In The Tree Where Man Was Born, Peter Matthiessen shares his East African explorations and findings from the 1960’s with poetic flavor and grandeur imagery. Matthiessen gives a uniquely diverse account of the wilderness, wildlife, and traditional peoples of various East African regions. Through these accounts and informative stores of what life is like there from socio-ecological perspective as well as personal travel narrative, one understand the depth to his musings. Despite his accounts as a majority of subjectivity and reader-impressionism from a different era, his insight is still creditable and helpful to the changes of life. Expounding from Jane Goodall’s quote from the book’s Introduction, “Matthiessen’s writing is a triumph of lucid evocative prose, superbly crafted. His love for and deep understanding of East Africa informs his narrative, capturing the magic of its changing landscapes. He shares all the emotions that Africa can evoke in the traveler…” I will attempt to review the two major themes of the book and summarize Matthiessen’s account of those themes: wilderness and wildlife, and the lives of the traditional peoples. These are the common themes throughout The Tree Where Man Was Born and are examined by Matthiessen through a powerful and intersectional lens. In closing, I will review any apparent changes since Matthiessen’s input on the topics previously mentioned. Human life in East Africa has shifted from a variety of nomadic lifestyles to lifestyles that were influenced by intertribal communications or colonizers- either by community choice or by unfortunate choice, which has ultimately led to revolutionary changes in East African, lands, both socially and agriculturally. In the book, Matthiessen ... ... middle of paper ... ...iew, the natural dynamics of Kenya and Tanzania are in place. While there has been much change in the land, for the most part they are preserved in comparison to Matthiessen’s visit to East Africa a just a bit over 53 years ago. His observations of the ways of life there are relatively accurate still- even with the introduction of world politics, and a good scope on the relations the wilderness and wildlife, and the lives of traditional peoples. This is what really draws the reader’s attention in. All in all, in The Tree Where Man Was Born, Matthiessen fluidly discussed the importance of the wild and traditional peoples of East African and reflected on just how beautiful and different it was to see this slice of life from a personal and intersectional lens and immersed the reader in a small adventure to take note of the differences in humanity across the globe.
The inspiring documentary film, E.O. Wilson—Of Ants and Men, showcases biologist Edward Osborne Wilson’s passion for preserving the biodiversity of our natural world. E.O. Wilson not only values the fascinating creatures (particularly ants) that he comes across during his research and in his daily life, but he also takes action and participates in the Gorongosa Restoration Project at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, Africa. The destruction of Gorongosa demonstrates the call for us—Homo sapiens—to realize how critical it is to concern ourselves with protecting the very ecosystems that have molded us into the complex species that we are; according to E.O. Wilson, “We adapted over millions of years to wild environments…We really need them” (CITE?). The better effort we make to understand that we are a part of this large, interdependent ecological community, the better equipped we become in not only being
Ethnographic fieldwork in Anthropology certainly requires anthropologies to understand the limits and biases they will be exposed to while preforming their research. Through the text “Ethnography and Culture”, James P. Spradley discusses some of the concepts anthropologies must be aware of just as “naive realism”, “explicit culture” and “tacit culture”. These three concepts can be appreciated when reading Richard B. Lee’s selection “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”.
In the text “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”, Richard Borshay Lee is exposed to the lifestyle of the !Kung. Some of the advantages of researching in a remote unfamiliar location might be in terms of exploring the area. Because
Hughes argues that European settlers in Zimbabwe have restructure the landscape that ‘imagine the native away’ (xii), while inserting their own identity to nature. Colonial representation of landscape is empty, a place that is legitimized by occupation. “They avoided blacks, preferring instead to invest emotionally and artistical...
... learning the aspects of encountering new: people, plants, animals, and minerals, with in Africa, South-East Asia, and the Americas.
However, omissions in his account of his time spent with the tribe provoke questions regarding the role of women in the society and the power dynamic in Cameroonian tribes, such as the Dowayo. In order to answer such questions, one may look to Miriam Goheen’s experience and fieldwork with the Cameroonian Nso people. Her fieldwork, which closely examines exactly such questions affords great insight into the role of the women in these regions and how their labors are regarded by the other tribespeople. Juxtaposed, Barley’s The Innocent Anthropologist and Goheen’s Men Own the Fields, Women own the Crops: Gender and Power in the Cameroon Grassfields provide a very interesting look into the people of the Cameroonian
Heilbroner’s first task is to study the primitive !Kung people of Africa’s Kalahari Desert in a brilliantly effective and easy-to-understand strategy intended to differentiate between the three forces of Command, Tradition, and the Market. Describing Tradition, he writes “From their infancy, Kun...
“There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.” (baobab.hyms). This hymn is usually sung around the tree when they are need of healing or a cleansing. The Baobab is believed to have been around for thousands of years, and is the heart of the African continent. It’s said that the tree holds secrets, and is a very intelligent tree due to the fact that it “hears and sees” everything. This has helped the African tribes stay around for many years, but people are still wondering how did the Baobab become such an iconic figure to this country. The Baobab Tree has its own story just like we have ours. Its story begins with knowing its roots, story, and personal connection to Africa.
Africa provides one of the most highly destructive environmental issues throughout the whole world. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa has been known to have major impacts with the largest amounts of deforestation, the loss of forests from cutting down too many trees and not re-planting them back. According to the World Resource Institute, Washington DC stated, “More than 80 percent of the earth's natural forests have already been destroyed at a rate of about 40 million hectares per year. Up to 90 percent of West Africa's coastal rain forests have disappeared since 1900. Loss of habitats is among the obvious consequences of deforestation` (seventy percent of the Earth's biodiversity is present in forests). If deforestation continues without any solution, there will be no rain forest left in Africa by the year 2099” (Uneke). Again, the United Nation’s says, "Africa is losing more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of forest every year -- twice the world's average deforestation rate"(Doyle). Therefore, deforestation can be understood as a completely ecological process in which the human factor is taken into account only as a basic addition, not as a powerful one constantly affecting the environment. In fact, the socially and culturally behavioral practices, such as those involved in traditional resource utilization and human reproduction, and their ecological connections present another approach to the environmental problem in Africa. In the history of deforestation, the studies of pollen sedimentation in bog lake bottom layers shows that regional deforestation replacement of forest vegetation by grasslands and bush lands occurred long ago in various parts of Africa, such as Ethiopia, Ug...
The Batwa traditionally lived by hunting and gathering but due to processes of globalisation, colonisation, and economical integration into a capitalistic world system, most of the Batwa couldn’t maintain their traditional lifestyle and became more and more marginalized and oppressed. Traditionally, Batwa were ‘forest’ people. They provided themselves with victuals by dwelling throughout the forest. They had an outstanding knowledge about traditional medicine, survival skills, and hunting techniques. Their low impact on the environment made their lifestyle sustainable over more than a thousand years. Agriculturist Bahutu and pastoralist Batutsi that started to occupy the region caused severe deforestation what harmed the homes of thousands of Batwa. The latter were than integrated at the lowest level in society what mark...
Achebe uses the symbol of tribal drums to show the flourishing culture and life that Umuofia experiences before the Europeans arrive. The symbol of drums is often present during cultural gatherings and celebrations in Umuofia. During the feast, which marks a new harvest year, “drums [are] still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound [is] no longer a separate thing from the living village” (104). Drums distinctly relate to the culture and traditions of the village. Moreover, the “persistent and unchanging” beat to the drums also reflects the unity of the society, and how the tribe currently operates (104). These traditions are unique to Umuofia and are an integral part of African culture. However, this unchanging and pe...
Ghana on its own is a culturally diverse nation. For most of us, Accra is all we know about Ghana. We are clueless about what lies beyond the borders of Greater Accra Region and we are oddly incurious about it. This country is built with the beauty of nature. It possesses abundant natural resources that unfortunately people don’t take the initiative to appreciate. The Central part of Ghana has one of the most beautiful landscapes and tourist attractions ranging from castles to forts, beaches to parks, and so forth. Last year, I visited to Kakum National Park, located in the coastal environs of the Central Region. The park is 350 metres long and connects seven tree tops which provide access to the forest. GoTravelGhana stated, “The canopy walkway is about 360 meter in length and 40 meter high above the ground. It has six wooden platforms where you can stop and observe the authentic moist evergreen rainforest.”
In the 1800s Europeans discovered Saartjie Baartman, a South African Bushman woman. They called her the Hottentot Venus and exploited her mainly because of her physical and cultural differences. Hottentot, Khoisan, San and Bushmen are all common names for the group of indigenous people of which she belonged. These people have been largely viewed by Western society as “savages who were part human, part animal” and considered to be “the lowest rung in the ladder of human development.” This unilateral yet widespread notoriety has existed since the 1800s and many of the banal conceptions of the Bushmen have remained unchanged through the course of modern history. This paper will be general overview of Bushmen culture. It will describe some of its complexities, as well as further note the way early Europeans and anthropologist perceived these South African peoples. This paper will not provide an in-depth historical account or all encompassing research of the culture but is a proposal that aims to present the Bushmen culture as one that has much to appreciated.
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.
In conclusion, traveling from village to forest tells us about changing and experiencing new environment and situation. Plus, it shows that making mistakes can change people’s behavior and teach them from what they have done wrong in the past.