Dancing with Photons

Think knowledge is imperishable? I recently made popcorn on the stove after my microwave died, and realized that my niece is clueless about stove-popped popcorn; to her, popcorn = microwave. Admittedly, this is a trivial example of the impermanence of cultural transmission. Native Americans, on the other hand, have dealt with pressures to assimilate to European or American ways for centuries, but despite more recent programs to foster pride in their language and culture, a great number of folkways are being lost at an alarming rate. This documentary looks at this phenomenon through the life of Fred Begay, Ph.D., a theoretical physicist whose outstanding abstract reasoning is, he claims, a result of his traditional Navajo upbringing. The program raises a whole host of thorny questions: Are Western viewpoints "very harmful" to Navajo people, as the head of the Navajo Community College claims? If children are raised for life on the reservation, will they ever be able to leave it? If children are not educated in science and math, will their talents be as fully developed as they could be? Should Dr. Begay be viewed as someone whose contribution is to the wider American society, or should he be viewed as a Navajo who sold out to academe? Should Navajo life and talents be shared with the world? Unfortunately, the many intriguing questions of heritage vs. science raised here are not really answered. While this should be considered for larger Native American collections, it's optional elsewhere. Aud: C, P. (R. Reagan)