[Note: some of the episodes are NSFW. in at least one episode, people are nude and/or it’s customary for women to walk around with bare chests. my reaction? intense jealousy, mostly because they don’t have to deal with under-wire, boob sweat and people gawking at your tittays.]

I’m super-fascinated by this show called ‘Tribal Wives’. It’s a reality series that introduces ordinary British women to indigenous/tribal cultures by documenting their month-long stay with a host family in a rural village.

So far, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I thought that the women would all act incredibly spoiled/selfish/stupid, but all of the women I’ve seen (well, I’ve only seen 2-3 episodes) are genuinely interested in trying to learn and understand the culture they’re placed in. You can tell that the series is a well-crafted social experiment. I felt like the show really gives some valuable insight into cultures that are completely and utterly removed from American culture, and I’m completely and utterly fascinated.

I just watched the episode about the Mentawai in Indonesia and I thought that it was really fantastic. I couldn’t help but be reminded of someone I used to know who’s studying anthropology. They’ve actually gone and lived in rural villages in Borneo (yes, in the middle of a rainforest in the middle of SE Asia) and have had to adjust to similar types of things. I’ve heard their stories about their experiences, and I really can’t help but think of them while I’m watching that episode. It’s fascinating stuff, really.

I should point out that I am not an anthropologist and I really don’t know anything about anthropology. I’m sure that this series has its own problems and that a seasoned cultural anthropologist would probably turn their nose up at this series and dismiss this as being sensationalist and inaccurate and offensive and exploitative in its portrayals of indigenous peoples. I completely understand, and I would really like to hear an expert’s opinion about this television series.

However, as a layperson, I really, truly do find it valuable to witness the inner workings of a culture that’s completely different from mine because it jolts my deeply-ingrained ethnocentrism for just a little while. I find myself watching this series for the same reasons that I ravenously consume travel memoirs and issues of NatGeo: sometimes I’m so overwhelmed/tired of Western/American pop culture that I find myself clamoring to learn about (and immerse myself in) a culture different than my own.

Are these escapist tendencies? Yes, definitely.

Would this be considered ‘cultural appropriation’, no matter how hard I try to be respectful of others and honest with myself? Probably. (Do I get a cookie for those last two things, though?)

Do I still like this series after asking myself these questions? Yes. Yes, I do.


…will I be looking out for future episodes of Tribal Wives on Netflix and wherever I can stream BBC? You betcha.

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