This major documentary series looks at the first anthropologists to stop "armchair theorizing" and go out to live among the peoples who so interested them. Throughout the centuries travelers, adventurers, and explorers have been fascinated by other cultures. But most tribal societies were regarded as "primitive" and were thought of as inferior beings, presumed to be living evidence of the way we in the West once were. However, towards the end of the 19th century, the new science of anthropology began to change all that, bringing with it a greater understanding and respect for other cultures. The programs were filmed all over the world, from the frozen Canadian Arctic to the dry outback of Australia ... from New Guinea to India, Africa to the South Pacific. The program-makers retraced the steps of the pioneering anthropologists in those countries and, by following the life story of each scholar, they reveal how social anthropology has contributed to our lives. 6-part series, 52 minutes each.
(Films Media Group's synopsis)