Ants for Breakfast: Archaeological Adventures among the Kalinga [Paperback]

James Skibo (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Kalinga people inhabit a remote mountainous part of the Philippines, where they grow rice and use ceramics just as their neolithic forebears did. Skibo (Pottery Function), who teaches at Illinois State University, lived with the Kalinga for four months in 1988, hoping to understand their pots and bowls. Among the Kalinga, Skibo became a de facto emergency-room doctor, funerary assistant, basketball competitor, drinking companion, gong player and dispute-resolution specialist. Kalinga life in the '80s also featured elaborate oratory, drinking contests, occasional visits from gun-happy guerrillas, oversweet coffee and dishes made from ant eggs ("rather tasty") and boiled fruit bat. Relating his experience in the Philippines, Skibo writes a pleasantly laid-back prose, easy to understand if sometimes rambling. His frequent digressions fill readers in on local history and on archeological finds in the U.S. from the glacial period to the Spanish-American War and the career of ethnoarcheologist Billy Longacre, Skibo's friend and collaborator. Skibo's four months in the Philippines gave him plenty of anecdotes, but few real adventures. The people he studied are friendly, surprisingly accommodating and, fortunately, skillful at preserving their way of life. Skibo's account ends up neither eloquent nor detailed enough to enter the top rank of fieldwork memoirs. His anthropological stories will, however, charm readers who care about the Kalinga or about similar groups--or about their cookware.

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: University of Utah Press; 1 edition (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874806208
• ISBN-13: 978-0874806205
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food For Thought, December 1, 1999

By 

avid reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ants for Breakfast: Archaeological Adventures among the Kalinga (Paperback)

Food For Thought

"Ants For Breakfast" is an easy read, yet a curiosity-piquing one for us archaeologist-wannabes. Author Dr. James Skibo skillfully mixes fact, humor, and his own experience with the Kalinga of the Philippines to show the reader that life as Americans know it, is not the only way to live. On one level, our modern conveniences seem unnecessary and wasteful and yet after reading his account of the 4 months he spent living in the mountains with the Kalinga, one has to be grateful for life's simpler and more basic conveniences [running water, electricity, modern restroom facilities].

His description of a Kalinga funeral and his comparision with our funeral traditions, makes one wonder why is it that funerals have become a somber event that is dreaded and struggled through, when it could be a celebration of life as Dr. Skibo observed in the Cordillera mountains of the Philippines.

As a registered nurse, the stories of their healthcare practices I found especially interesting. As a woman, I tried to imagine myself in his wife, Becky's place. An incredibly brave, resourceful woman in her own right, Mrs. Skibo is an example to woman everywhere. A followup book from her perspective would be a edge-of-the-seat page-turner as this one is!

Dr. Skibo's explanations of dietary differences do not diminish his message. Rather, they add to the reader's understanding that dietary habits are cultural, a learned behavior. Foods we see as repulsive to eat may be a delicacy elsewhere, and vice versa.

Openness and acceptance of those different than us is the food for thought that Dr Skibo offers us in this most interesting book. And just for the record, I think I'll have some of those black 'blueberry' bugs with my bowl!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real life Indiana Jones!, March 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ants for Breakfast: Archaeological Adventures among the Kalinga (Paperback)

In Ants For Breakfast: Archeological Adventures Among The Kalinga, archeologist James Skibo shares the story of his archaeological pursuits in the remote Philippine highlands where he lived with the Kalinga people, former headhunters and one of the few groups in the world still using ceramics for cooking. Ants For Breakfast is an exciting tale of archaeological adventures worthy of any movie or television mini-series. But this true-life account of danger, mystery, sex, violence, and death is more gripping than any Hollywood fiction. In the course of his story Skibo links his experiences to the development of modern archaeology, and such subjects as human evolution, the populating of the world, animal domestication, cultural logic, food taboos, Imelda Marcos, and a great deal more. Ants For Breakfast is highly recommended reading for students of archaeology and anyone who ever wondered what a real life Indian Jones adventure would be like.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, November 5, 2006

By 

R. Olson ":)" (usa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ants for Breakfast: Archaeological Adventures among the Kalinga (Paperback)

Full of witty information and interesting stories. Anything but a boring archaeology book.