Languages: English

Throughout history, cultures have changed because of environmental conditions, internal pressures, or external forces. Change comes quickly, or it may occur slowly. In any event, anthropologists chronicle cultural change and offer explanations as to why it happens. Anthropologist Eugene Cooper has tracked cultural change as it is reflected in the craft of Chinese furniture-making during the 1970s and 1980s, and he emphasizes that societies change with the use of new technologies. The key term, diffusion, is introduced and discussed within the context of the spread of the English language from the anthropologist to the group she/he studies. The video illuminates some of the benefits and problems that immigration poses for a culture. It focuses on the current migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the United States. It illustrates why the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps was founded, and how their goals were formed in response to the perception that too many Mexican citizens were coming across the border into the United States illegally.

This program explores the phenomenon of globalization, its complex forms, and its impact on the cultures of the world, as well as the contributions that anthropology can make toward a better understanding of it. Wal-Mart?s operations in China are shown as an example of how giant global corporations use structural power to expand business and profit in developing countries. The collaboration of the Bolivian government with another U.S.-based global corporation, Bechtel, and the World Bank illustrates how such partnerships can act against the best interests of the people. Finally, a Bangladeshi immigrant to the United States is interviewed, giving a personal perspective on the record high levels of external and internal migration occurring worldwide.

The video begins with the anthropological definition of applied anthropology; that this field of study refers to the application of method and theory to the analysis and solution of practical problems and that it can be used, or ?applied,? within the four subdisciplines of anthropology?physical (or biological), cultural, linguistic and archaeological. The video shows how a cultural anthropologist, Professor Mikel Hogan, practices applied anthropology within a hospital setting to help resolve some of the on-the-job problems that nurses face at this time of crises within the health-care system in the United States. As the video progresses, viewers also see how linguistic anthropologist Breesha Maddrell works on the Isle of Man to help the culture there preserve and maintain the Celtic language of Manx Gaelic. Finally, the third segment of the video shows how physical anthropologists Amy Mundorff and Diane Cockle work in the area of forensics.

Cultural Anthropology: Our Diverse World explores the various ways in which the human species has responded to the fundamental challenges of survival, and students will gain a greater appreciation for the ways in which anthropologists works to study the cultural and biological aspects of humankind within the widest possible context–a mix of theoretical perspectives and methodologies.

This film focuses on three types of subsistence patterns: foraging, horticultural/ agricultural, and pastoralism. What all subsistence systems have in common is the need for water. Who controls the water is at the heart of human survival. In the postindustrial era, traditional subsistence activities have been relegated to hobbies, such as hunting, fishing, and berry picking.

Economic systems are the means by which a society produces, distributes and consumes resources, and are intimately integrated with the other elements of the culture. In this lesson the economic systems of several societies are examined as examples of how reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange play a central role in the distribution of goods. The Ju/?hoansi of southern Africa exemplify foraging cultures in which food is not produced but rather collected as it is needed and distributed immediately according to the process known as generalized reciprocity. The Yolmo of Nepal traditionally practiced pastoralism and subsistence farming, using an exchange system of balanced reciprocity combined with redistribution. A Ghanian market run by women illustrates a traditional form of market exchange, and a Japanese fish market exemplifies the wholesale commercial market with international participants but face-to-face transactions according to Japanese cultural practices.

The video opens with a wedding in Long Bow Village, in China, and effectively shows the diverse nature of weddings from one culture to another emphasizing that weddings are rites of passage, full of ritual and symbols that convey and emphasize the values of that society. It defines marriage and suggests that this is one way that societies regulate sexual relations between men and women. It points out that all cultures include rules on who can marry whom because of the general concern regarding marriage between close family members, or incest. The incest taboo is discussed, and the narrator and expert anthropologists explain it provides a structuring mechanism for marriage rules, endogamy and exogamy. Arranged marriages are discussed, how they benefit specific societies, and the attitudes toward then as opposed to the western ideals of romantic love.

The video begins with the anthropological definition of applied anthropology; that this field of study refers to the application of method and theory to the analysis and solution of practical problems and that it can be used, or ?applied,? within the four subdisciplines of anthropology?physical (or biological), cultural, linguistic and archaeological. The video shows how a cultural anthropologist, Professor Mikel Hogan, practices applied anthropology within a hospital setting to help resolve some of the on-the-job problems that nurses face at this time of crises within the health-care system in the United States. As the video progresses, viewers also see how linguistic anthropologist Breesha Maddrell works on the Isle of Man to help the culture there preserve and maintain the Celtic language of Manx Gaelic. Finally, the third segment of the video shows how physical anthropologists Amy Mundorff and Diane Cockle work in the area of forensics

Anthropology: The Four Fields introduces the central concepts, concerns, and research methods of cultural anthropology. It takes a cross-cultural approach to diverse subject areas, including subsistence patterns, political organization, the family, social organization, economics, kinship, language, the arts, and religion.

Exlains the four-fields of anthropology, defines the concept of hilsm, and describes how anthroplogists approach their subject matter form a holistic and comparative cross-cultural perspective in order to reach the braodest and most inclusive conclusions possible on their subject of interest. Each field, cultural, physical (biological), linguistic anthropology, and archaeology, are described and situational material is included to illustrate how each field functions and interconnects with the others. This video also introduces the student to the way anthropologists carry out their analyses through rigorous fieldwork and participant observation in order to create the ethnographies that describe human cross-culturally.