As the film was to be about women traders, an all female film crew was selected and the rapport between the...
As retailers, wholesalers, and negotiators, Asante women of Ghana dominate the huge Kumasi Central Market amid the laughter, argument, colour and music. The crew of this `Disappearing World' film have jumped into the fray, explored, and tried to explain the complexities of the market and its traders. The success of this crew is impressive. As the film was to be about women traders, an all female film crew was selected and the rapport between the two groups of women is remarkable. The relationship was no doubt all the stronger because the anthropologist acting as advisor to the crew, Charlotte Boaitey, is herself an Asante. The people open up for the interviewers telling them about their lives as traders, about differences between men and women, in their perception of their society and also about marriage. The women control the market through Queen Mothers who are leaders of particular sections of the market such as the yam or tomato sections. Generally these Queen Mothers are elected by the traders. However, Oba, the Plantain Queen Mother acquired her position through influence and because of this she has less control over her workers and over the resolution of differences. Market traders work long hours, make less than a shoe clerk or office worker yet the rewards for them can be many. The residual matrilineal system of Asante society means that inheritance moves from a man to his sister's children. The result is that an Asante woman is left with no means of support if her husband dies. The traders have gone to work to protect themselves against this possibility, to pay for their children's education and to maintain their independence. Implicit in this analysis of women traders is the relationship between men and women in Asante society. Marriage is polygamous and the crew interview women about their feelings on marriage and of their hopes of coming marriages. The film portrays the influence women have in the market as a direct contrast to their position in the home. Interviews with several husbands reveal, perhaps not surprisingly, that their perception of women differs from the women's perception of themselves. The men talk of the importance of having two wives, one to serve when the other is tired; one to grant sexual favours while the other is menstruating; each to compete with the other for male attention thus allowing the husband to retain control. Although the men accept a woman earning extra money, they still say a woman should be submissive and serve men. The women regard themselves as assertive, capable, and in control. Interviews with two young women demonstrate a desire for equality in the home. The film's analysis is a sympathetic one and full of insight. The focus is, though, rather narrowly on the husband-wife relationship and women's important relationships with their female and male kin are given little attention.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Charlotte Boaitey, fl. 1982, Claudia Milne, fl. 1982, Miriam Margolyes, 1941-
Author / Creator
Claudia Milne, fl. 1982, Charlotte Boaitey, fl. 1982
Date Published / Released
1982
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Speaker / Narrator
Miriam Margolyes, 1941-
Topic / Theme
Ashanti, Africans, Households, Societal structure, Markets, Polygamous marriages
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1982 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, In search of cool ground, Part 2. The Kwegu: The Mursi Trilogy
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1982), 53 mins
`The Kwegu' is an entirely tasteful and dignified presentation of the harsh realities of subsistence living, and it may help us understand how, even in stateless societies, dominated groups come to accept their domination as part of the natural order. A. Southall The Kwegu are hunters and cultivators who live alon...
Sample
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1982), 53 mins
Description
`The Kwegu' is an entirely tasteful and dignified presentation of the harsh realities of subsistence living, and it may help us understand how, even in stateless societies, dominated groups come to accept their domination as part of the natural order. A. Southall The Kwegu are hunters and cultivators who live along the banks of the River Omo in Southwestern Ethiopia. They are experts on the river, manipulating their dugout canoes through a swift...
`The Kwegu' is an entirely tasteful and dignified presentation of the harsh realities of subsistence living, and it may help us understand how, even in stateless societies, dominated groups come to accept their domination as part of the natural order. A. Southall The Kwegu are hunters and cultivators who live along the banks of the River Omo in Southwestern Ethiopia. They are experts on the river, manipulating their dugout canoes through a swift current where falling overboard could mean delivery into the jaws of a crocodile. The Mursi are cattle herders and cultivators who live with the Kwegu for several months of the year. This film is about the relationship between these two groups of people. The Mursi number about 5,000 and the Kwegu about 500. Both groups cultivate flood land along the Omo during the dry season, when the Mursi may also bring their cattle to the river. But the Kwegu keep themselves separate from the Mursi; they speak their own language among themselves, although they are bilingual and communicate with the Mursi only in Mursi. When the Mursi and Kwegu share a village, the Kwegu houses usually form a separate cluster.When a Kwegu marries, a vital part of the bridewealth is livestock. But since the Kwegu do not keep cattle, a system of exchange has developed whereby the Kwegu perform services in exchange for Mursi cattle. In addition to providing bridewealth cattle, the Mursi patron protects `his' Kwegu from other Mursi and acts on his behalf in bridewealth negotiations. In return the Kwegu provides his patron with honey and game meat and is available to ferry him and his family across the Omo when needed. This is a vital economic service, since the Mursi cultivate on both banks of the river and yet do not, unlike the Kwegu, live at the Omo all the year round. The Kwegu are therefore `guardians' of the canoes as well as ferrymen. There is some debate about the nature of the Mursi-Kwegu relationship. The anthropologist advisor for the film, David Turton, sees the relationship as one of domination. The Mursi depend economically on the Kwegu more than the Kwegu do on them, and yet the Kwegu see themselves as dependent, in a different, more extreme sense, on the Mursi: they cannot marry without the aid of Mursi patron. The Mursi exploit the economic services of the Kwegu through their control of Kwegu marriage. Jean Lydall, in her review of the film in RAIN (June 1982), suggests another interpretation for the exchange of services. She wonders if indeed the Kwegu are not making the Mursi 'pay through the nose' for the services they require. This film suggests that far from being second-class citizens, the Kwegu are sharp manipulators who have acquired protection and material wealth by making their services indispensable to the Mursi. Turton defended his interpretation in a reply to Lydall (RAIN, No. 51, pp. 10–12) and has more recently provided a more detailed description and analysis of the Mursi-Kwegu relationship, following the same argument as developed in the film but including much additional ethnographic information (Turton, 1986). The Kwegu won the Grand Prix du Festival at the Festival International du Film de Grand Reportage in Paris. This film is the second part of a trilogy, In Search of Cool Ground. The film is particularly recommended for courses in anthropology, African studies, patron–client relationships, ethnicity and multi-cultural studies.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
David Turton, Leslie Woodhead
Author / Creator
Leslie Woodhead, David Turton
Date Published / Released
1982
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Kwegu, Marriage, Intercommunity relations, Social strata, Tribal and national groups
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1982 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, Living with the Revolution
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, Granada Media, London, England, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1983), 53 mins
Through the words and lives of two families, the first of these companion films, made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series, examines change in two villages of southern China near Wuxi. One of these families, the Dings, are obviously influential members of the community and the parents have lived in t...
Sample
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, Granada Media, London, England, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1983), 53 mins
Description
Through the words and lives of two families, the first of these companion films, made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series, examines change in two villages of southern China near Wuxi. One of these families, the Dings, are obviously influential members of the community and the parents have lived in the area of what is now called Big Ding Village all their lives. The other family, the Jues, live in a more traditional and rural Wong J...
Through the words and lives of two families, the first of these companion films, made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series, examines change in two villages of southern China near Wuxi. One of these families, the Dings, are obviously influential members of the community and the parents have lived in the area of what is now called Big Ding Village all their lives. The other family, the Jues, live in a more traditional and rural Wong Jong Commune. Constantly the film compares life for these families before and after the Communist Revolution in 1949. Mrs Ding remembers her bitter childhood, the near infanticide of her fifth sister because as a girl the baby could only be a burden to the already over-extended family. Both the Dings and the Jues discuss the brutality of the Japanese, how the Japanese stole crops, how Mrs Ding's father hid her in the woodpile to save her from rape and possible murder by Japanese soldiers. The families recount their initial fear of the Communist Army, then their growing excitement for the ideals of the Party after the Revolution. They discuss the factions and fear of the Cultural Revolution, and the one Ding son who joined the Red Guards remembers his excitement on seeing Mao. He doesn't discuss the violence he may have helped create during these months as a Red Guard, although Mrs Ding hints at the dangers of giving any criticism of government policy during that period. More intimate revelations broadcast over national television could have been dangerous for the interviewees; the film-makers are to be commended for their portrayal, creating a picture of the individual in China while at the same time protecting that individual's privacy.
The historical perspective sets the stage for the current prosperity of the villages and the families. The film-makers make clear that Wuxi, an area where prosperity and the success of the new economic policies after the Cultural Revolution are evident, was the Chinese government's choice not theirs, yet within that confine, they were given complete freedom in their filming. Individual memories compare a past of hunger and want, with present material consumption, a bride's dowry valued at 700 yuan, and new homes. The rights of women have improved: Mrs Ding is a Production Team Leader and a silkworm expert, while Mrs Jue makes money by working the family's alloted land. The interactions within each family are clearly drawn, and by the end of the film, we feel a closeness with these families, for all they have known and for the hope they have for their future.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Barbara Hazard, fl. 1983, Leslie Woodhead, Granada Media, London, England
Author / Creator
Leslie Woodhead, Barbara Hazard, fl. 1983
Date Published / Released
1983
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Chinese, Family, Communism, Chinese people, Revolutions, Cultural change and history, Maori
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1983 by Disappearing World Films. Contact Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, The Kazakhs of China
directed by Andre Singer, fl. 1975; produced by Andre Singer, fl. 1975, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1983), 55 mins
The Kazakhs of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) are one of the fifty-five national minorities that now live within the borders of the People's Republic of China. The policy of the Chinese Communist Party toward these people has been one of Sinofication, a neutralization of 'reactionary' local leaders and an alliance of Han Chi...
Sample
directed by Andre Singer, fl. 1975; produced by Andre Singer, fl. 1975, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1983), 55 mins
Description
The Kazakhs of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) are one of the fifty-five national minorities that now live within the borders of the People's Republic of China. The policy of the Chinese Communist Party toward these people has been one of Sinofication, a neutralization of 'reactionary' local leaders and an alliance of Han Chinese with the indigenous culture. Xinjiang is a particularly sensitive area for the Chinese because of the traditional ties of the Kaza...
The Kazakhs of Xinjiang (Sinkiang) are one of the fifty-five national minorities that now live within the borders of the People's Republic of China. The policy of the Chinese Communist Party toward these people has been one of Sinofication, a neutralization of 'reactionary' local leaders and an alliance of Han Chinese with the indigenous culture. Xinjiang is a particularly sensitive area for the Chinese because of the traditional ties of the Kazakh with the Soviet Union. In 1962, some 50,000 Kazakhs and other non-Han peoples sought refuge in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Since then, the Sino-Soviet border has been closed, and until recently the entire area was off-limits to non-Chinese outsiders. This film offers unique ethnographic material about the Kazakh, as well as about Chinese policies in the years following the Cultural Revolution.The film follows the movement of the family of Abdul Gair, illustrated the cycles and tensions of present day Kazakhs, mixes detail of their traditional life as herders with suggestion of the effect of Chinese rule. The Chinese government allowed the filmmakers freedom to choose the subjects and people for the interviews and action sequences. Because of this, the film expresses, to a great extent, the view of the filmmaker, not of the Chinese government. Against a background of the Tienshan Mountains, the Kazakhs are shown branding yaks, milking mares, drinking kumis (fermented mare's milk), making their yearly move from winter to summer quarters, and setting up their felt-covered summer tents. Then, through the trip of Ahmed the production team leader to the brigade headquarters, the film portrays the relations between Kazakh and Han, showing the brigade's authority. Rather than livestock, formerly a mark of wealth being owned for individual profit, production and gain is now controlled by the brigade leaders. Women are given more freedom within the community. Kazakh children now have an opportunity for education in the Kazakh language, but the teaching is largely Party doctrine; they have health care, but this again is Chinese. Yet, despite pre-1977 restrictions on local religion and nomadic culture, and although Abdul Gair is himself a Party member, the Chinese do not, as yet, control the Kazakh. The Kazakh have retained their horses, not only as wealth, but as a means of freedom. Here, as in other cultures where a strong centralized government controls a minority, the continued cultural independence of the Kazakh is an open question. The Chinese policy is currently to move as many Han as possible from the overcrowded central areas of China to the less populated border areas such as Xinjiang. This film gives an understanding, not only of a Kazakh society, but also insights into current change, of the conflicts of domination and independence.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Shirin Akiner, fl. 1983, Andre Singer, fl. 1975
Author / Creator
Andre Singer, fl. 1975, Shirin Akiner, fl. 1983
Date Published / Released
1983
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Kazakh, Cultural adaptation, Minority communities, Herders, Cultural change and history
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1983 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
×
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Disappearing World, The Newest Revolution: Inside China 2
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1983), 53 mins
This film is a continuation of Living with the Revolution, set in the same communes near Wuxi and focusing on the same families. This film concentrates, however, on the new social and economic policies following the fall of Mao. The new movement is from a highly collectivized system of production to the new 'Respo...
Sample
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1983), 53 mins
Description
This film is a continuation of Living with the Revolution, set in the same communes near Wuxi and focusing on the same families. This film concentrates, however, on the new social and economic policies following the fall of Mao. The new movement is from a highly collectivized system of production to the new 'Responsibility System' where the primary production unit is again the household. One of the families interviewed is the Ding family. The Din...
This film is a continuation of Living with the Revolution, set in the same communes near Wuxi and focusing on the same families. This film concentrates, however, on the new social and economic policies following the fall of Mao. The new movement is from a highly collectivized system of production to the new 'Responsibility System' where the primary production unit is again the household. One of the families interviewed is the Ding family. The Dings are obviously an influential family in the village-it is called Big Ding Village; the mother is a Party member, the father and one son are accountants, another son is an engineer, a daughter-in-law works in an instruments factory. The family is wealthy. By Mr Ding's own admission they earn between 4,000 to 4,500 yuan a year in an economy where they only require 1,500 yuan a year to live. The rest is spent on material luxuries. This new-found wealth is presented as the result of the new 'Responsibilty System'. Big Ding Village is a partly urbanized community, but another commune of the area, the Wong Jong Commune, is rural. The new policies allow each person their own strip of land, and although the Party dictates what the owner can plant, surplus can be sold for individual profit. These policies are trying to strike a delicate balance to maintain the communal ideals of the Party while encouraging individualism. Although Mrs Ding and others talk about the equality of women, women now not only work away from home, but also do the traditional duties of a wife. A young wife, who traditionally moves to her husband's home, is still expected to serve her in-laws. A young bride's description of her first meeting with her future husband in an arranged marriage corresponds closely with the traditional meeting of Mr and Mrs Ding in the years before the Communist Revolution. This film creates a portrait of the tensions between the traditional and the new. One such conflict is the government directive for the one-child family. Although many families in China acknowledge the validity of this policy, it is hard to deny the traditional importance of a large family. Mrs Ding also works as a mediator in a system that tries to resolve conflicts in the community before they reach the courts. Implicit in the mediation are traditional Chinese values: the young must respect the decisions of their elders for the system to be effective. After the mediation sequence, the film shows several old men in a tea room while the narration describes a new pension scheme that would free younger people from taking care of their parents. This policy undermines the fundamental Chinese principle of the value of age and it is no wonder that the older people resent the plan.
The film is about change, a new materialism, a refocusing on individual effort which could threaten communal life. This is in many ways a reassertion of traditional Chinese values; reward for individual effort and materialism have only been strangers to China since the Revolution.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Barbara Hazard, fl. 1983, Leslie Woodhead
Author / Creator
Leslie Woodhead, Barbara Hazard, fl. 1983
Date Published / Released
1983
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Chinese, Chinese people, Communism, Cultural change and history, Jews
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1983 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, In search of cool ground, Part 3. The Migrants: The Mursi Trilogy
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1985), 53 mins
The Migrants is the third film in the trilogy In Search of Cool Ground made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series. It is about a drought-induced migration of Mursi from their traditional territory in the Omo valley to the Mago valley, about fifty miles away. This migration has brought them, for the fi...
Sample
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1985), 53 mins
Description
The Migrants is the third film in the trilogy In Search of Cool Ground made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series. It is about a drought-induced migration of Mursi from their traditional territory in the Omo valley to the Mago valley, about fifty miles away. This migration has brought them, for the first time, into contact with the market economy of the Ethiopian Highlands. David Turton notes that, when he first met the Mursi, men we...
The Migrants is the third film in the trilogy In Search of Cool Ground made for Granada Television's Disappearing World series. It is about a drought-induced migration of Mursi from their traditional territory in the Omo valley to the Mago valley, about fifty miles away. This migration has brought them, for the first time, into contact with the market economy of the Ethiopian Highlands. David Turton notes that, when he first met the Mursi, men were seldom, and women never, seen at the highland markets. Now the Mago migrants, and especially women, are familiar figures in the weekly market at Berka, just four hours' walk from their new settlements. With their foothold in the pastoral economy weakening (tsetse flies make the Mago area quite unsuitable for cattle herding) and their dependence on market exchange growing, the migrants are in the process of becoming settled agriculturalists, like their highland neighbours, the Ari. By tracing the present and likely impact of this move on the lives of the migrants, the film shows how they are beginning to carve out a new ethnic identity for themselves, as well as a new home.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
David Turton, Leslie Woodhead
Author / Creator
Leslie Woodhead, David Turton
Date Published / Released
1985
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Mursi, Gender roles, Religious rites and ceremonies, Cultural change and history, Africans, Cultural adaptation, American Indians
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1985 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, Cakchiquel Maya of San Antonio Palopó
directed by Bruce MacDonald, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute), 55 mins
The documentary shows, how Cakchiquel Maya of a village on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, adapted to recent changes. It emerges, that the lake has become a favoured spot for holiday homes, and that the village has been subject to streams of tourists in the last decades. The filmmakers while they are officially welcome...
Sample
directed by Bruce MacDonald, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute), 55 mins
Description
The documentary shows, how Cakchiquel Maya of a village on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, adapted to recent changes. It emerges, that the lake has become a favoured spot for holiday homes, and that the village has been subject to streams of tourists in the last decades. The filmmakers while they are officially welcomed and given permission to film, in practice many people hid their faces, would not co-operate and even throw stones. The film team trie...
The documentary shows, how Cakchiquel Maya of a village on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, adapted to recent changes. It emerges, that the lake has become a favoured spot for holiday homes, and that the village has been subject to streams of tourists in the last decades. The filmmakers while they are officially welcomed and given permission to film, in practice many people hid their faces, would not co-operate and even throw stones. The film team tried to find an explanation of the Maya hostility to the camera.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Tracy Bachrach Ehlers
Author / Creator
Bruce MacDonald, Tracy Bachrach Ehlers
Date Published / Released
1987
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Kaqchikel Maya, Cultural identity, Tribal and national groups, Tourist attractions, Cultural change and history, Cultural assimilation, Kaqchikel
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1987 by Disappearing World Films. Contact Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, The Basques of Santazi
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1987), 54 mins
In her book 'The Circle of Mountains' Sandra Ott provided a fascinating analysis of social reciprocity.... The film highlights the village's contemporary dilemmas and thereby complements rather than visualises the arguments in Ott's published ethnography.... The approach is to be applauded since the book and the f...
Sample
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1987), 54 mins
Description
In her book 'The Circle of Mountains' Sandra Ott provided a fascinating analysis of social reciprocity.... The film highlights the village's contemporary dilemmas and thereby complements rather than visualises the arguments in Ott's published ethnography.... The approach is to be applauded since the book and the film now make excellent companion pieces that can usefully be employed in any course on European ethnography. This film follows the live...
In her book 'The Circle of Mountains' Sandra Ott provided a fascinating analysis of social reciprocity.... The film highlights the village's contemporary dilemmas and thereby complements rather than visualises the arguments in Ott's published ethnography.... The approach is to be applauded since the book and the film now make excellent companion pieces that can usefully be employed in any course on European ethnography. This film follows the lives over one year, shot during three intervals, of two Basque shepherding families who live in Santazi, a village in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. The film is the only Disappearing World film made in western Europe and it focuses on the continuity and change in the community. Change has come to the village of Santazi in recent years along the avenues of introduced roads and improved communication systems with the outside world. The effects stretch from people's relationship with the Catholic religion to inheritance customs. Television has of course also entered these villagers' homes. The traditional life of shepherding is also changing amidst the conflict of interest between those who have formed a syndicated in an effort to maintain the viability of shepherding and the sons who have taken jobs as linemen for the electricity company. This film shows the rationality behind the choice the villagers are making. This film is recommended for courses in anthropology, sociology, culture change, and European communities.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Sandra Ott, fl. 1987, Leslie Woodhead
Author / Creator
Leslie Woodhead, Sandra Ott, fl. 1987
Date Published / Released
1987
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Basque, Agrarian people, Religious rites and ceremonies, Cultural change and history, Western European people, Herders, Pacific Islanders
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1987 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, The Kayapo
directed by Michael Beckham, 1938-2017, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute), 55 mins
This film focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the reactions of two groups of Kayapo to outside influence. The Kapot have opposed contact and resisted both non-indigenous Br...
Sample
directed by Michael Beckham, 1938-2017, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute), 55 mins
Description
This film focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the reactions of two groups of Kayapo to outside influence. The Kapot have opposed contact and resisted both non-indigenous Brazilian settlers and gold miners. The Gorotire, by contrast, were invaded by gold miners who strip-mined their land and polluted their...
This film focuses on the conflicts and determination of a group of people trying to survive and maintain their ethnic identity in the face of almost overpowering odds. The film contrasts the reactions of two groups of Kayapo to outside influence. The Kapot have opposed contact and resisted both non-indigenous Brazilian settlers and gold miners. The Gorotire, by contrast, were invaded by gold miners who strip-mined their land and polluted their rivers. The miners paid the Gorotire very little for the destruction until 1985 when the Gorotire forced the miners to raise the commission by 5% when 200 warriors seized the airstrip. This commission amounts to two million dollars per year for the tribe and the tribe is learning to cope with the money, both with the problems it brings and the power it gives. They have trained several of their number to deal effectively with the outside world on behalf of the rest of the tribe and they now run a plane (and hire a pilot) to patrol their land against intruders. The Kapot, in their own way, are also trying to assert their identity and independence. This portion of the film shows the Kapot in the traditional activities of building and dismantling a hunting camp. The hunters returning with the tortoises they have caught are a particularly impressive sight. The now famous Chief Rop-ni is featured as a leader of the Kapot and he states eloquently his opposition to the Gorotire's acceptance of the gold miners. Despite their adherence to tradition, however, the Kapot use modern technology – video, radios, etc. – to protect their interests and record their rituals. This is a political film and would be excellent for courses in anthropology, Latin American studies, ecology, development, and international politics.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Terence Turner, fl. 1987
Author / Creator
Michael Beckham, 1938-2017, Terence Turner, fl. 1987
Date Published / Released
1987
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Kayapo Indians, Cultural assimilation, Cultural identity, Tribal and national groups, Hunting, Gold, Kayapo
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1987 by Disappearing World Films. Contact Royal Anthropological Institute
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Disappearing World, The Lau of Malaita
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1987), 54 mins
Pierre Miranda and a team from Granada Television have made a fine film exploring the trouble realities of the people of the lagoon in the 1980s. B. Shore This film focuses on the people of Lau lagoon in the Solomon Islands who live on artificial islands near the island of Malaita. These islands are built of coral...
Sample
directed by Leslie Woodhead; produced by Leslie Woodhead, in Disappearing World (London, England: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1987), 54 mins
Description
Pierre Miranda and a team from Granada Television have made a fine film exploring the trouble realities of the people of the lagoon in the 1980s. B. Shore This film focuses on the people of Lau lagoon in the Solomon Islands who live on artificial islands near the island of Malaita. These islands are built of coral rubble and the people moved to them in an attempt to escape the dangers of malaria and enemies, and to find better fishing. The film f...
Pierre Miranda and a team from Granada Television have made a fine film exploring the trouble realities of the people of the lagoon in the 1980s. B. Shore This film focuses on the people of Lau lagoon in the Solomon Islands who live on artificial islands near the island of Malaita. These islands are built of coral rubble and the people moved to them in an attempt to escape the dangers of malaria and enemies, and to find better fishing. The film focuses on change and conflict. The concept of 'custom' is vital to the islanders' identity, yet this is being eroded, particularly by Christian missionaries. The conflict between Christian and Pagan now pervades daily life, creating divisions in families and eroding knowledge of traditional life. Two `custom' priests recently committed ritual suicide, one by swimming under a canoe containing women and the other by deliberately making a mistake in a ceremony. Within weeks, both priests physically died. The despair in the ability of `custom' to continue that these priests must have felt is presented visually throughout the film. Few of the islanders remember more than a fraction of the hundreds of traditional spirits and the young are turning more and more to the traditions and commodities of Western culture. This theme is a common one makes it no less powerful or relevant. Spurred by the presence of the Disappearing World camera crew, the islanders built a house in which to store their traditional and ritual objects. A commendable act of preservation on the part of the islanders, but at the same time the implications of their act are saddening. They are taking their ritual things out of the sphere of living, daily tradition and placing them in the realm of objective history. The Lau is recommended for courses in anthropology, sociology, development, culture change, Melanesia, religion, and ecology.
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Field of Study
Anthropology
Content Type
Documentary
Contributor
Pierre Maranda, 1930-, Leslie Woodhead
Author / Creator
Leslie Woodhead, Pierre Maranda, 1930-
Date Published / Released
1987
Publisher
Royal Anthropological Institute
Series
Disappearing World
Topic / Theme
Lau, In-group conflicts, Weddings, Cultural change and history, Gender roles, Island life
Copyright Message
Copyright © 1987 by the Royal Anthropological Institute
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