Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation

by Colin M. Turnbull

A study of the Mbuti pygmy hunter/gatherers of Zaire, with historical background on the Huri Forest, suggested correlatives between different forms of social organization and the environment, and details of the changes brought about by the Zimba revolution and independence.

Genres: Anthropology, Africa, Ethnography

161 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1983

About the author

Colin Macmillan Turnbull (November 23, 1924 – July 28, 1994) was a British-American anthropologist who came to public attention with the popular books The Forest People (on the Mbuti Pygmies of Zaire) and The Mountain People (on the Ik people of Uganda), and one of the first anthropologists to work in the field of ethnomusicology.

Reviews

[Sheila]

Ben Franklin said the only two sure things in life is death and taxes. I think he should have added change. This book is about change and how the Mbuti have had to adjust to colonialism, civil war, environmental change, and independence. Turnbull approaches it in a very human, nonclincal, way. It's a lesson for all of us and how we should adapt to change. Nobody, not even a remote tribe of pygmies in the heart of the Ituri rainforest is immune.

[Jeremy Codilla]

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