Our Grandmothers' Drums - Hardcover

Hudson, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802112366 ISBN 13: 9780802112361

Publisher: Grove Pr, 1990

Synopsis

The author recounts his experiences living in the village of Dulaba in Gambia, and shares his impressions of the local customs and rituals

About this title

From Library Journal:

Hudson, a young Briton in his 20s, came to the village of Dulaba in The Gambia on an anthropological research mission, never clearly explained, but focusing on "the unchanging scheme of Mandinka women's lives." His work explores the landscape and inner workings of one village. It is a voyage of discovery and of self-discovery, despite the apparent sameness and slowness that characterizes village life. Hudson follows the women to the rice fields, working alongside them, trying to understand an impenetrable way of life. Despite his endless probing, and ubiquitous tape recorder, he remains apart, though he does cross a boundary by becoming intimately involved with a village woman. Hudson offers a little history, a little sociology, and a succession of vignettes. The many names becomes confusing at times, but his reconstructed conversations make the book personal, easily read, novel-like. This is anthropology with a human face. Recommended for African and women's studies collections and for large public libraries.
- Janet L. Stanley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

After 14 months in an isolated village in Gambia, a narrow former British colony inserted into the heart of Senegal in Western Africa, Hudson, a young Englishman, was changed "completely and forever." In this perceptive first book, he explains that although he arrived as an observer who wanted to study the lives of the village women, he soon became an active participant in the rituals of the blank, listless people who fasted in their dilapidated, termite-ridden huts, surrounded by dangerous bush. They were entirely reliant on the one rainy season to produce the food necessary for survival. Working alongside the women, Hudson was drawn into their personal, religious, social and sexual dramas. When he left, he felt that he "knew these people too well to feel sentimental about them," but was nevertheless close to tears. Readers will understand his pain.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Pr
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0802112366
• ISBN 13: 9780802112361
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 321