91Èȱ¬ FOUR Autumn
2006
Anthropology Season
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In the 18th and 19th centuries, as Europeans penetrated further and
further into some of the most inaccessible parts of the globe, they
encountered peoples who seemed to turn everything they thought they
knew about human behaviour upside down.
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Here were communities
who loved and married, fed and fought, lived and died in ways very
different to anything that European explorers had ever seen before.
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From their attempts to make sense of what they had seen – and to help
them understand the nature of what it means to be human – the idea of
anthropology was born.
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"The science of man", as anthropology was
dubbed, had its heyday in the first 50 years of the 20th century.
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It was
hugely influential, as new information about how other communities
organised themselves was translated back into the West, where it
provided a blueprint for changing traditional behaviour under the
argument of returning to a more "natural" or "free" way of doing things.
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But in recent years, many of the assumptions that underpinned the work
of key anthropologists have been questioned by new research.
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Wider
questions have been asked about whether it is possible – or indeed
morally desirable – for the observation of one group of humans by
another to ever be anything other than subjective; whether indeed a
"science of mankind" can ever be possible...
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91Èȱ¬ FOUR's season tells the story of some of the great names of
anthropology's past, and raises some penetrating questions about
its future.
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Tom Harrisson –
The Barefoot Anthropologist
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Anthropology has always attracted more than its fair share of larger-than-life characters,
and Tom Harrisson was one of the very largest.
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Best known as the man who invented Mass
Observation, he was also a guerrilla fighter, a pioneering documentary-maker, and the man
credited with re-introducing head-hunting back into Borneo.
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Sir David Attenborough,
who knew Harrison well, narrates this film about a great British eccentric, public school
rebel and university drop-out who changed the way we thought about other peoples
and ourselves.
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A 91Èȱ¬ production.
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Tales From The Jungle – Carlos Castaneda And The Shaman
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Carlos Castaneda rose to fame after the publication of his book, The Teachings Of Don
Juan.
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The book is based on his anthropological fieldwork in the Mexican desert in the
Sixties with a Yaqui Indian shaman, whom he called Don Juan.
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The Teachings Of Don Juan was an instant success for Castaneda, persuading thousands of
Americans to set off for Mexico in search of drugs, nirvana and enlightenment.
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Castaneda
was dubbed the "grandfather of the New Age movement" by Time magazine and awarded
a doctorate in anthropology from UCLA.
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But an investigative journalist claimed Castaneda
had faked his fieldwork and that Don Juan was merely a figment of his imagination.
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This film investigates the controversy that surrounded Castaneda's book and explores the
practices of today's Yaqui Indians with Dr David Shorter, who has spent the last decade
working among them in Mexico.
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A 91Èȱ¬ production.
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Margaret Mead and the SamoansÌý
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Tales From The Jungle –
Margaret Mead And
The Samoans
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Exploring the work of Margaret Mead, this film
investigates the 12 months Mead spent with the Samoans
in the Twenties.
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Her resulting book, Coming Of Age In Samoa, had a huge
impact on Western culture.
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Mead believed cultures like
the Samoans could teach people how to live in harmony.
Her book depicts a society of free love – devoid of
jealousy and teenage turmoil.
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But, decades later, her work was criticised as being
tainted by her romantic views and strong belief in liberal
values.
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Tales From The Jungle examines whether Mead's
study was merely misinterpretation and romantic
wishful thinking.
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A 91Èȱ¬ production.
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First Contact
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Adventurous and high-paying tourists are being offered the chance to make "first contact" with some of the world's last remaining uncontacted tribes.
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First contact with the outside world usually spells disaster for genuine uncontacted tribes.
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Presented by Mark Anstice, an experienced expedition leader and author of a book also
called First Contact, this film looks at the complex issues surrounding the ethics of first
contact and meets the people involved.
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An Indus Films production.
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Malinowski And The Trobriand Islanders
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Tales From The Jungle –
Malinowski And The Trobriand Islanders
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This film examines the work of Bronislaw Malinowski, often revered as the founding father
of modern anthropology.
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Malinowski famously "went native", intending to live among the
mysterious tribes of the Trobriand Islands in the Pacific Ocean for 12 months.
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However,
the outbreak of the First World War forced him to stay for four years and the resulting
work he produced was seen as pioneering.
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Some 25 years after his death, his newly-published diaries revealed that he actually reviled
the islanders and dismissed them as backward savages.
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The revelation rocked the
reputation of both Malinowski and anthropology itself.
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This film returns to the islands to
explore Malinowski's story and its legacy.
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A 91Èȱ¬ production.
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