To aid in the selection of video's for your class and research needs, we've created a large number of filmographies on many subject areas.
If you'd like help linking streaming videos to your Canvas Course Reserves or reserving DVDs for you or your students, please contact
mediaservices@american.edu
This is a selective list of video holdings in the American University Library. Filmographies are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible.
For complete, up-to-date holdings please search the library catalog search box on the Media Services homepage. (http://www.american.edu/library/mediaservices/) Finding Aids on the same page includes other subject oriented content.
For more information take a look at the Streaming Video Guides and Browsing Collections.
Thieves of Time: Who Owns the Past? 1992. 1 streaming video file (28 min.). This program, introduced by author Tony Hillerman, studies Native American burial grounds over five centuries of cultural, scientific, and legal change. The Native American Graves Repatriation Act, covering the ownership and study of human remains and sacred objects, is given special emphasis. Interviews with Martin Sullivan, director of the Heard Museum, in Phoenix; Paul Bender, former dean of The College of Law at Arizona State University; Richard Rabinowitz, Harvard University historian; and Walter Echo-Hawk, of the Native American Rights Fund, are featured. (28 minutes). Streaming video
Thunderheart Feature film. 1998. 1 videodisc (119 min.). A young, part-Sioux FBI agent is sent to solve a murder on an Indian reservation. There he meets the irreverent local sheriff and the tribe's religious leader, who helps the agent begin to understand his lost heritage. Gradually, he comes to believe that the U.S. government has framed an innocent man, but finds that he and those around him are thrown into danger because of his suspicions. DVD 7127
Tribal nations: the story of federal Indian law 2006. 1 videodisc (62 min.). "This documentary is a beautifully illustrated introductory history of how federal Indian law has developed in the United States and the impacts federal policies have had on American Indian people. It covers basic principles of federal Indian law from the arrival of Columbus through the self-determination era of today, ending with a look to the future of tribes and American Indian and Alaska Native people. Viewers totally new to the field of Indian law, as well as the most experienced in the field, will build on their knowledge of the history of federal law and policy regarding tribes. Audiences will recognize the traumatic affects of shifting federal law and policy on health and welfare of tribes and their members, and will acquire informational tools for promoting respect, cooperation and relationship building between tribal and non-tribal entities." -- film's website. DVD 7390
Unnatural causes: is inequality making us sick? 2008. 1 videodisc (236 min.). A four-hour documentary series arguing that "health and longevity are correlated with socioeconomic status, people of color face an additional health burden, and our health and well-being are tied to policies that promote economic and social justice. Each of the half-hour program segments, set in different racial/ethnic communities, provides a deeper exploration of the ways in which social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives be improving them" -- Container insert. Bad sugar: "O'odham Indians, living on reservations in southern Arizona, have perhaps the highest rate of Type 2 diabetes in the world. Some researchers see this as the literal 'embodiment' of decades of poverty, oppression, and loss. A new approach suggests that communities may regain control over their health if they can regain control over their futures" -- Container insert. Becoming American: "Recent Mexican immigrants tend to be healthier than the average American. But those health advantages erode the longer they've been here. What causes health to worsen as immigrants become American? What can we all learn about improved well-being from new immigrant communities?" -- Container insert. Collateral damage: "In the Marshall Islands, local populations have been displaced from their traditional way of life by the American military presence and globalization. Now they must contend with the worst of the 'developing' and industrialized worlds: infectious diseases such as tuberculosis due to crowded living conditions, and extreme poverty and chronic disease, stemming in part from the stress of dislocation and loss" -- Container insert. In sickness and in wealth: "What connections exist between healthy bodies, healthy bank accounts and skin color? Follow four individuals from different walks of life to see how their position in society, shaped by social policies and public priorities, affects their health" -- Container insert. Not just a paycheck: "Residents of Western Michigan struggle against depression, domestic violence and higher rates of heart disease and diabetes after the largest refrigerator factory in the country shuts down. Ironically, the plant is owned by a company in Sweden, where mass layoffs, far from devastating lives, are relatively benign because of government policies that protect and retrain workers" -- Container insert. Place matters: "Increasingly, recent Southeast Asian immigrants, along with Latinos, are moving into long-neglected African American urban neighborhoods, and now their health is being eroded as a result. What policies and investment decisions create living environments that harm, or enhance, the health of residents? What actions can make a difference?" -- Container insert. When the bough breaks: "African American infant mortality rates remain twice as high as for white Americans. African American mothers with college degrees or higher face the same risk of having low birth-weight babies as white women who haven't finished high school. How might the chronic stress of racism over the life course become embedded in our bodies and increase risks?" -- Container insert. DVD 4919
Upstream Battle: A Case Study in Native American Fishing Rights. 1 streaming video file (53 min.). The Karuk, Yurok, and Hoopa peoples live along northern California's Klamath River, and each tribe's ancient culture revolves around the majestic Pacific salmon. Today, four large hydroelectric dams have made salmon extinction a real and frightening possibility. This case study follows tribal members as they confront the owners of the dams-specifically, a global energy giant in Scotland which is subsequently bought out by Warren Buffett's corporate empire. Will tribal members manage to persuade the richest man in the world to save their salmon and their societies? Irrigation and commercial fishing also figure into this desperate battle over the life of a river. (53 minutes). Streaming video
The vanishing American 1999. 1 videodisc (109 min.). Indian warrior Nophate strives to maintain ancient and honorable customs among his people in the face of abuse and exploitation by whites in the early 20th century. DVD 249
The way West: how the West was lost and won. 2006. 2 videodiscs (360 min.). Chronicles the final decades of the American frontier from the time of the Gold Rush until after the last gasp of the Indian wars at Wounded Knee. DVD 3349
We shall remain America through native eyes. 2009. 3 videodiscs (450 min.). "A groundbreaking mini-series and provocative multi-media project that establishes Native history as an essential part of American history. Five 90-minute documentaries spanning three hundred years tell the story of pivotal moments in U.S. history from the Native American perspective”. DVD 5661 – DVD 5663
Episode 1: After the Mayflower: In 1621, the Wampanoag of New England negotiated a treaty with Pilgrim settlers. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English and a confederation of Indians, this diplomatic gamble seemed to have been a grave miscalculation. DVD 5661
Episode 2: Tecumseh's Vision In the course of his brief and meteoric career, Tecumseh would become one of the greatest Native American leaders of all time, orchestrating the most ambitious pan-Indian resistance movement ever mounted on the North American continent. DVD 5662
Episode 3: Trail of Tears Though the Cherokee embraced "civilization" and won recognition of tribal sovereignty in the U.S. Supreme Court, their resistance to removal from their homeland failed. Thousands were forced on a perilous march to Oklahoma. DVD 5662
Episode 4: Geronimo As the leader of the last Native American fighting force to capitulate to the U.S. government, Geronimo was seen by some as the perpetrator of unspeakable savage cruelties, while to others he was the embodiment of proud resistance. DVD 5663
Episode 5: Wounded Knee In 1973, American Indian Movement activists and residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation occupied the town of Wounded Knee, demanding redress for grievances. As a result of the siege, Indians across the country forged a new path into the future."--Series web site. DVD 5663