In the 1950s, anthropologist Colin Turnbull spent three years living in a rainforest with the BaMbuti Pygmies. His 1961 book entitled The Forest People provides an ethnographic study of the culture he experienced. He states in the book’s acknowledgements “this book tries to convey something of the lives and feelings of a people who live in a forest world, something of their intense love for that world and their trust in it” (Turnbull). Turnbull uses his experiences to tell an elaborate story with characters a reader can easily form attachments to. He obliterates the stereotype surrounding the Pygmy people and, instead, shows the reader the beauty of their culture and lifestyle. The Forest People is not simply a description of a cultural group vastly different than our own; it is also a window into their world. The Ituri Forest, where the Pygmies lived at the time of Turnbull’s visit, is located in what was the Belgian Congo. Turnbull plainly states that, to an outsider, the forest would seem heavy. He describes it as having “damp air” and “gigantic, water-laden trees” which contribute to the “silence and the age-old remoteness and loneliness of it all” (Turnbull). However, this is not the forest as the Pygmies see it. The forest is their source of all their wants and needs. The pygmies are foragers, which means they obtain their food by collecting wild plants and animals (“Foraging as a Subsistence Strategy”). Therefore, the forest is not only their home; it is how they get their food. The closest thing the Pygmies have to a religion is their worship of the forest. They essentially see the forest as a living entity that will protect them and provide for them. This is shown most explicitly in their performance of the ritual molim... ... middle of paper ... ...ntributing equally, men and women are seen as equal. Turnbull emphasizes throughout the book that the Pygmies live a satisfying, productive life and that outside interference will be the downfall of their culture. He describes in chapter one how the Pygmy people’s demeanors change when they are around outside influence: they are more reserved and obedient than they are when they are in their beloved forest (Turnbull). Though they sometimes conduct business with nearby villages, their intense love of the forest prevents them from abandoning their way of life. However, their way of life is threatened, much like the Kayapo people of Brazil. Societies who have labeled themselves “developed” or “first-world” wish to civilize cultures they see as inferior to themselves. As increasingly more of the outside world is brought into these cultures, their way of life dissipates.
Throughout time, many people feel as if they have lost their connection to their cultural from outside influences and numerous disruptions. Disruptions to one’s cultural can be seen in the Picture book The Rabbits by john Marsden and Shaun tan which is an an allegory of the invasion of Australia. Another example is the film avatar by James Cameron. The creators of these works are expressing the effect of man on nature and disruption it brings upon the cultural of the indigenous people who are the traditional owners of the land.
In the rough and tropical island of Papua New Guinea, lived an exceptional aggregation of individuals called, The Gebusi. In the 1980's, The Gebusi tribe was anything besides up to date and acculturated. The Gebusi had their own particular singular and special customs and conventions that they rehearsed and accompanied. The Gebusi tribe took part in custom homosexuality, divination or witchcraft was exceedingly respected and polished, and they partook in particular sister-trade relational unions. By 1998-99, The Gebusi tribe had made another lifestyle. The Gebusi had gotten accustomed with new social convictions, modernization due to “western ways” that had changed their lives until the end of time especially changing their ways and view on gender roles and sexuality.
One of the most interesting indigenous groups in the world is the Batek of Malaysia, this is a group of people that live in the oldest rain forest of peninsular Malaysia. Orang ASli means “Original people” in the native Malay Language, and they truly are the original people of the land. Being a nomadic group of hunters and gatherers, means that they are at the mercy of the land and the elements for survival. Batek beliefs note that, the rainforest was created by “superhuman” beings for the Batek to use and will destroy the world and everything on it if the Batek were ever to leave the rainforest ( K.M. Endcott 1979a; Lye 2004). The Batek believe that the “superhuman” beings created the forest for the Batek to harvest, build houses in, and provide also to decorations for their ceremonial rituals.
Though the stereotyping and alienation is strong in Dougy and Gracey’s community they manage to break away from it. The whites feel that the Aborigines get everything free from the government and never do any work of their own, and according to the book, most of them do just this.
Wade Davis’ article, Among the Waorani, provides much of the content brought to light in Nomads of the Rainforest. His article delves deeper into their culture and motivations allowing one to more fully understand their beliefs, relationships, and savagery. Both the documentary and article attempt to create a picture of their close-knit relationships and their desire f...
“The Sambia: Ritual, Sexuality, and Change in Papua New Guinea” is a book written by Gilbert Herdt. It is based on a case study Herdt did during the 1970’s of the culture of the Sambia people. His study took place in Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. He didn’t know much about their language, however through out his time there he was able to learn their language and customs. As he settled into their village, he mostly slept in the clubhouse with the other Nilangu villagers; however, eventually they built a house for him to stay at. Herdt had a great interest in gaining new knowledge about the Sambia culture.
The extensive research conducted by Robert Sapolsky demonstrates the immense similarities that the Savanna baboons have compared to the average human. When broken down, the reader can indefinitely see the struggle for social dominance in the community, the instinctual takeover of the subconscious, the hierarchy ladder that dictates the rank in everyday life, and lastly the changes from one generation to the next. Although professor Sapolsky’s research ended with the death of the Keekorok troop, there was a time frame, when the last fleeting moments closed in, that he witnessed the death of aggression and saw the ushering in of kindness and tolerance amongst each other. This epiphany was imperative to Sapolsky’s understanding that nothing is concrete; there is always some way to branch out and make a better environment.
The film Ongka’s Big Moka is about a Big Man named Ongka of the Kawelka tribe in Papua New Guinea. Being the Big Man of the tribe Ongka reasures his status by arranging a Moka ceremony. In this film we see the process of a Moka that takes up to 5 years of preparation. We follow Ongka’s struggles and successes of accumulating the number of pigs in preparation for the ceremony. The film allows us to understand the motives and functions of a Moka, provides topics that have been discussed in class, and relate this culture to a similar institution within the United States.
This short story, Abitibi Canyon, by Joseph Boyden consists several of important principles of Indigenous people that I would like to make connections to my own life, the world around me, and a video talking about biased assumptions people make without meeting them.
They are outcasts…Their way is not our way. They are without leaders. They have no remembrance…We of the jungle have no dealings with them. We do not drink where the monkeys drink; we do not go where the monkeys go; we do not hunt where they hunt; we do not die where they die. (Kipling 30)
Nigel Barley’s The Innocent Anthropologist explores the lives and culture of the Cameroonian Dowayo tribe. The book follows Barley’s fieldwork gathered during his stay amongst the tribe, affording insight into their ceremonies, language, social norms, and beliefs. Barley’s book stands out in the highly personal tone with which he recounts his time spent with the Dowayo, acknowledging bureaucratic troubles and, oftentimes humorous, misunderstandings. With a translator, Barley embarks on his attempt to immerse himself into the culture of the Dowayo, not hesitating to participate in their festivals (to a certain degree) and incorporate himself in their daily lives. Barley regals the audience with the entire experience of his fieldwork in West Africa, making sure to include how more modern technological and political inventions, such as voting and refrigerators, are regarded by the Dowayo. Barley writes with emphasis on the difficulties of the language, which is tonal and consists of multiple dialects, the Dowayo’s fondness for
the story in the Phillip Whitten and David E. K. Hunter anthropology book of No
“Environmental sociologists theorise about relationships between ecological and social reproduction, highlighting how these processes are simultaneously disrupted under capitalism” (Willette, 5). For the Karuk people, capitalism and colonialism alter their cultural reproduction and accordingly their social reproduction because their culture “…is contingent on, and embedded within, material practices in the landscape” (Willette, 8). Therefore, laws regulating acorn gathering and fishing practices stifle the Karuk’s culture and change their familial bonding time for the
For thousands of years the many pygmy tribes of Africa had been at war with each other in a fight for dominance and land ownership (Koopmans). As recent as the 1990’s the opposing tribes would hold raids against each other killing as many as 20,000 of its enemies in a single week (Koopmans). However, when the dust settled the pygmy culture remained intact. They were able to recover, and continue with their ancient traditions and way of life as they had for generations. The attacks among neighboring tribes were nothing new to them, and they knew how to handle the destruction that followed. Conversely, a more modern threat is leaving the pygmy culture in danger of extinction, and they fear that they may not be able to continue their lifestyle as they have in the past. The pygmy people of Central Africa should be allotted a piece of land for use in continuing with their traditional way of life as a replacement for the land taken from them as a result of deforestation and enslavement.
A. Strathern and P. Stewart, ‘Seeking Personhood: Anthropological accounts and local concepts in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea.’ Oceania Vol. 68 No. 3. Oceania publications, Sydney, 1998.