We receive a sense of the personalities and priorities accorded this readability undoubtedly helps us better comprehend the pygmies' lives. Turnbull does not bog down his narrative in academic jargon or complex nuance rather we find an informal, at times even casual, account of life in a forest tribe. Marriage and the duties therein define the tribe, with complex customs existing between existing and prospective couples.Īs the tribes live as hunter gatherers, it is necessary for a number of men to be skilled in gathering meat, fruits and vegetables, together with honeycomb - a substance prized by the pygmies for its deliciousness. The interplay between males and females of the tribe are detailed, with rivalries and conflicts between the younger pygmies. 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. This very personal analysis of the Mbuti Pygmies and their culture was a unique view of a very rich and complex society that was often looked down upon by other peoples in the area and the world. 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. From his years of studying the Mbuti Pygmies, Turnbull produced his seminal book, The Forest People (1961).

The Mbuti tribe respected him, and attempted to show him their cultural prospects as a society until a drastic change in their lifestyles occurred.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. This study of the BaMbuti Pygmies of the Congo has become a classic work in the finest tradition of literate anthropology. Turnbull wrote about his experiences with the tribe from a first person perspective. The Forest People was the version for a general readership of Turnbull's academic thesis, which was published in an expanded, more technical form by Routledge in London as Wayward Servants: The Two Worlds of the African Pygmies (1965).

The editor for the book was Michael Korda who attended Oxford University with Turnbull.

Turnbull contrasts his forest-living subjects' lifestyle with that of nearby town-dwelling Africans and evaluates the interactions of the two groups. In this bestselling book, Colin Turnbull, a British cultural anthropologist, details the incredible Mbuti pygmy people and their love of the forest, and each other. In this book, the British-American anthropologist detailed his three years spent with the community in the late 1950s. The Forest People (1961) is Colin Turnbull's ethnographic study of the Mbuti pygmies of the Uturi Forest in then- Belgian Congo.

The forest people colin turnbull