Timothy Asch was an anthropologist and ethnographic film maker who devoted his professional life to using film as a recording and teaching medium. His papers cover the period from 1966 until his premature death in 1994 and reflect his active career in the field. A large portion of the files relates to his work among the Yanomami people of Venezuela and to his concern with bias in film making.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Timothy Asch document his career as an anthropologist, educator,
photographer and filmmaker through correspondence, photographs, research files
(articles and notes), and teaching materials (course information and lecture notes). The
files relating to Asch's film projects include articles, field notes, and reviews. The major
correspondents in this collection are Patsy Asch, Tom Beidelman, Napoleon Chagnon,
James Fox, Robert Gardner, Douglas Lewis, Peter Loizos, David & Olga Sapir, and
Minor White.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into the following 13 series:
Series 1) Correspondence (1953-1994)
Series 2) College and graduate School (1955-1965)
Series 3) Teaching materials (1964-1993)
Series 4) Film projects (1964-1991)
Series 5) Articles and reviews (1972-1994)
Series 6) Alpha-Subject (1955-1989)
Series 7) Conferences, film festivals, and film organizations (1963-1993)
Series 8) Grants (1962-1993)
Series 9) Other people's work (1952-1995)
Series 10) Personal and family (1951-1994)
Series 11) Photographs (1947-1991)
Series 12) Sound recordings (bulk 1960s-1970s)
Series 13) Note slips, rolodexes, and business cards (1987, undated)
Biographical note:
Asch studied photography at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. While serving in the United States Army in Japan from 1951-55 he spent his off-duty hours photographing rice production and household activities in remote Japanese villages. After his military service, he enrolled in Columbia University graduating in 1959 with an undergraduate degree in Anthropology. After graduation, he went to work at the Peabody Museum at Harvard as an assistant editor to John Marshall on the Kung Bushmen film project. In 1964, he received a Masters Degree in Anthropology from Boston University where he studied in the African Studies Progam and read Anthropology with T.O. Beidelman at Harvard. In 1968, Asch and Marshall founded Documentary Educational Resources, a film distribution company. Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon approached Asch in 1968 to film among the Yanomammmi people of Venezuela. This collaboration led to a major project resulting in over thirty films.
Chronology
1950-1951 -- California School of Fine Arts and Apprenticeships with photographers Minor White, Edward Weston and Ansel Adams
1953-1954 -- Military Service in Korea
1959 -- B.S. in Anthropology Columbia University
1959-1962 -- Ethnographic film consultant, Harvard University's Peabody Museum
1964 -- M.A. in Anthropology Harvard University
1965-1966 -- Curriculum Consultant, Ethnographic studies and the Bushmen Social Studies Curriculum Project (initially Educational Services, Inc., later called Educational Development Center)
1966-1968 -- Lecturer in Anthropology and Theater Arts, Brandeis University
1966-1968 -- Anthropology Curriculum and Media Consultant to the Newton Public Schools
1967-1994 -- Co-Founder and Director of Documentary Educational Resources, Watertown, Massachusetts, a non-profit curriculum development corporation distributing educational media
1968-1970 -- Visiting Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department, New York University
1969-1973 -- Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University
1973-1979 -- Research Fellow in Ethnographic film, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
1974-1976 -- Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
1975 -- Research Cinematographer, National Anthropological Film Center, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
1976-1981 -- Senior Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Institute of Advanced Studies, the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
1982 -- Visiting Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
1983-1994 -- Director, Center for Visual Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California
Related Materials:
The Human Studies Film Archives holds 93,000 feet (43 hours) of original film footage and the accompanying sound as well as the edited films from the 1968 and 1971 film projects by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon documenting the Yanomamo Indians of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil (between the Negro and Upper Orinoco rivers).
Provenance:
Donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Patsy Asch in 1996.
Video oral history of anthropologist Sherwood Washburn conducted by anthropologist Charles Wagley. Dr. Washburn discusses the people and events that were influential in his career and comments on the field of physical anthropology, his work in Africa, and his association with the Center for Behavioral Sciences and the American Anthropological Association.
Legacy Keywords: Chagnon, Napoleon A., 1938- ; Dickson ; Herskovits, Melville J. 1895-1963 (Melville Jean), ; Hooten ; Lockhart, Ted ; Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. ; Redfield ; Tax, Sol, 1907- ; Towsler ; Ward, Laureston ; Universities Harvard University ; Museums Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology ; Universities University of California-Berkeley ; Universities University of Chicago ; Institute Center for Behavioral Sciences ; Anthropology physical anthropology ; Biology molecular biology ; Institution American Anthropological Association ; Africa ; Special Collections
General:
Local Number: HSFA 1989.10.11
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Video Dialogues in Anthropology, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Terence "Terry" Sheldon Turner (1935-2015) was best known for his ethnographic work among the Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) people of the Amazon rainforest and his work as an activist for the Mebêngôkre and other communities. This collection documents his interest in the Mebêngôkre and his work as a human rights activist. It includes field notes, censuses, papers, notes, correspondence, news clippings, sound recordings, films, photographs, charts and diagrams, genealogy and kinship information, and computer discs.
Scope and Contents:
The Terence Turner papers contain materials related to his work as an anthropologist and human rights activist. Turner's primary focus of research was the Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) people of the Amazon rainforest. The collection contains field notes, censuses, papers and draft manuscripts, correspondence, notes, news clippings, sound recordings, films, photographs, charts and diagrams, genealogy and kinship information, and computer discs relating to that interest. His work in human rights is also well documented; the collection contains notes, papers, correspondence, and news clippings. A significant amount of the human rights material relates to the Yanomami controversy which arose when Turner and Leslie Sponsel sent the American Anthropological Association a memo warning of the furor that was likely to result from the publication of the book Darkness in El Dorado by Patrick Tierney. The human rights materials in the collection also include materials relating to the Mebêngôkre and their environmental protection protests and demonstrations. The film and video primarily relate to the Granada Television films for which he consulted and the films produced by the Kayapo with the help of the Kayapo Video Project. There are some materials relating to courses which he taught or took.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged in 7 series: (1) Research, 1952-2015; (2) Human rights, ethics, and activism, circa 1964-2015; (3) Papers, conferences, and courses, 1959-2013; (4) Correspondence and contacts, 1966-2008; (5) Computer files, 1983-2010; (6) Photographs, 1938-1942, 1952, 1962-2014; (7) Sound recordings, 1962, 1976-2003; and (8) Film and video, 1975-2008
Biographical Note:
Terence "Terry" Sheldon Turner (1935-2015) was best known for his ethnographic work with the Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) people of the Amazon rainforest and his work as an activist for the Mebêngôkre and other communities. He was born in Philadelphia and raised outside of Washington, DC. He earned his A.B. from Harvard University (1957) and M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (1959), in Modern European History. His interest in how society functions brought him to the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University for his Ph.D. (1965), where his studies turned to Social Anthropology. His interests were still in Europe, but his advisor, David Maybury-Lewis, persuaded him to study the Mebêngôkre in Brazil (Moberg). Despite his initial intentions, Turner developed a lasting relationship with the Mebêngôkre, who gave him the name Wakampu. He worked with the community for more than 50 years, visiting them over 20 times.
Turner and his then wife, Joan Bamberger, lived with the Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) from 1962 to 1964 while conducting research for their dissertations. His initial studies were on socio-cultural change, social organization, political systems, dual organization, a comparison to other Gê tribes, and mythology. Joan studied Mebêngôkre material culture, as it related to both function and significance. Turner's interest in mythology and the ties between the structure and motifs of myths to social structure led him to spend a year (1966-1967) at the University of Paris where Claude Lévi-Strauss was working on a project involving comparisons of mythology and social structure of different Central Brazilian indigenous groups.
Turner taught at Cornell University from 1966 to 1968, at the University of Chicago from 1968 to 1999, and then returned to Cornell from 1999 to 2015 where his wife, Jane Fajans, was also a professor. While teaching at the University of Chicago, Turner developed an interest in Karl Marx and the applications of his theories to anthropology (Moberg). He stated in a Guggenheim grant application that "Another main line of theoretical effort has been my attempt to generalize Marx's concept of value to account for the forms of social value generated in such forms of 'social production', in particular those of the Kayapo and other primitive, classless societies" (Terence Turner papers). In an interview for an article in the Chicago Reader, he said that "The Kayapo didn't have an economic sphere. They didn't have commodity production. Production for them in an immediate sense is production of their lives, and of course then you realize–wow!–this is a society for which the complete human being through all stages of life, right up to death, is the supreme product. It's the most complex and demanding product, and the social order is the whole process of producing that product" (Moberg). His interest in Marx led him to study Piaget, Vygotsky, Leont'ev, and Zinchenko, who "provided analytically principled ways of connecting material activity with forms of consciousness" (Terence Turner papers).
Turner was interested in visual anthropology. He assisted in the production of three British documentaries on the Mebêngôkre people: the BBC's Face Values in 1976 and Granada Television's Disappearing World series episodes "The Kayapo" and "The Kayapo: Out of the Forest" in 1987 and 1989. He also assisted the Mebêngôkre in documenting their own culture. The Mebêngôkre had obtained video cameras in 1985 and Turner encouraged them to obtain more cameras from the Granada crew in return for access to the community in 1987 (Harms). In 1990, he created the Kayapo Video Project, which funded the purchase of cameras, education for the Mebêngôkre filmmakers in filming and editing, and preserving the original footage at the Kayapo Video Archive/Arquivo de Video Kaiapo at the Centro de Trabalho Indigenista. Turner stated in a 1996 request for funding that the purpose of the project was "to generate an extensive archive of videos about all aspects of Kayapo culture and ecological knowledge, and simultaneously build up a cadre of well-trained video camerapersons and video-editors capable of continuing video-making and using activities into the future. The videos will be produced (both shot and edited) by the Kayapo themselves. They will form the backbone of a larger project of Kayapo cultural preservation, provide visual tests for use in a projected Kayapo educational program, and also generate a unique audio-visual record of the ecological knowledge and technology of a major Amazonian culture" (Terence Turner papers).
Turner was also very involved in human rights work and activism for indigenous communities. He felt it was the responsibility of anthropologists to defend the rights of the people whom they studied. He was involved in "anthropological activism," assisting the Mebêngôkre and others in their fight to protect their rights and environment. This interest began when Turner investigated the movement of miners, loggers, and poachers onto Mebêngôkre lands for FUNAI (the Fundação Nacional do Índio) (Harms). There were widespread protests against these incursions by the Mebêngôkre beginning in the early 1970s, which resulted in the Mebêngôkre gaining land rights. Despite this success, conflicts between the Mebêngôkre and Brazilian nationals, as well as within the Mebêngôkre community, continued. Turner both observed and participated in many of these protests and documented the ways in which these actions affected Mebêngôkre society and culture. Two of the most important protests concerned the planned construction of a series of hydroelectric dams on the Xingú River. The first protest, at Altamira in 1989, successfully derailed the project. The success of this protest brought international attention to the Mebêngôkre, who sent representatives to Canada in 1992 to support the Cree, who were protesting the construction of a hydroelectric dam there. The Brazilian government redesigned their original plans for the series of dams on the Xingú River; when these plans were leaked in 2008, another protest ensued. Turner and his daughter, Vanessa, documented this protest.
Turner's commitment to human rights led to him becoming a founding member of the American Anthropological Association's Ethics Committee (1969-1972) and Committee for Human Rights (1992-1997), serving as president of Survival International, U.S.A., heading the Special Commission of the American Anthropological Association to Investigate the Situation of the Brazilian Yanomami (1990-1991), and receiving the Solon T. Kimball Award from the American Anthropological Association in 1998.
Sources Cited
American Anthropological Association. "AAA Mourns the Loss of Dr. Terence Turner." Accessed June 22, 2022. https://www.americananthro.org/StayInformed/NewsDetail.aspx?ItemNumber=13188
Glaser, Linda B. "Anthropologist Terence Turner dies at 79." Cornell Chronicle, November 11, 2015.
Harms, William. "Terence Turner, anthropologist and human rights advocate for indigenous people, 1935-2015." UChicago News, November 17, 2015.
Moberg, David. "When Worlds Collide: Encounters with Anthropologist Terence Turner and other agents of modernity left the Kayapo of Brazil with something they'd never had before: power." Chicago Reader, October 2, 1997.
Survival International. "Terry Turner." Accessed June 22, 2022. https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10992
Terence Turner papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
1935 December 30 -- Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1957 -- A.B. from Harvard College in Modern European History, graduating cum Laude
1959 -- M.A. from the University of California, Berkley, in Modern European History
1961 -- Married Joan Bamberger on August 25
1962 -- Began work with Mebêngôkre (Kayapó)
1965 -- Ph.D. from Harvard University's Department of Social Relations in Social Anthropology Research associate at the Museo Nacional do Brasil
1966-1968 -- Visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Cornell University
1968-1982 -- Assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago
1969-1972 -- Member of the American Anthropological Association's Ethics Committee
1976 -- Advisor for the filming of Face Values with the BBC
1980 -- Married Jane Fajans on July 25
1981 -- Daughter Vanessa Fajans-Turner born on September 26
1982-1999 -- Professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago.
1984 -- Daughter Allison Fajans-Turner born on June 15
1987 -- Advisor for the filming of Disappearing World: The Kayapo with Granada Films
1989 -- Advisor for the filming of Disappearing World: The Kayapo: Out of the Forest with Granada Films
1990-1991 -- Chair of the American Anthropological Association's Special Commission to Investigate the Situation of the Brazilian Yanomami
1992-1997 -- Member of the American Anthropological Association's Committee for Human Rights
1998 -- Received Solon T. Kimball Award from the American Anthropological Association
1999-2004 -- Adjunct professor of anthropology at Cornell University.
2004-2015 -- Visiting professor of anthropology at Cornell University.
2015 November 7 -- Died in Ithaca, New York.
Orthography:
The archivist uses Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) or Mebêngôkre to refer to the Mebêngôkre people. However, Turner and other anthropologists whose work is included in the collection used other spelling variations (Mẽbêngôkre, Mebengokre, Megengokré, Kayapó, Kayapo, Kaiapó, Kaiapo, Cayapó, Cayapo, and Caiapo) which have not be altered in folder titles or descriptions.
The archivist uses Yanomami to refer to the Yanomami (Yanoama) people. Some folder titles or contents may use the Yanomamö spelling.
Related Materials:
Materials related to the Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) in the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) can also be found in the William Lipkind papers and Photo Lot 79-1. Materials related to the Yanomami in the NAA can also be found in the Timothy Asch papers, the American Anthropological Association records, and Photo Lot 94-28. Materials related to the Yanomami in the Human Studies Film Archives (HSFA) can be found in the Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon films of the Yanomamo.
Provenance:
The Terence Turner papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Turner's wife, Jane Fajans, in 2020.
Restrictions:
Audiovisual and digital materials are restricted. Please contact the archives for information on the availability of access copies.
Graded papers are restricted for 80 years from the date of their creation and grant applications are restricted for 30 years from the date of their creation. These restrictions are noted on the folder level.
Access to the Terence Turner papers requires and appointment.
Film documentation of the Yanomamo Indians of southern Venezuela shot by Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon. Collection also contains camera and sound logs, correspondence, production notes, sound recordings, and related publications.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Related Materials:
The National Anthropological Archives holds the Timothy Asch papers.
Provenance:
Received from Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon in 1984.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Genre/Form:
Sound films
Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
Outtake film footage of the Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and nothern Brazil documents all aspects of Yanomamo life including inter-village politics and exchange, socialization, familial and kinship relations, subsistence activities, and the impact of acculturation. Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Shamans headmen Yanomamo Venezuela ; Subsistence activities Yanomamo ; Exchange inter-village Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.1
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (29 minutes, color sound; 1044 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1973
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. A portrayal of shamanic activity and its role in inter-village alliances and magical attack in Yanomamo society. The drama of shamanic possession is shown over a two-day period as a powerful shaman summons the hekura spirits to destroy the souls of an enemy's children for their new allies. The film elaborates indigenous ideas of spirit possession and interprets the relationship between Yanomamo shamanism, warfare, and politics.
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (12 minutes, color sound; 432 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers . A Yanomamo village headman weaves a cotton hammock while his wife and infant watch. Film reveals aspects of interpersonal family relations.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Weaving hammock Yanomamo Venezuela ; Crafts weaving Yanomamo ; Interpersonal relations familial Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.11
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (14 minutes, color sound; 504 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. A Yanomamo shaman tells the myth of the creation of human beings from the blood of the moon spilled by the ancestors. In Yanomamo society the myth is a charter for social relations as it serves the ideological function of accounting for human violence.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Shamans storytelling muths Yanomamo Venezuela ; Myths Creation Yanomamo ; Storytelling shamans Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.12
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (22 minutes, color sound; 792 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. One of two related films which presents a versions of the myth of "Naro the Ugly" which deals with Naro's jealousy over his brother's wives. The myth describes the origins of harmful magic among the Yanomamo. Viewed in conjunction with the film MYTH OF NARO AS TOLD BY KAOBAWA, it provides a comparative view of narrative performance and oratorical style among the Yanomamo.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Myths malign magic Yanomamo Venezuela ; Oral performance myths Yanomamo ; Storytelling Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.13
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (22 minutes, color sound; 792 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1975
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. One of two related films which presents a versions of the myth of "Naro the Ugly" which deals with Naro's jealousy over his brother's wives. The myth describes the origins of harmful magic among the Yanomamo. Viewed in conjunction with the film MYTH OF NARO AS TOLD BY DEDEHEIWA, it provides a comparative view of narrative performance and oratorical style among the Yanomamo.
Legacy Keywords: Myths malign magic Yanomamo Venezuela ; Oral performance myths Yanomamo ; Storytelling Yanomamo ; Language and culture
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.14
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (12 minutes, color sound; 432 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. One of two related films on the Yanomamo dealing with the role of Catholic missions. The film describes the goal of the mission in Bisaasi-teri--to preach Christian salvation and encourage a rejection of indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices--and provides visual evidence of the material processes of change.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Missions Catholic Yanomamo Venezuela ; Acculturation Yanomamo ; Schools mission teachers Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.15
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (23 minutes, color sound; 828 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. One of two related films on the Yanomamo dealing with the role of Catholic missions. The film describes efforts of an extraordinary Salesian priest to soften the impact of civilization on the local Yanomamo people living in the area of his mission on the Ocamo River. Depicted are a number of the changes which the mission has brought to the Yanomamo such as use of new medicines, the raising of cattle and chicken, and the use of new foods.
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (15 minutes, color sound; 540 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1975
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and southern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. A tapir killed by the most prominent headman in Mishimishima-bowei-teri is presented to a group of male affines who constitute an important political bloc in that Yanomamo village. The film shows how the meat is prepared, cooked, and distributed and interprets how the gift of the animal is used to reinforce a shaken alliance with the headman's affines. The politics of exchange depicted in this film relate to events depicted in THE AX FIGHT.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Food quest hunting native fauna Yanomamo ; Food preparation butchering tapir Yanomamo ; Food kin groups distribution of Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.17
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (9 minutes, color sound; 324 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1975
Scope and Contents:
Edited film produced from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. Children and women of a Yanomamo village play a game of tug-of-war.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Play tug-of-war Yanomamo Venezuela ; Ecology tropical habitat Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.18
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (14 minutes, color sound; 504 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. Film shows a Yanomamo shaman weeding his manioc garden and clearing leaves from around his plantains. Depicts the nature of interaction between a man and his wife and children.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Subsistence activities gardens Yanomamo ; Interpersonal relations familial Yanomamo ; Family interpersonal relations Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.19
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. Film depicts the way in which young Yanomamo boys learn skills for hunting and warfare. Young boys engage in an arrow fight in a clearing, practicing their aim with blunt arrows and dodging the shots of their playmates.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Play bows and arrows Yanomamo ; Socialization in play Yanomamo ; Aggression training for Yanomamo ; Weapons bows and arrows Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.2
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
Outtake film footage of the Yanomamo Indians of the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and nothern Brazil documents all aspects of Yanomamo life including inter-village politics and exchange, socialization, familial and kinship relations, subsistence activities, and the impact of acculturation.
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.20
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (20 minutes, color sound; 1080 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1975
Scope and Contents:
Edited film produced from the 1971 Yanomamo Film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. The film documents a fight which erupts in Mishimishimabowei-teri Village involving clubs, machetes, and axes. The footage, which is repeated four times, includes: (1) the unedited record of the fight, (2) a replay of the fight scenes in slow motion in which key figures and their kinship relations are identified, (3) a discussion of the fight in terms of kinship structure which illustrates the fight as a pattern of conflict and alliance over time, and (4) an edited version.
Editor: Paul E. Burgos ; Sound Editor: Craig Johnson
Legacy Keywords: Conflict ingroup violence ; Aggression gestures postures threat ; Adornment authority headmen feathers ; Ingroup antagonisms insults cursing ; Factions lineages marriage alliances ; Weapons bow stave club machete ax ; Aggression escalation of ; Kinship ; Language and culture ; Tattooing
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (10 minutes, color sound; 360 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1975
Scope and Contents:
Edited film produced from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. In this vignette from daily life, a headman's son returns from hunting with a wild turkey and a basket of fruit for his father-in-law. The ensuing events depict how this transaction of a gift is negotiated since avoidance rules prohibit the hunter from delivering the food directly to his father-in-law. The film provides material for examining Yanomamo sex roles, division of labor, and obligations within the family.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Food gathering Yanomamo Venezuela ; Division of labor sexual Yanomamo ; Villages Yanomamo Venezuela ; Kinship avoidance rules Yanomamo ; Polygyny Yanomamo ; Authority kinship politico-jural rules Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.3
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
1 Film reel (7 minutes, color sound; 252 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Archival materials
Film reels
Date:
1974
Scope and Contents:
Edited film from the 1971 Yanomamo film project shot in the Amazon Basin of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil between the Negro and the Upper Orinoco rivers. Film shows a group of young boys pretending to be shamans. Imitating their fathers' activities, the boys blow ashes into each other's noses and chant to the hekura spirits.
Legacy Keywords: Language and culture ; Shamanism mimicry of Yanomamo Venezuela ; Play as socialization Yanomamo ; Spirits invocation of Yanomamo
Local Number:
HSFA 1984.16.4
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Timothy Asch and Napolean Chagnon films of the Yanomamo, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Cataloging supported by Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee
