Teaching Films

The films on this list are used by SACC members in their classes. The list is organized by course.

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Course Introduction, Representation, Othering
● Cannibal Tours (Sepik River, Papua New Guinea) (Used by Tad McIlwraith, Erik Ozolins)
● First Contact (Papua New Guinea – uses footage filmed of first contact with Highland New Guinean tribes and gold prospectors) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● The Life and Times of Sara Baartman (difference/othering; science, race, and gender) (Used by Angela Jenks)
Methods
● A Man Called Bee (Napoleon Chagnon and the Yanomamo) (Used by Nina Brown)
● Coming of Age (Margaret Mead story) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
Economic Anthropology
● Ongka’s Big Moka (Kawelka, Papua New Guinea) (Used by Tad McIlwraith, Erik Ozolins)
● The Real Piggy Bank. (Vanuatu, traditional money) (Used by Nina Brown)
● The Herders of Mongun-Taiga (subsistence)
● The Rendille (Kenya; subsistence)
Kinship and Descent/Families
● Kinship and Descent I and II (USA, Papua New Guinea, Yanomamo) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Dadi’s Family (Northwestern India) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
Religion and Ritual
● Ub Lama (Mongolia, Buddhism. Also works for globalization/culture change) (Used by Nina Brown)
● Witchcraft Among the Azande (Congo, Southern Sudan) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
Political Anthropology
● The Mursi (Ethiopia) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
Social Stratification
● Lesser Humans (Dalit and untouchability in India) (Used by Nina Brown)
● Man Without Pigs (Papua New Guinea) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
(available online)
Language and Communication
● Finding Our Talk (series about Canadian First Nations and language issues) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● The Language You Cry In (Sierra Leone, Gullah/African diaspora, language change) (Used by Angela Jenks)
Gender and Sexuality
● Harsh Beauty (Hijra/eunuchs in India) (Used by Nina Brown)
● World Without Husbands or Fathers (The Na or Mosuo of China) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● The Women’s Kingdom (Mosuo of China “walking marriage”) (Used by Nina Brown)
Globalization
● Hunters and Bombers (Innu and the Canadian Military, Labrador and Quebec) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Slum Survivors (Kibera Slum in Kenya; Urbanization; “Core-Periphery” and Post-colonial issues). (Used by Nina Brown)
Culture Change
● Endangered Jarawa (Indigenous Jarawa, Andaman Islands) (Used by Nina Brown)
● Trobriand Cricket (Syncretic Development of the Trobriand Islanders) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● The Kayapo: Out of the Forest
● The Lau of Malaita
● The Basques of Santazi
● The Herders of Mongun-Taiga
Art
● Skin Stories (Origin of Tatoos) (Used by Laura Gonzalez)
● Iindawo Zikathixo: In God’s Places (South Africa, looks at San Rock Art and Trance Rituals) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
Subsistence
● Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (Silent B/W film shot of Persian Pastoralists) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman (Used by Nina Brown)
Other and General Suggestions for Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
● Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan (Also, I always show The Kidnapped Bride on the first day of class. It’s great for culture shock and ethnocentrism. Free from PBS Frontline/World; used byNina Brown)
Indigenous Peoples of North America
Canada
● Dancing Around the Table (First Nations and Constitutional Issues) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Is the Crown at War with Us? (Mi’kmaq) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Mi’kmaq Family (Mi’kmaq) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Hunters and Bombers (Innu and the Canadian Military, Labrador and Quebec) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Cry Rock (Nuxalk, storytelling) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● In Search of the Hamatsa (Kwak’waka’wakw, Vancouver Island)
United States
● Ishi: The Last Yahi
● Sweating Indian Style (cultural appropriation)
Anthropology of Gender and Sexuality
● Guardians of the Flutes (Sambia) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Trobriand Islanders
● Asante Market Women
● Rivers of Sand (Hamar of Ethiopia)
● The Power Game (Women in Politics)
● Kitchen Goddess (Canadian Maritimes)
Anthropology of Religion
● Witchcraft Among the Azande (Congo, Southern Sudan) (Used by Tad McIlwraith, Erik Ozolins)
● Voodoo (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Healers of Ghana (Used by Tad McIlwraith, Erik Ozolins)
● Holy Ghost People (Pentecostals from West Virginia; altered states of consciousness) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Dead Birds (Papua New Guinea Highlands; ritualized warfare) (Used by Tad McIlwraith)
● Daba/Na Shaman (Na or Mosuo from China) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● A Celebration of Origins (Wai Brama people of Flores Island) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● Umbanda (Brazil – Syncretic religion combining West African beliefs with Catholicism) (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● Sand Painting: Sacred Art of Tibet (Used by Erik Ozolins)
● Sorcerers of Zaire
● Trobriand Cricket
● The Lau of Malaita
Food and Culture
● The Meaning of Food (especially the section called Food and Culture; used by Laura González)
● Bugs for Breakfast: Food and Culture (used by Laura González)
● Tapped (plastic water bottle industry; used by Laura González)
● Flow: For Love of Water (global privatization of water; used by Laura González)
Uncategorized Films
● Depending on Heaven: The Desert (Mongolia)
● Mending Ways: The Canela Indians of Brazil