Quickly becoming popular in the locality for his courtesy and respectful manners, Turnbull kept a diary and took photographs of the locals, noting their customs and dynamics as a tribal community. Seeking to shed insight on the pygmy peoples for a wider audience, he sought a home in one of the villages and introduced himself to the locals.
Even more than informative, this study is fascinating due to the author's ability to tell a good story well.In the 1950s, anthropologist Colin Turnbull lived among the pygmies of the Congo river for three years - this is his account of life among the tribespeople.Īdventurous as a young man, at the time he moved to the Congo Turnbull already had several years' experience of Africa and its rural cultures. The far reaching concepts of this study are valuable in the field of general human understanding as well as in understanding these people in particular. Stereotyped and false concepts of the Pygmy are quickly dispelled, and the small but powerful people emerge as fllow men, singular in their ability to live happily with neither fear nor evil, yet with a lasting moral and physical strength. With an intimacy gained solely from living with them as a friend, traveling with them from village to forest, joining their hunting groups, participating in their festivals as one of them, he conveys their imperfections and modern problems along with the endearing qualities which the BaMbuti evidence in abundance. Turnbull shows that he not only loves his work, but these forest people as well, supplying the necessary background for the reader to appreciate fully the deeper philosophy of this racially distinct group, while creating an exciting and delightful account of how they live today.
The BaMbuti, or the Pygmies of the Ituri Forest, thought to be among the oldest inhabitants of Africa, are presented with all the human warmth and observational skill expected from an anthropologist.
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