Synopsis
A collection of eighteen statements from tribal cultures around the world--including peoples in Guatemala, Brazil, Peru, the Easter Islands, and more--offers inspiration to make changes in harmful environmental practices. Original.
Reviews
This anthology, compiled by the independent news agency Interpress Service, offers not native folk tales, as the title might indicate, but think pieces from members of indigenous peoples from around the world. Certainly, though, it contains story to the extent that a people's oral tradition informs its attitudes about the environment. Abenaki storyteller Joseph Bruchac, for example, shares a tale about humanity's greedy attempt to capture all the animals of the forest. Pieces are also included from Indians in Guatemala, Brazil and Peru. The book's real value lies, however, in giving voice to indigenous groups usually heard less often. Alberto Hovus Chavez, a Rapanui from Easter Island, and Pekko Aikio, a Sami from Finland, each describe threats to his nation's traditional way of life--tourism in the case of the Rapanuis, the destruction of reindeer habitat for the Samis. The commonalities among these various peoples can be seen clearly: a reverence for the earth, a belief in maintaining ecological and/or spiritual balance and harmony and a fervent desire for self-determination. The volume allows these people to give eloquent testimony to the fragility of life on this planet and the loss all suffer as traditional ways erode and die.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This anthology of narratives by indigenous peoples was compiled by InterPress Service, a news agency specializing in countries of the Southern hemisphere. Activists from 18 countries on six continents, including Brazil, Peru, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Guatemala, Canada, and the United States, express their tribal views on the earth and the place of human beings within it. All the narrators express their concern about the loss of their culture's way of life, recounting the sad destruction of tribal ways and peoples by industry and development. They have an important message to share, but most of the writing is unimpassioned and uneven in quality. To better understand the relationship of nature to native peoples, a more satisfying account is David Suzuki's Wisdom of the Elders ( LJ 7/92). Not recommended.
- Eva Laute mann, DeKalb Coll. Lib., Clarkston, Ga.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
