Arts
DG Martin interviews Orin Starn - Ishi's Brain In his compelling new book, anthropologist Orin Starn delves into Ishi's Brain, charting his way into the Indian's world, and reassessing the man at the center of a life obscured by mythmaking and folklore: "Ishi, the museum curiosity, the last of his tribe, the explorer of a new world unknown to him, the man whose real Indian name remains a mystery today." Intrigued by Ishi the man, and by the legend of Ishi, and drawn into the world of modern Indians searching for their own meanings in the story of the last "wild" Indian, Starn's research, interviews and travels have produced a fascinating portrait that is balanced, nuanced and insightful. In this episode, Starn leads viewers on a journey through the evolution of the field of anthropology, from the early, invasive students of other cultures to present-day anthropologists are torn by the dilemma of how to approach and study a culture without invading it or altering it.