Grammar of Happiness, The (ATOM Study Guide)

Daniel Everett's goal was to bring Jesus to the Amazonian Pirahã tribe. Instead, the Christian missionary found a people so content in their world that they converted him, and a language so unique he believes it undermines our most fundamental ideas about human communication. The Grammar of Happiness is not just a film about one man's involvement with an indigenous people and their language. It raises questions about whether the unique culture, language and way of life of increasingly smaller numbers of groups of indigenous peoples can be protected from the powerful incursions of outsiders on to their land and into their lives. What constitutes progress? What does it mean to be happy? What is the purpose of language? Are the answers to these questions the same for people all over the world?

The Grammar of Happiness would be an excellent film to show to secondary and tertiary students in the following study areas: Geography, Environmental Science, Evolutionary Biology, Sociology, Anthropology, Language and Society, Linguistics, SOSE (HSIE), Religion and Society, Values Education and related subjects. One of the central aims in all these learning areas is to encourage students to develop an understanding of people and place—how environment is fundamental to the development of a culture and how language is an expression of a culture and integral to a people's identity and way of life.