Related Guides
Film & Image Databases
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window Academic Video Online delivers more than 67,000 titles spanning a range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. It includes documentaries, films, demonstrations, and other content types. Films in the Boston University Libraries catalog are licensed to Boston University for educational and research use only, for BU students, faculty, and staff.
- Ethnographic Video Online, Volume I-II: Foundational Films This link opens in a new window Ethnographic Video Online, Vol. I-II: Foundational Films contains classic and contemporary ethnographies, documentaries and shorts from every continent, providing teachers visual support to introduce and contextualize hundreds of cultural groups and practices around the world.
- Ethnographic Video Online, Volume III: Indigenous Voices This link opens in a new window Ethnographic Video Online, Vol. III: Indigenous Voices contains documentaries, feature films and shorts made by and for indigenous people and communities. Topics are simultaneously local and global, with particular emphasis on the human effects of climate change, sustainability, indigenous and local ways of interpreting history, cultural change, and traditional knowledge and storytelling.
- Ethnographic Video Online, Volume IV: Festivals and Archives This link opens in a new window Ethnographic Video Online, Vol. IV: Festivals and Archives contains award-winning titles from contemporary ethnographic film festivals. The collection also includes field recordings and edited films by students and faculty from universities and institutions around the world, including Berkeley Media and Manchester's Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology.
- Ethnographic Video Online, Royal Anthropological Institute Teaching Edition This link opens in a new window Ethnographic Video Online, Royal Anthropological Institute Teaching Edition contains a curriculum-aligned collection of videos and segments curated to support the teaching of introductory anthropology courses. Each video and segment within this collection are accompanied by a teaching guide providing background information, lesson plans, and classroom exercises and activities.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window Kanopy is a provider of documentaries, training films, and theatrical releases available as streaming video. Clips from the videos can be embedded in presentations or shown in class. Films in the Boston University Libraries catalog are licensed to Boston University for educational and research use only, for BU students, faculty, and staff.
- BU Libraries Search (BULS) This link opens in a new window BU Libraries Search provides a single place to search for a wide variety of academic material provided by the library. The material covered by the search includes books, journals, scores, video and audio recordings, and other physical items held by the library. The search also covers ebooks and ejournals owned by the library, as well as online material provided by the library from a variety of sources.
- Associated Press Images Collection This link opens in a new window Associated Press Images Collection is a searchable collection of recent and historical photos from the Associated Press, plus AP graphics, articles, and brief sound clips.
- ARTstor This link opens in a new window ARTstor is a database of images from museums, artists, libraries, colleges and universities, scholars, private collections, and photo archives available for teaching, education, and scholarship, with all images cleared for educational use.
Browse Films
Suggested Streaming Films
- Buck (streaming, Swank) " ... a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows Buck Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real-life 'horse-whisperer', he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses - and people - with his understanding, compassion and respect"-
- The Hadza: Last of the first (streaming, Academic Video Online) Narrated by Alfre Woodard. The Hadza, East Africa's last remaining true hunter-gatherers, have lived on their land near the Rift Valley for over 50,000 years. As globalization and technology encroach on their territory, their way of life has been slowly whittled away from them. This documentary serves as a comprehensive look at their customs -- from dating rituals to schooling to foraging to weapons production -- as explained by several natives and noted anthropologists.
- Cave of forgotten dreams (streaming, Swank) Cave of Forgotten Dreams follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. It's an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of the pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago - almost twice as old as any previous discovery.
- N!ai, The Story of a !Kung Woman (streaming, Academic Video Online) This film provides a broad overview of Ju/'hoan life, both past and present, and an intimate portrait of N!ai, a Ju/'hoan woman who in 1978 was in her mid-thirties.
- Nanook of the North (streaming, Academic Video Online) Robert Flaherty made this wonderful film of Eskimo (Inuit) life following six years as an Arctic explorer for the Canadian Northern Railway. Flaherty seized upon the idea of structuring his movie around characters who reenacted episodes of their lives and participated in the shaping of the film.
- People of a Feather (streaming, Vimeo) Featuring stunning footage from seven winters in the Arctic, People of a Feather takes you through time into the world of the Inuit on the Belcher Islands in Canada's Hudson Bay. Connecting past, present and future is a unique relationship with the eider duck. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, allows both Inuit and bird to survive harsh Arctic winters.
- Strange Beliefs: Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard, 1902-1973 (streaming, Academic Video Online) Edward Evans-Pritchard was the first trained anthropologist to do work in Africa, where he lived among the Azande and studied their belief in witchcraft. Later, he worked with the Nuer tribe in the Sudan. His work on witchcraft caused philosophers to ask how rational thinking could be defined; his study of tribal organization intrigued political theorists; his attention to the sophisticated religious sentiments of so-called primitive peoples has strongly influenced theologians.
- To Live with Herds (streaming, Academic Video Online) This classic, widely acclaimed film on the Jie of Uganda, produced by the renowned ethnographic filmmaking team of David and Judith MacDougall, examines the effects of nation building in pre-Amin Uganda on the seminomadic, pastoral Jie.
- Maasai Women (streaming, Academic Video Online) The Masai are cattle herders living in the East African rift valley: they grow no crops and are proud of being a non-agricultural people. Cattle are the all-important source of wealth and social status, and Masai love their cattle, composing poems to them. However, it is the men who have exclusive control over rights to cattle, and women are dependent, throughout their lives, on a man – father, husband or son – for rights of access to property.
- The Reindeer People (streaming, Academic Video Online) In Northern Mongolia, there exists a sacred alliance between people, ancestor spirits and reindeer. This film is an intimate portrait of a family of Dukha reindeer nomads following their migration through the forests of Mongolia's Hovsgol province.
- Blue Planet channel (streaming, Academic Video Online) The Blue Planet is a British nature documentary series created and produced by the BBC. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David Attenborough.
- Blue Planet II channel (Streaming, Academic Video Online) Blue Planet II is a 2017 British nature documentary series on marine life produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Like its predecessor, The Blue Planet (2001), it is narrated and presented by naturalist Sir David Attenborough, while the main music score was composed by Hans Zimmer.
- Food, Inc. (streaming, Kanopy) Your steak and chicken may not taste quite the same after you digest all of the information found in this documentary about food production in the United States. Exposing not only the disturbing conditions under which livestock exist prior to their slaughter, the film examines the complex issues surrounding our health and the profits of corporations invested in supplying people with inexpensive (if not exactly nutritious) food.
- The Kawelka: Ongka’s Big Moka (streaming, Academic Video Online) Ongka is a charismatic big-man of the Kawelka tribe who live scattered in the Western highlands, north of Mount Hagen, in New Guinea. The film focuses on the motivations and efforts involved in organising a big ceremonial gift-exchange or moka planned to take place sometime in 1974.
- Soul of the Elephant (streaming, Academic Video Online) Ironically, every dead elephant with its ivory intact is a reason to celebrate. It means an elephant died of natural causes, and a soul was celebrated and mourned by its herd. Award-winning filmmakers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert start with the remains of two bull elephants and through a series of key flashbacks, look at the lives they would have led.
- Elephants (streaming, Academic Video Online) Chris Packham explores the anatomy and physiology of the largest land animal on the planet - the elephant.
- Tribal Animals: Elephants (streaming, Academic Video Online) Some animals have always fascinated mankind for their mystery and power. Elephants, crocodiles, snakes, apes, big cats and sharks are feared as enemies in some cultures and admired as super beings in others. Whether part of our nightmares or greatest hopes, this fascination has pushed man to want to confront these great animals and has given birth to surprising legends and beliefs that still haunt us today. Impressive rituals, ceremonies and combat scenes are gathered into six incredible
- Wild Animal Rescue series (streaming, Academic Video Online) Wild Animal Rescue follows international animal welfare organization, Four Paws, on daring and sometimes dangerous rescue missions to give animals a better life.
- Margin Call (DVD) Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, Margin Call is an entangling thriller involving the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. When an entry-level analyst unlocks information that could prove to be the downfall of the firm, a roller-coaster ride ensues as decisions both financial and moral catapult the lives of all involved to the brink of disaster.
Additional Films
- Chris Packham's Animal Einsteins. Series 1, Episode 2, Communicators (streaming, Academic Video Online) Chris Packham reveals some of the cleverest animal communicators on the planet. For decades, people have longed to emulate Dr. Doolittle and be able to understand what animals are communicating to one another. But their methods often go far beyond the capabilities of our human senses. Now, thanks to dedicated researchers, new science and cutting-edge technology, we're being given a glimpse into the ingenious ways that animals get their message across - that dolphins have individual names for each other, that cuttlefish use covert signals, and that humans can understand apes without even realising it.
- Fulani : of man and cattle (streaming, Academic Video Online) The Fula, are one of the largest and most widely spread ethnic groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. There's quite a lot to discover about them.
- The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins (streaming, Academic Video Online) The year is 1965. In a unique 10 week experiment, a fully-grown male bottle-nosed dolphin and a young woman begin living together 24/7 in a flooded house. The aim was to find out whether the dolphin could learn to speak English. But as the weeks progressed, the experiment turned into an experience far darker than anyone could have possibly imagined. This extraordinary film reveals the almost-unbelievable tale of one of the 1960's most controversial experiments into animal intelligence,
- The Secret Lives of Dogs (streaming, Academic Video Online) The Dog - Man's best friend and companion for ten thousand years. But how much do we really know about our four-legged friends and where they came from?
- The Secret Life of the Cat (streaming, Academic Video Online) Horizon discovers what your cat really gets up to when it leaves the cat flap. In a groundbreaking experiment, 50 cats from a village in Surrey are tagged with GPS collars and their every movement is recorded, day and night, as they hunt in our backyards and patrol the garden fences and hedgerows.
- What are Animals Thinking? (streaming, Academic Video Online) We humans have long wondered how animals see the world—and us. Does your dog really feel shame when it gives you that famous "guilty look?" What is behind the "swarm intelligence" of slime mold or a honeybee hive? How can pigeons possibly find their way home across hundreds of miles of unfamiliar terrain? In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, David Pogue meets—and competes—with a menagerie of smart critters that challenge preconceived notions about what makes "us" different from "them," expanding our understanding of how animals really think.
- Secrets of the Social World (streaming, Academic Video Online) Long-standing theories about how animals think are being overturned. Instead of simplistic attempts to rank animals through IQ, zoologists are exploring the animal mind on a much broader scale. This fascinating series explores these breakthroughs through three iconic creatures - dogs, birds and dolphins - and discovers how the origins and causes of animals' cognitive abilities lie in their environment
- Blackfish (streaming, Kanopy) Using the tragic deaths of three people killed by SeaWorld bullorca Tilikum between 1991 and 2010 as a focus for exploring the practice of holding killer whales in captivity, this sensitive documentary illustrates how their intelligence and sometimes friendly nature can operate as a deadly illusion. This film not only reviews the unfortunate circumstances of the Tilikum cases, but probes the moral issues connected to the employment of these animals for entertainment purposes.
- Herdswoman (streaming, Academic Video Online) This colorful film portrays three Sami women of different generations as they follow the reindeer herds of Lapland. Their stories reflect the transition from a nomadic existence to modern life. When a court case questions their ancient rights to the reindeers' pasture, their life as reindeer keepers is at risk. The film captures the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in the modern world and the colonization process which has led to the present conflict over the right to land and water.
- Birders : the Central Park effect (streaming, Academic Video Online) Birders: The Central Park Effect reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan's celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. Author Jonathan Franzen, an idiosyncratic trombone technician, and a septuagenarian bird-tour leader are among the lively cast of characters in this charming, lyrical documentary that transports the viewer to the dazzling, hidden world of America's most famous park.
- Raised by Humans (streaming, Ethnographic Video Online) Raised by Humans explores the emotional relationships people have with dogs. The film follows two dogs with difficult life histories as volunteers from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals try to find families to adopt them in Stockport, England.
- Long gone wild (streaming, Academic Video Online) The killer whale is once again under siege, hunted for sale into the exploding marine theme park industry. An in-depth look at the case against captivity, the Whale Sanctuary Project, and covert missions in search of orcas held captive.
Suggested DVDs & VHS
- A Kalahari Family: Part Five - Death by Myth (dvd) Part Five of John Marshall's series documenting 50 years in the lives of the Ju/'hoansi of southern Africa, from 1951 to 2000. "Death by Myth" is an expose of the devastating effect of international aid that the Ju'/hoansi have been the subjects of since independence. Lately making their land a "wildlife preserve" for cultural tourism, in which the wildlife includes the people themselves, foundation aid is predicated on the "bushmen myth" -the happy bushmen seen in The Gods Must Be Crazy; the belief that bushmen are born to hunt and gather... ultimately, to starve. In English and Ju/'hoan with English subtitles.
- Darwin's Nightmare (dvd) ubert Sauper's documentary on the devastating effects of global capitalism looks at the introduction of the Nile perch to Tanzania's Lake Victoria in the 1960s and the subsequent death of all other fish species in the larger context of globalization. As cargo planes fly overhead bringing guns into Africa and leave carrying tons of Nile perch fillets to European markets, the AIDS-plagued peoples of this war-torn region starve.
- The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (dvd) Filmmaker Judy Irving documents the true story of a bohemian "St. Francis" and his relationship with a flock of wild parrots. Mark Bittner, a homeless street musician in San Francisco, falls in with the flock as he searches for meaning in his life.
- Meet Your Meat (dvd) The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) produced this DVD, narrated by Alec Baldwin, to show the lives and deaths of chickens, cattle and pigs and make a case for vegetarianism.
- Temple Grandin (dvd) An engaging portrait of an autistic young woman who became, through timely mentoring and sheer force of will, one of America's most remarkable success stories.
- Baboon tales (dvd) The story of the first rough and tumble year in the life of 5 olive baboon infants (Papio anubis) where becoming successful depends upon personality, rank, luck, and the help of fellow troop members. Behaviors shown include parenting, foraging, climbing rocks and trees, use of infant by adult males to defuse aggression, inter-troop fighting, mother dealing with dead infant, play, sleeping, grooming.
- Lassie Come Home (dvd) When Lassie, the collie, is not outside school, waiting for Joe (Roddy McDowell), as the dog had always done, Joe learns the terrible news that Lassie has been sold by his impoverished family. This first Lassie scree adventure tells of the special bond between a child and a pet.
- Stress: Portrait of a Killer (dvd) In this revelatory film, discoveries occur in an extraordinary range of places, from baboon troops on the plains of East Africa to the office cubes of government bureaucrats in London to neuroscience labs at the nation's leading research universities. Groundbreaking research reveals surprising facts about the impact of stress on our bodies: how it can shrink our brains, add fat to our bellies and even unravel our chromosomes. Understanding how stress works can help us figure out ways to combat it and mitigate negative impacts on our health.
- Life of Pi (dvd) nn Martel's bestselling 2001 novel comes to the screen in this enigmatic, epic drama from acclaimed director Ang Lee. The film spins the unforgettable story of Pi Patel (played at various ages by Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Tandon, and Gautam Belur), an Indian zookeeper's son whose enthusiastic study of world religions early in life comes to inform a harrowing experience he endures when stranded at sea with a Bengal tiger for 227 days.
- My Life As A Dog (dvd) Lasse Hallstrom's touching coming-of-age story tells of Ingemar, a working-class 12-year-old who is sent to live with his uncle in a country village when his mother falls ill. There the boy takes refuge from his misfortunes and finds unexpected adventure with the help of the town's warmhearted eccentrics.
- Whale Rider (dvd) Keisha Castle-Hughes, in her debut performance, plays a young Maori girl determined to become her tribe's future leader, despite the objections from her grandfather, the tribal chief, in this coming-of-age story by writer-director Niki Caro.
- The Nuer (vhs) This film, produced by Robert Gardner and Hilary Harris for the Film Study Center of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, presents the important relationships and events in the lives of the Nuer, Nilotic people in Sudan and on the Ethiopian border.
Browse Podcasts
- Pets, Pests And Food: Our Complex, Contradictory Attitudes Toward Animals (Hidden Brain, NPR) This week on Hidden Brain, we explore the contradictions and quandaries embedded in our relationships with animals.
- Animals and Anthropology (AnthroPod) There has been a recent fluorescence of anthropological interest in human-animal relationships, animals in society, and animal politics in a conjuncture often called the “animal turn.” Many find the turn of a humanist discipline to nonhuman subjects perplexing and even problematic. In this episode of AnthroPod, we bring you a conversation with Nikhil Anand, Philippe Descola, Radhika Govindrajan, Laura Ogden, and Paige West on the theory, method, and politics of studying nonhuman subjects from anthropological perspectives.
- Beasts to Besties: Our Relationship to Animals (The Human Angle) From "furry creatures in drag" to wild animal activism, two Stanford historians talk about the evolution and social implications of human-animal relationships.
- Naisargi Dave on Animal Rights Activism in India (AnthroPod) AnthroPod interviews Professor Naisargi Dave, who draws our attention to the act and experience of witnessing an animal's suffering for activists in India, and, through a narrative that is both theoretically innovative and deeply affecting, helps us think through the contradictions and complexities of being human with animals, as we live with together, speak and act on their behalf, and perhaps even become them.
- Species Podcast 'The Podcast about Animals" created by BU CAS Alum Macken Murphy
