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This anthropological field study has a cross-cultural message - fair warning that kindness, friendship and love are expendable luxuries when survival is the issue. Turnbull (The Forest People, 1961) lived with the Ik, an African tribe driven into the mountains when their former hunting ground became a National Game Reserve, and observed a people so close to starvation that a "good" man meant one with a full stomach. The family is an early casualty under such circumstances; children are left to fend for themselves at the age of three, food is grabbed from the lips of aging parents, dead relatives are stripped of their possessions and tossed into shallow pits. There is nothing to bind Icien society together. Individuals survive by diligent attention to their own needs while ignoring those of others. Daily occurrences like a sister snatching a mug of tea from her dying brother and laughing gaily at his condition and her own cleverness are bearable for the reader only because they have been filtered through the anthropological eye, allowing vicarious disassociation from the horror - or could it be that the reader like the anthropologist begins in self defense to adopt an Icien perspective in which suffering becomes a source of amusement? The price the Ik have paid for survival is the loss of their humanity. In this literate, appalling and compelling book Turnbull suggests that Western society with its expanding population and unchecked pollution may have set itself on the same disastrous course. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This companion volume to anthropologist Colin Turnbull's "The Forest People" tells the gruesome tale of what happens to a tribal people - the Ik of Uganda - who have been dispossessed of their land. It describes the dehumanization and social collapse of a people who, a few decades ago, were a society of hunters and gatherers; they are now on the verge of extinction. The author draws parallels with western society, coming to the conclusion that our much vaunted civilized values are not inherent in humanity but are a luxury all too readily cast aside.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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ANY DESCRIPTION of another people, another way of life, is to some extent bound to be subjective, especially when, as an anthropologist, one has shared that way of life. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ANY DESCRIPTION of another people, another way of life, is to some extent bound to be subjective, especially when, as an anthropologist, one has shared that way of life. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Mountain People is the work of an anthropologist who spent two years studying the Ik, a small tribe in Uganda. This is an outstanding book that is easy to read and understand. A must read for any anthropology major. Knowledge of African geography is not essential to enjoying this book, but might be helpful if you are one who thrives on such details. In summary, I found his comparisons between the Ik and our own society to be very provocative and insightful. Perhaps we are not so compassionate as we say we are...
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
What would a culture be like where individualism, lying, deception and gain at others' expense are highly valued, and family is almost non-existent? Meet the Ik in this insightful book by a dispassionate anthropologist. When a drought and other pressures lead to starvation, degenerate behaviour that is otherwise merely anthropologically-interesting has tragic consequences.
It is a great pity that this book is out of print.
Westerners, who haven't faced starvation for decades, should not congratulate themselves on their culture after reading this book, but rather ask whether their values would indeed lead to self-sacrifice should they find themselves extremely hard-pressed.
It is a great pity that this book is out of print.
Westerners, who haven't faced starvation for decades, should not congratulate themselves on their culture after reading this book, but rather ask whether their values would indeed lead to self-sacrifice should they find themselves extremely hard-pressed.
Format:Paperback
Like a journey on another planet, and somehow the comparison with the inhumane aspects of western society of the 20th century is striking. Amidst the squalor however, there are some rays of sunshine. Those souls have come to learn something essential.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The book was very interesting and shocking.
I read the book to write a paper for my anthorpology class and received an A. I found myself not beiing able to talk about the contents of the book, without adding comments as... Read more
Published on 5 May 1999
Disturbing and thought-provoking...
Colin Turnbull's, Mountain People, is a study and commentary on the dark side of human nature. Easily readable, and at times humorous, this account of Turnbull's fieldwork with... Read more
Published on 25 Mar 1999
What is this that dwells in us that makes such wretched men?
This book is "a voyage in quest of the basic human and a discovery of his potential for inhumanity, a potential that lies within us all. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 1999
Social "Fabric" is Fragile
The Mountain People by Colin Turnbull gives anthropolical "proof" of how tentative and fragile are the things that we like to think make us human. Read more
Published on 9 Nov 1998
I read this book 20+ years ago was astounded at his findings
This book deals with people's choice in changing with the world or suffering the consequences. He observed the Ik tribe then made predictions for our world based on similar... Read more
Published on 2 Mar 1998
The human will to survive taken to its ultimate expression.
The Ik, forced from a hunter-gatherer society to a sedentary existence in a drought-stricken, region not suited for agriculture, detriorate as a society into a collection of... Read more
Published on 11 Jan 1998
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