Review by Choice Review
Disputing views of hunter-gatherer societies as isolated and pristine, either living in primordial harmony with nature or on the precipice of inevitable subjugation and extinction, anthropologists Reyes-García (Barcelona) and Pyhälä (Helsinki) present a general introduction and 13 chapters demonstrating a wide range of viable and dynamic adaptations to globalization and state domination. Essays on foraging populations such as the Penan of Malaysia, Tsimané of Bolivia, and Baka of Cameroon provide diverse examples of agency, interaction, and persistence. Most impressively, the ethnographic cases document how the qualities of egalitarianism, trust, intimacy, sharing, and autonomy are sustained despite wide-ranging environmental threats and political restrictions. In contrast to ethnocentric expectations and lineal interpretations, present-day hunting-gathering societies have not necessarily always been mobile and isolated foragers. In some instances during their recent histories, some semi-sedentary cultivators have found economic, social, and spiritual costs too great to abandon hunting, gathering, and fishing activities and have chosen to separate themselves from surrounding agricultural communities. In addition, even in the context of agricultural activity and wage labor, the cultural practices of foraging societies, including intimate infant care, social reciprocity, and economic redistribution, are not invariably affected by economic development and national integration. Valuable for research collections. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. --Bahram Tavakolian, Denison University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
