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Faces of Culture
Season 1 • Episode 25 • Cricket the Trobriand Way: A Case Study in Cultural Change
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Faces of Culture Season 1, Episode 25: Cricket the Trobriand Way: A Case Study in Cultural Change
This program focuses on "syncretism," the anthropological concept which describes the process by which people borrow elements of a foreign culture and combine them with native customs, forming a unique amalgamation of cultures. As an example of this phenomenon, the program uses the game of cricket as it exists in a modified version in the Trobriand Islands. The program first traces the history of the sport and describes how the sport was first introduced to the native population by the British in the 19th century. Since then, the island people have integrated the game into their own culture, modifying rules and combining it with native customs including magic, dance and chanting. The program includes footage of many practices of the game in its modified form. Watch Faces of Culture Season 1, Episode 25 Cricket the Trobriand Way: A Case Study in Cultural Change in HD free online. Enjoy high-quality streaming of Faces of Culture Season 1, Episode 25 and share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Episodes
26 episodesThe Nature of Anthropology
This program provides an introduction to the field of anthropology in general and the entire series in particular. It emphasizes a holistic approach to the discipline, focusing on scientific techniques and the value of each society studied. It explores how the field developed and how it has changed over time. The program introduces the student to some of the main theorists involved in anthropology from its inception, including Charles Darwin, Franz Boas and Margaret Mead. Concepts central to the study of anthropology, such as cultural relativism and ethnocentrism, are introduced through an exploration of the native cultures of the Turkana tribe, the Kwakiutl Indians, Tasmanian Aboriginals, and the Omaha tribe.
28 min
The Nature of Culture
This episode focuses on culture in societies. It defines culture as a unique set of values, beliefs and practices those enables us together to reap the benefits from the locality in which we live. The program begins to answer such questions as: How does culture develop? How does it change and adapt to the world around it? The program delves deeper into the meaning of concepts such as ethnocentrism and cultural relativism to emphasize their importance in the field of anthropology. The need to understand how differing values and beliefs meet the needs of specific cultures is seen in contrasting examples from other cultures. The Txukarrame Indians and the Boran tribes of Kenya are examined to illustrate the degree of variety, as well as the parallels between and among cultures. The program concludes by showing the devastating results of one culture's inability to adapt, demonstrating that the loss affects us all.
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28 min
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28 min
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This program examines several different models of food production and various features of food-producing societies. First shown are the Yucatec Maya employing the "slash-and-burn" technique of soil preparation. Rituals associated with food production are illustrated with film of Melanesian farmers practicing the hazardous land-diving ritual originally intended to ensure a good yam harvest. The program also looks at several examples of intensive agriculture, including that practiced by the Khmer in Angkor and by North Americans on the Great Plains. Other societies featured in the program are the Taiwanese and wet rice cultivation and the Balinese.
28 min
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28 min
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28 min
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28 min
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28 min
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28 min
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28 min
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28 min
Cricket the Trobriand Way: A Case Study in Cultural Change
This program focuses on "syncretism," the anthropological concept which describes the process by which people borrow elements of a foreign culture and combine them with native customs, forming a unique amalgamation of cultures. As an example of this phenomenon, the program uses the game of cricket as it exists in a modified version in the Trobriand Islands. The program first traces the history of the sport and describes how the sport was first introduced to the native population by the British in the 19th century. Since then, the island people have integrated the game into their own culture, modifying rules and combining it with native customs including magic, dance and chanting. The program includes footage of many practices of the game in its modified form.
28 min
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28 min