Episode number 8 of Series “Millennium: tribal wisdom and the modern world”.
Have our needs for certainty and objectivity in our lives closed off the magical influence of the natural world? Is there a balance to strike? Follow narrator David Maybury-Lewis to the Huichol Indian villages of central Mexico to witness a Mexican doctor and a tribal shaman battling an epidemic of a rare strain of deadly measles. Then visit a cancer treatment centre in Toronto. Through these two examples understand how the certainties of science can combine with natural conceptions of physical disease. Then travel to Australia to ask the question: is reality something we shape - as some Australian First Nations peoples believe - or vice-versa?
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at .
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Appears in
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
325402
Language
English
Subject categories
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Human ecology
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Shamans
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Alternative medicine
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Epidemics
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)