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Faces of Culture

Faces of Culture, an introductory cultural anthropology course, is a provocative study of the structure and process of culture. This telecourse features dramatic and unique film footage from around the world, embracing cultures from all continents, highlighting major lifestyles, and illustrating human adaptation to environment from the beginnings of the human species to the present.

Faces of Culture focuses on the thesis that every society is based on an integrated culture that satisfies human needs and facilitates survival. The course also explores the ways in which our own culture fits into the broad range of human possibilities.

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Created ByIra R Abrams
StatusEnded
Original NameFaces of Culture
First Air DateSeptember 12, 1983
Last Air DateDecember 7, 1983
Seasons1
Episodes26
Episode Runtime 0min
LanguageEnglish
Original LanguageEnglish
Production Countries—
Production CompaniesCoast Telecourses
NetworksPBS
S01E26

The Future of Humanity

The final program addresses the compelling problem of preserving the diversity of human cultures in a world that often appears to be rushing toward a one-world culture. The program includes several examples of how indigenous peoples are making the future their own by taking back the past. A Kwakiutl woman describes how her people negotiated the return of masks and other artifacts from Canadas National Museum of Man and built a Box of Treasures to house the items and serve as a center for preserving and renewing their cultural traditions, The Yanomamo are featured in another segment, which show how they are learning to defend their lands against outsiders and includes comments by Napoleon Chagnon on his concerns for the Yanomamos survival and on the Venezuelan governments experiment with a biosphere reserve encompassing the Yanomamo territory. Throughout the program, many representatives of indigenous people express their concerns and desire for protecting their societies.

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