Children of the Forest: Africa’s Mbuti Pygmies by Kevin Duffy
180 pages, $25.95 list
0-88133-885-0
978-0-88133-885-0
© 1984 paperback
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Children of the Forest
Africa’s Mbuti Pygmies
Kevin Duffy
This intimate study portrays the hunter-gatherer Mbuti pygmies of Zaire. Kevin Duffy describes how these forest nomads, who are as adapted to the forest as its wildlife, gratefully acknowledge their beloved home as the source of everything they need: food, clothing, shelter, and affection. Looking on the forest in deified terms, they sing and pray to it and call themselves its children. With his patience and knowledge of their ways, Duffy was accepted by these, the world’s smallest people, and invited to participate in the cycle of their lives from birth to death.

This book is an excellent companion piece to Duffy’s 50-minute film, Pygmies of the Rainforest, which was shown on PBS’s science series, NOVA, as “BaMiki BaNdula”. A 28-minute version (Children of the Forest) is also available. Both versions are distributed in video format by Pyramid Film & Video, 800-421-2304.
Reactions
“Comprehensive and easy to read, this ethnography provides concrete illustrations of important areas of theoretical and conceptual concern to anthropology.” — Ryan Ellsworth, Southeast Missouri State University

“With an elegant simplicity and deliberate absence of jargon, it is explicitly personal and intimate, as well as informative . . . the book reads easily like a narrative diary rich in information . . . a definitive contribution to our knowledge and understanding of the Mbuti pygmies based on original research.” — Hilda Kuper, University of California, Los Angeles
Table of Contents
1. The Place, the People
2. Encounter with a Pharaoh
3. Hunting, Gathering, and the Molimo
4. The Efe and the Lese
5. Camp Tupi
6. The Monkey Hunter
7. Birth and Death
8. Elephant Hunt
9. The Meat Festival
Epilogue
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