movies encompassing the planet

for a sense of the whole planetary scope of human activity (and its absence):
 
Matt Harding collected clips of his happy jigging all over the world.
This set this to music. A simple but powerful statement. It is hard not to smile.
  http://youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
 
For anyone interested in geography, energy - water - air/space, and the places around the world, this Flash movie is vivid and powerful. www.greatdanepro.com/Blue%20Bueaty [that spelling error is part of the link]

links page (Am.Anthro.Assoc)

http://www.aaanet.org/resources/links.cfm

video, Doing Anthropology (making it accessible; easy to visualize)

Mass. Inst. of Technology's Video Productions has created a new video called Doing Anthropology, to promote greater public understanding about cultural anthropology and the process of fieldwork. The video, which is housed on MIT TechTV (http://techtv.mit.edu/file/663/), is streamable and can be embedded into your personal blog or website.

anthropology programming (TV broadcasts)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/archive/int_anth.html
gives thumbnail, individual website and resources for about 14 programs as of 6/2008

oldest ironworks (USA) - video

25 Jun 2008 From: newsletter of edutopia.org
Video: Turning on Technology
A field trip to the nation's oldest ironworks is captured with the latest tech.

tackling trash

http://www.justicetalking.org/viewprogram.asp?progID=668
webpage gives links to interview segments, related books, transcripts, action items

NPR.org - Brazilian Tribes Say Dam Threatens Way of Life

Brazilian Tribes Say Dam Threatens Way of Life
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91007395
>> June 24 update "semi-hoax"
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/91536/the-not-so-lost-tribe

first view, FW: Brazilian tribe

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7427417.stm
[excerpt]

TWO MEN

These men are trying to drive off the plane from which these photographs were taken. They are aiming their bows at the aircraft, which had returned to fly over the settlement for a second time, after making a first pass some hours earlier.

 

The men have large bows made from forest hardwood, which they use to hunt for animals including tapirs, monkeys, deer, wild pigs and other small mammals.

 

They have also painted themselves with the red dye, urucum, commonly used by tribes in the Amazon. It is made from the seeds of a fruit similar to the horse chestnut. The seeds are ground into a paste to form the dye.

 

The body paint is most likely a show of aggression, possibly in response to the plane's first flyover.

archeology? Indiana Jones--Saving or Stealing History?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89724552&sc=emaf
(radio story, Monday, 4/21/2008)

bio. anthro "e-skeleton" project

http://www.eskeletons.org/ gives 2D and 3D primate, including human skeletons

ethno-doc website; Indigenous Knowledge Bank

from blog Anthropologist About Town - Apr 17, 2008

Indigenous knowledge Following the film I saw yesterday I want to find out more about the different indigenous peoples of the world, so I'm going to browse the internet to see what I can discover. Anthropologists are often involved in the study of indigenous societies, and many work for organisations that campaign to uphold their rights. For example, The Peoples of the World Foundation is a group that highlights the lives of indigenous people using photography and film, in doing so hope to 'educate and enlighten' its vewers. Also worth checking out is Survival International, a non-governmental organisation that is often in the press for its work, most recently perhaps regarding their campaign to stop people referring to indigenous people as 'primitive'...and there are also many interesting films on their website from around the world. Rounding up the week is the happy news today that Ethnodoc - the visual anthropology website - have just announced that all the their film content is now viewable online for FREE! In case you haven't read about Ethnodoc on the blog before, it's an Italian organisation that aims to link people interested in visual anthropology across the globe, providing photographs, films and articles on visual material free of charge - once you've signed up for free membership. It's a useful place to look at if you're interested in the subject, and also to research links to other similar organisations and hear the latest news about conferences and events.

textbook - indigenous voices (authorship)

from Anthropologist About Town, http://anthropologistabouttown.blogspot.com
Diary for Thursday 10th April 2008

Tonight I'm going along to an event at the Blackwell's University bookshop in Oxford Brookes University. It's the launch of a new guide to social anthropology called 'An Introduction to Social Anthropology: Sharing our Worlds' which is one of variety of books out there that's useful for newcomers to the subject. Interestingly, sections of the text are written by indigenous people themselves, so we get a first-hand account of their concerns and beliefs. The author and anthropologist, Joy Hendry ( A Japan specialist) will also be on hand to talk about the book. If you want to find out more about her in advance you could listen to an episode of Radio 4's Excess Baggage that she appeared on last year, talking about the experience of conducting fieldwork. The book launch begins at 17.00 and the shop is located on Gipsy Lane in the Headington area of Oxford - to attend you will need to contact jhendry@brookes.ac DOT uk

Material culture as window on Consumer life

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the
underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff
exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social
issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. 
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

quotable (teens)

Quentin Crisp said, "The young always have the same problem - how to rebel and conform at the same time. They have now solved this by defying their parents and copying one another." Hopefully your children are not defying you, but as they get older, you can see how much more their friends influence them.

teens & ethnographic filming (UK)

...short documentary made by A-Level students from S.E. London who took part in an ethnographic film workshop. Details,
 
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES ON FILM, www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk
An evening of documentary short film screenings by visual anthropologists, exploring the experiences of children in India, Ethiopia and Malawi, separated from their parents and finding imaginative ways to create homes for themselves.

_______Films to be shown:
<> Street Fiction
 Malawi 2002 (32 minutes) Filmmaker and anthropologist: Dominic Elliot.
Through combining their own dramatic reconstructions and real life observation, this film tells the story of the Malawian children who run away from their homes in search of a better life on the streets of Blantyre.  As the children act out a fiction based on their own experiences, we also follow the work of MacDonald, a social worker whose hope it is to return them to their homes.
<> Ravi and Bhajay
 India 2002 (26 minutes) Filmmaker and anthropologist: Rachel Webster.
An intimate and uplifting exploration of the lives of street children Ravi and Bhajay as they survive together on the streets of Mumbai.  To get away from it all they visit the holy city of Vijain with the film-maker.  Despite being offered jobs and schooling if they stay in Vijain the attraction of the streets is too great and Ravi and Bhajay choose to return to Mumbai to be among their friends.  The film shows how two street boys create a life for themselves on the streets of Mumbai based around friendship.
<> Room 11: Ethiopia Hotel
 Ethiopia 2006 (21 minutes)  Filmmaker and anthropologist: Itsushi Kawase.
This film aims to capture a sense of the life of children living on the street in Gondar by witnessing the interaction between two children and the film-maker.  Although it is about the children's life on the streets, the entire film was shot in the film-maker's room in the Ethiopia Hotel.  This limited space allows the film to focus on communication between subjects and film-maker and to reveal some of the ideas that enable them to endure and survive on the streets.
<> Pride of Place
 Dorothea Gazidis & Kim Longinotto 1976 (59 minutes)
A rarely since classic by Kim Longinotto takes a dark look at the boarding schools she ran away from as a teenager.  Preceded by short film: The Good Ol' Days by students from Greenwich Community College.
<> The New Boys
 David MacDougall 2003 (100 minutes)
Filmmaker David MacDougall follows a group of new boys during their first term at the "Eton of India," capturing their conflicts and friendships, jokes and loneliness.   Preceded by short film Talk of the Trade by students from Greenwich Community College.
<> SchoolScapes
 David MacDougall 2007 (77 minutes)
MacDougall continues his exploration of schools life at the progressive Rishi Valley School in India, founded by the philosopher Krishanmurti.  Preceded by short film Anglesea Road: Mini Somalia by students from Greenwich Community College.
 
RAI - Our Education Programme
The Royal Anthropological Institute's Education programme Discover Anthropology has been set up to develop actions and strategies to inform teachers and young people about anthropology as a university subject, and to bring the subject more generally into pre-university education. Anthropology, the study of what it means to be human across different societies, cultures and histories, is not currently taught in schools and colleges in the UK and compared to other social sciences anthropology undergraduate degrees attract fewer students from widening participation target groups. Yet the discipline of anthropology has a distinctive, and vital, contribution to make to understanding the world today. Anthropology offers a deep understanding of how different societies work, how people live, what are their beliefs, customs, ideas, prejudices and aspirations.  In an era when global understanding and recognition of diverse ways of seeing the world are of critical social, political and economic importance, anthropology has a central role to play in education.
  "Anthropology is concerned with the whole of life and is not just something you do until 6 o'clock. The study of anthropology encourages you to have a new kind of consciousness of life; it is a way of looking at the world and in that sense it is a way of living," Anthropologist David Pocock, Discovering Anthropology: a resource guide.  The electronic version of Discovering Anthropology is available free on-line here. 
  The Discover Anthropology education programme aims to 1) provide good quality accessible information for students considering studying anthropology at university 2) to create a series of regular events and activities for young people and teachers and 3) produce resources for teachers that draw upon the insights of anthropology. The programme will be represented by a dedicated website shortly. From 2005-2006 the programme was funded through the AimHigher National Activity programme.  From 2007-2010 the programme will be funded by the Economics and Social Research Council.
  Contact Nafisa Fera, Education Officer, for more details: +44 (0)20 7387 0455.

anthro of sport

[via 28 feb 2008 anthropologistabouttown.blogspot.com]
 
anthropology and sport interest you as a subject you could look into the B.A. in Sport at Durham University, which includes anthropology modules[http://www.dur.ac.uk/sass/staff/profile/?id=4297 ].
There are also a couple of good introductory texts [http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859731457/ref=nosim/londanthday-21 ] on the subject, looking at how sport impacts upon culture, politics, economics and identity, to name but a few...

review article, "Intro to Anthro"

Introducing Anthropology: A Review Article
by Raelene Wilding DOI: 10.1080/00664670701859016

Anthropological Forum, Volume 18, Issue 1 March 2008 , pages 71 - 78

Languages of the World

http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/
Language plays a unique role in capturing the breadth of human diversity. We are constantly
amazed by the variety of human thought, culture, society, and literature expressed in many thousands of languages around the world. We can find out what people think only through their language. We can find out what they thought in the past only if we read their written records. We can tell future generations about ourselves only if we speak or write to them. If we want other civilizations in space to learn about us we send them messages in dozens of our planet's six thousand languages.
 
The main purpose of this website is to provide information about the language families of the world
and their most important and populous members, including their history, status, their linguistic
characteristics, and their writing in as simple and concise a way as possible. We base this website
on the belief that all languages have evolved from the need of human beings to express their thoughts, beliefs, and desires, that all languages meet the social, psychological, and survival needs of people who use them. In this sense, all languages, no matter how small and remote, are equal. All equally deserve study because all of them provide valuable insights into human nature.

language - plain, please

US Gov't, http://www.plainlanguage.gov/
Worldwide, http://www.plainlanguage.gov/community/world.cfm

using mini video cameras for projects

example of using http://theflip.com or http://mysmallwonder.com
[seen on EDTECH e-list today]... just blogged about using 5 of these in his classroom for
a video project, http://www.ncs-tech.org/

children's favorites (cross-culturally)

Fodder for lively classroom discussion? (links to the Japan page, but the homepage gives other subjects, too)

"...great survey data ...such as Japanese children's favorite subjects, relationships with friends, even "the effects of bullying." 
http://www.childresearch.net/RESEARCH/DATA_JCHILD

watch online ethnographic films

[via 11-jan-08 http://anthropologistabouttown.blogspot.com]

http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/
the 4DOCS website; or sort the film catalogue by theme, and choose 'ethnography'
http://www.channel4.com/fourdocs/film/film-list.jsp?sort=date
 
http://www.visualanthropology.net/index.php
...reviews of films and books on all things visual and anthropological, as well as news of interesting screenings, festivals and publications. It is also linked to an organisation called Ethnodoc, which has just begun to put ethnographic films on its website for members to watch - subscription is FREE
http://www.ethnodoc.org/index.php
 
See Also, page of visual anthro links, http://anthroview.googlepages.com/filmlinks
or the Society for Visual Anthropology homepage, http://www.societyforvisualanthropology.org/

bbc2 "Tribe" series 1-2-3

[opening snippet] "What is Tribe to me?"
Tribe has been my whole world for the last four years and is the most important thing in my life right now. It's a series about people and culture, our culture as well as others. We hope it's entertaining, because we want people to watch and enjoy, especially people who wouldn't normally tune into this type of programme, but we also hope we can communicate something important about the world." [continues, http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/bruce/index.shtml]

outside the UK the video stream will be blocked, but clips may be viewable via Discovery Channel website

eMusic Lists - Save For Later

Stephen Katz, author of Cultural Aging: Life Course, Lifestyle and Senior Worlds (Broadview Press).
This book offers an approach to identity defined by location within one's life course.

H.S. sociology text marginalizes anthropology

http://soc.glencoe.com [accompanying URL to book, here quoting] "...the social sciences"

[Anthropology] ...closely related to sociology. Anthropology, however, concentrates on studying preliterate societies. Sociologists focus on modern, industrialized societies.

Teaching with heritage in secondary education

Dear Colleague

We would like to inform you of another European heritage project, HEREDUC, a European partnership, formed with the aim of developing new approaches to heritage education. The project has developed a handbook for teachers entitled Heritage in the Classroom and an In-service Training Course. For more information about these and other HEREDUC activities, please consult their website, at www.hereduc.net.

Next spring, from April 24th to May 1st 2008 the in-service training

course: "Teaching with heritage in secondary education" will be organised for the second time in the historic castle of Alden Biesen in Bilzen, Belgium (www.alden-biesen.be). Beginning with a theoretical introduction to what heritage and heritage education is, the course will go on to explore the castle of Alden Biesen and the surrounding area as a case study—through observation and exploration exercises, active workshops and guided visits.

This course is primarily aimed at secondary school teachers and teacher trainers, however others working in the heritage sector can also apply for a European grant to participate. You will find more information about this in the attached promotion leaflet for the course.

We would greatly appreciate your help in informing your colleagues in your country or institution about this course. A free copy of Heritage in the Classroom can be obtained by contacting Ms. Veerle de Troyer at veerle.de.troyer@g-o.be.

With Best Regards

 

Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation

Abdijstraat 13-15 9700 Oudenaarde BELGIUM

tel + 32 55 30 03 44

fax + 32 55 30 35 19

www.enamecenter.org

 

 

 

Lynn M. Alex

Director of Education and Outreach

Office of the State Archaeologist

700 Clinton Street Building

University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa  52242

(319) 384-0561

 

 

 

Welcome colleagues teaching anthropology

Following the successful "Anthropolgy Goes to High School" discussion forum (Nov. 28, 2007) and poster session (Nov. 30) at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, I've set up this mechanism for gathering your links and vivid excerpts for teaching anthro to and with young people. I believe attached images and audio files will also be "live" when you send your posting via email. I'll write separately to those involved in the session with the access code so each person can freely add content to this website at http://k12anthrolinks.blogspot.com
-- Guven Witteveen, anthroview@gmail. (dotCom)

==== URLs mentioned at the sessions ====
http://www.aaanet.org/dvd_career.htm is the DVD "anthropology - real careers, real people"

http://www.understandingrace.org/ is the traveling exhibit URL; a set of 3 short movies derived from the project will go out to AAA members upon request to Peggy Overbey, poverbey@aaanet DotOrg.

http://forestmonkeys.blogspot.com by David Homa,
using "gabcast" to add audio "mini-lectures," http://www.gabcast.com/

http://anthropologistabouttown.blogspot.com by RAI's roving Public Education Officer with links and reports of anthro events and opportunities in London and around the UK

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xErJAsZo2Pw is about the London Anthropology Day to raise interest and awareness in young people - Maybe do something analogous at 2008 aaa meeting in San Francisco?

http://anthroview.blogspot.com has excerpts and links spotted from time to time by GPWitteveen; see also his http://anthroview.googlepages.com/precollege leads

subscribing to e-list for k12 anthro teaching, maintained at AAA,
https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/aaak_12_anthro

http://goafar.org is the home for the American Foreign Academic Research (Mat Saunders)

www.latticeworld.org is an innovative teacher development model comprising about 30 school teachers from surround districts and about 30 grad students (mainly Ed School) at Michigan State U. The monthly meetings help to personalize the wide world for both parties. See the presentation by Guven Witteveen, http://outreachscience.tripod.com/lattice/index.html

www.mercurynewsphotos.com gives short narrated; audio slideshows using
www.soundslides.com software

http://magnuminmotion.com uses a different method to create Interactive Essays (text, hotlinks, audio, images)

www.npr.org/podcasts is a directory of free (mp3 format) audio recordings by genre

http://outreachworld.org is a database with lessons, announcements, opportunities for international education

http://teachertube.com and http://youtube.com are well received methods for movie and audio slideshow distribution. Diverse education technology references, methods and links are gathered at http://big1file.googlepages.com/edtech