Summary: Controversial writer Johan Norberg argues forcefully for one side of the globalization debate. In this program he examines three developing countries and how they fit into that debate, building a case for deregulation, the abolishment of subsidies and tariffs, and a long-term view of industrialization. He frankly defends the use of sweatshop labor, through which Taiwan has cultivated a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Situated near an oasis in Niger’s Ayar Mountains, the remote settlement of Timia is home to small-scale wheat growers. Once a year, after the harvest is done, members of the Kel Ewen clan federation - a subgroup of the Tuareg nomads - will venture into the merciless Tenere desert to trade their wares. Almost 600 kilometers lie between the paradise-like gardens of Timia and the village of Bilma,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: In an age of globalization, companies are scrambling to blend the ideals of social justice with the concept of a free-market economy. Drawing on case studies from around the world, this program focuses on progressive efforts being made by businesses to unite profits and principles. Issues under consideration include the practice of social responsibility through ethical investment policies and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: “I have found my mission in Kyrgyzstan,” says French horse expert Jacqueline Ripart. In remote areas of the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Ripart hopes to find descendents of the small, tough horses with which Genghis Khan once conquered Central Asia - if they are not already extinct. Under Soviet rule, the Kyrgyz horse was bred with larger Russian strains to produce meat for slaughter....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Satisfying one's hunger is a primal act which most Westerners never connect to global issues. But the diets and farming systems of wealthy countries can be directly linked to starvation in the underdeveloped world. This program sheds light on the international tragedy of hunger and malnutrition, emphasizing that the problem is one of distribution, not production. Filmed in Asia, South America,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: The Changpa people live cut off from the rest of the world on a barren, 4,000-meter-high plateau in the southeast of Ladakh, in the Kashmir Himalayas. Here, livestock must search far and wide to pry something edible from the earth. Inhospitable as it is, the region is also home to a living treasure: Changpa goats, which grow a fine wool - but only at extremely high altitudes and in bitterly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
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Summary: Almost every major bank and electronics company on the globe has an office-or posh, sprawling campus-in Bangalore. How did the city become a world-class business center, and in what ways has its development impacted the people living there? This program looks at the factors contributing to Bangalore's success, the complications of rapid growth, and the impact of a new middle class on a...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: Faced with increasing cuts in government aid, grassroots organizations in the industrialized world are learning valuable lessons from their counterparts in developing countries. Never having had government funding, third-world assistance programs are showing them how to implement support-free community-based initiatives. This program demonstrates how "sweat equity" and other techniques are...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: China's global influence has grown enormously since the turn of the new century. Now the second-largest economy in the world, its citizens are buying up consumer goods both domestically and from abroad in record numbers. In this collection of 12 ABC News segments, anchor Diane Sawyer travels from Beijing to Shanghai exploring life in the Asian nation and the part the U.S. has played in shaping...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: While governments and industries reshape the world on a grand scale, countless individuals have pledged themselves to facilitating change at the grassroots level, one village at a time. This program interviews North American and European volunteers and the people in developing countries who are receiving their humanitarian and political assistance. By living together and sharing cultural...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: As globalization gains momentum, industrialized and developing countries are, to a greater or lesser extent, becoming increasingly similar, with middle-class luxury and abject poverty coexisting side by side. This program explores the repercussions of globalization as well as a growing resentment toward the G8 countries and nongovernmental organizations. Concerns over third-world debt,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Indentured servitude, however dehumanizing, played a role in the colonization and development of early America. But its 21st-century incarnation, the practice of debt bondage, contributes virtually nothing to the common good of southern Asia. This program examines the plight of workers in India's rural areas, exposing the conditions in which they toil to pay off staggering personal debts. More...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: House slavery-the confinement and coercion of unpaid domestic servants-occurs far more frequently across Europe and the United States than most people realize. Even more alarming is the widespread use of children as fodder for prostitution rings around the world. This program profiles a Moroccan-born former house slave named Rania, whose father, believing she would be educated and cared for,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: In search of a better life, Natasha and Galia Gutu thought they had found fulfilling jobs in Turkey through their seemingly helpful neighbors. But when the Gutu sisters left their home in Moldova they were actually traveling into a nightmare-not the health aide employment that their "friends" had promised, but rather enslavement as prostitutes. This program follows their story by recording...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Many anthropologists believe that Australia's indigenous traditions make up the oldest surviving culture in the world. At the heart of this culture is a robust oral tradition and a belief system based upon reverence for the land, and for the spiritual dimension known as the Dreamtime. Composed of several different groups, each with a distinct set of customs and traditions, the Australian...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: Exploring Kenya's multifaceted urban and rural settings, this program looks at the various cultures found within the nation today. Viewers will experience the country's spectacular diversity-and the difficulty of providing education and mass communication for a population that speaks well over 40 languages. Highlighting the challenges of conflicting cultural traditions and beliefs, the program...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Throughout Africa, democracy has long been touted as the cure for the continent's ongoing unrest. But can such a form of government flourish in countries where extreme poverty is the norm and violence is the chief tool of statecraft? Spanning the continent from Libya to South Africa, this program seeks to understand Africa's complex political situations, addressing the "Big Man" syndrome and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: The Maasai make a living by sharing their traditional culture with tourists, but they are very much aware of the modern world and its problems. Economic downturns mean less visitors to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where the Maasai live. Both herding and agriculture have become nearly impossible due to drought, leading to hunger, frustration, and yet more conflict with the government over...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
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Summary: While we celebrate the adventurers who expanded our horizons, their discoveries often came at a price. Such was that in October, 1897, when renowned Arctic explorer Robert Peary returned to New York from his latest Greenland expedition. At an unusual request, he brought with him five polar Eskimos for study at the American Museum of Natural History where they were housed in an overheated...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In spite of mounting ecological damage, the Amazon Basin continues to nurture age-old stories and beliefs. This documentary illustrates the importance of indigenous narratives to those who dwell near the city of Iquitos, Peru, and view their natural surroundings in mythical terms. Concerning a young man who has recently gone missing in the forest, the film depicts his mother's attempts to find...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: As they built an unsurpassed visual archive of world culture, Albert Kahn and his photographers turned their attention to widely divergent locations. This program follows the maritime odyssey of Lucien Le Saint, circa 1922, as he captured on film the daily lives of Newfoundland cod fishermen, as well as expeditions into northwestern Africa. Images from Morocco and Tunisia focus on occupying...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: A 150-pound bag of coffee beans might earn a farmer
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A growing number of environmentalists, ethicists, and economists believe that the needs of the "have-nots" will one day become too powerful to ignore. This program highlights that viewpoint, illustrating vast disparities between the living standards of developed and underdeveloped nations and questioning the wisdom of looking the other way. Deconstructing conventional economic notions of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the Samburu district of Kenya, women have only the rights they can seize for themselves. To break free from spousal abuse, forced marriage, genital mutilation, and the spread of HIV/AIDS-and to defend themselves against rape by local British soldiers-a group of abandoned Samburu women founded Umoja, a village off-limits to men. Two decades on, the tiny community is thriving, but in a growing...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010