Anthropology


New! Mexico: The Zapotecs (Lands of Women) 51 min.

In Mexico, there is still a community where Zapotec women rule the economy. How does this land of women thrive in one of the world's most macho countries? When Sergeï Eisenstein, the master of Soviet cinema, filmed in Mexico in the 1930s, he was fascinated by this atypical community of women. These women, heirs to a 2,500-year old civilization are the Zapotecs. He describes them as strong traders...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2023

New! Southern Storytellers 180 min.

Celebrate Southern identity through the eyes of contemporary creators of literature, music, film and TV, among them authors Angie Thomas, Jesmyn Ward and David Joy; poet Jericho Brown; songwriters Lyle Lovett, Tarriona “Tank” Ball, Jason Isbell and Justin Moore; songwriter/actor Mary Steenburgen; songwriter/screenwriter/actor Billy Bob Thornton; and screenwriters Qui Nguyen and Michael Waldron.

Formats: Streaming Copyright Date: 2023

New! Southern Storytellers: Episode 1 54 min.

Southern creators of literature, music and film explore deep ties with the South: Billy Bob Thornton reflects on a life of writing songs and screenplays; Adia Victoria celebrates music and marriage near Nashville; David Joy laments the loss of the Appalachian culture he loves; Jericho Brown reveals the South to be essential to his creativity; and Mary Steenburgen remembers her Arkansas childhood.

Formats: Streaming Copyright Date: 2023

New! Southern Storytellers: Episode 2 54 min.

Six of the South’s most influential creators take us home to the places that define them: author Angie Thomas to Mississippi; singer/songwriter Jason Isbell to his musical Alabama roots while Amanda Shires takes us to the farm the couple shares; Michael Twitty revisits rural Alabama; Lyle Lovett remembers the Texas of his childhood; and Qui Nguyen returns to his Arkansas small town.

Formats: Streaming Copyright Date: 2023

New! Southern Storytellers: Episode 3 55 min.

In episode three, some of the South’s most compelling and influential contemporary creators take us to the places that feed their imaginations: Mississippi author Jesmyn Ward, Georgia screenwriter and series creator Michael Waldron, Arkansas songwriter Justin Moore, Mississippi poet Natasha Trethewey, New Orleans songwriter Tarriona “Tank” Ball and Virginia songwriter Thao Nguyen.

Formats: Streaming Copyright Date: 2023

Empire Builders: Icons of Conquest 60 min.

Discover the untold stories of ten famous pillaged treasures and the ongoing debate on their return. Victorious Empires have long benefitted from the fruits of conquest, through territorial expansion, wealth accumulation, and cultural dominance. But they also enriched themselves through the acquisition or cultural appropriation of monuments, objects, and icons. At worst the spoils of war have also...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2023

Empire Builders: The Inca Empire 59 min.

The Inca were one of the world's largest civilizations of the late Middle Ages until their conquest by the Spanish in 1533 in modern-day Peru and surrounding countries. The center was in Cusco in the Peruvian Highlands, and the Incas expanded into the largest pre-Columbian kingdom in the Americas, spreading across a diverse selection of climates such as the highlands of the Andes, plateaus, and ju...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2023

Empire Builders: The Pacific 120 min.

The idyllic Pacific Islands have been a battleground for centuries - from wars to colonial rivalry between France and UK to controversial nuclear tests by France and the United States. Indigenous Austronesian and Polynesian tribes fought one another for centuries, sometimes even eating their victims after successful conquests. In the 18th century, great European powers launched 'journeys of discov...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2023

Episode 1: Ancient Mariners (Empire Builders: The Pacific) 48 min.

In Episode 1: Ancient Mariners, we look at how the Polynesians spread out across the Pacific and examine the cultures they took with them, constructing elaborate temples to their beliefs in places like Easter Island, off the coast of Chile and Nanmadol in Micronesia. We also look at the warrior tribes of the Maori, who voyaged to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesia in the 14th century finding a pla...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2023

Episode 2: Pacific Conquests (Empire Builders: The Pacific) 53 min.

In Episode 2: Pacific Conquests, we look at the history of European colonisation of the Pacific. The Spaniards were the first to explore the region following the establishment of the galleon route between the Philippines and Acapulco in Mexico in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thereafter in the 18th and 19th centuries the British and French sought spheres of influence in the Pacific establishing col...

Formats: DVDStreaming Copyright Date: 2023