The author of Indian Givers discusses how the ancient struggle between tribal people and civilization has become a major theme of the modern world. 20,000 first printing.
Savages and Civilization
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Anthropologist Weatherford ( Indian Givers ) ranges through vast stretches of history and geography in this interesting but disappointing survey of the relationship between tribal peoples and "so-called civilized peoples of the cities." Although the study is structured almost like a textbook, Weatherford's fluid style elevates his descriptions in the initial section, "Tribal Culture," on the foraging life of Australian aborigines, the domestication of animals and the beginning of slavery. In the second section, "National Culture," the author focuses on the city of Djenne in Mali to track the rise of urbanization, nationalism and attendant problems--environmental, political and social. Lastly, in "World Culture," he criticizes Westerners for romanticizing tribal societies, explores the growing ethnic tensions of the modern era and argues that detribalized "cultural castaways" threaten every society. Weatherford's argument that the city will no longer serve as a center of civilization is debatable, and his concluding plea for mutual respect and cultural autonomy throughout the world needs to be accompanied by political analysis.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Noted anthropologist Weatherford has traveled around the world from Tibet to the Sahara to examine indigenous cultures. His fascinating and insightful book goes beyond a description of existing cultures to illuminate, on a global scale, the struggle of these peoples against the loss of their cultural identity. Basing his conclusions and predictions on history, Weatherford notes that just "as civilization seems to have completed its victory over tribal people, the nation-state has begun to dissolve." Blaming famine, the spread of disease, environmental degradation, and war for this possible collapse, Weatherford argues that the tribal peoples are the only ones with the knowledge to save civilization, and so their culture must be preserved. His arguments parallel Clive Ponting's A Green History of the World ( LJ 4/15/92). This book should serve as a "wake-up call" to people everywhere. Highly recommended for all libraries.
- Mary J. Nickum, MAXIMA Corp., Lanham, Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Mary J. Nickum, MAXIMA Corp., Lanham, Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Jack Weatherford is a professor of anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota. He is a specialist in tribal peoples and the author of Indian Givers, Native Roots, Savages and Civilization and The History of Money.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great history book, both a quick read and epic in scope,
By
This review is from: Savages and Civilization: Who Will Survive? (Paperback)
Jack Weatherford has written a wonderful book on the topic of tribal or "primitive" cultures, generally nomadic, often pastoral ones in world history and today, seeking to explore the relationship between tribal peoples and the people of cities and what is thought of as civilization. The fact that these people have gone by so many names throughout history, whether stigmatic names like barbarian, savage, pagan, or heathen or more modern less pejorative names like ethnic group, folk tradition, or national minority shows that urban cultures have generally had a difficult time coming to grips with those outside the mainstream of global civilization.Weatherford covers a great deal of history in his discussion of tribal cultures. He visits with and discusses the Australian aborigines; those that still have their traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle, he writes, with slight modifications, could have lived almost any time in the last 200,000 years in the temperate and tropical zones of Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia (covering something like 99 percent of human history). The modern Aleuts and Inuit of North America, the Sami or Lapps of Scandinavia, and such northern Siberian peoples as the Yakut and Chuckhi represent remnants of the thousands of such groups from the last Ice Age, groups that had to give up foraging and worked in groups to hunt the massive megafauna of the Arctic regions, whether mammoths or whales. The fact that tribal peoples did not settle into the dense concentrations that urban peoples did and many tribal groups had relatively few domesticated animals would have a profound impact upon world history. An interesting point he makes involved pastoral people and disease; virtually every infectious or epidemic disease known among human has a close animal counterpart (smallpox is similar to cowpox in cattle and myxomatosis in rabbits, measles has similarities to distemper in dogs and rinderpest among bovines) and those cultures that did not have much in the way of domesticated animals (such as the Polynesians and Native Americans) were free of these epidemic diseases. Weatherford wrote that the political and technological interaction between the wandering tribal peoples and civilized peoples for the three thousands years between 1600 B.C. and 1500 A.D. was the focal point of Eurasian civilization. Once indigenous people played a huge role in world history, one group occasionally assimilating the other or forcing millions to move in vast relocations. In some cases the nomads were technological innovators (inventing the horse-drawn chariot and the stirrup, for a time dominating urban peoples until they in turn assimilated these new inventions), in other cases acting as conduits for technological change (the Mongols for instance borrowed animals, ideas, and technology from all parts of their territories, spreading them from Europe to China). For centuries there was, despite the conflicts, a symbiotic relationship between farmers and nomads, as one helped the other (the former supplying cereals, tea, sugar, metal-working, and chemicals for leatherworking, the latter important in bringing in exotic items and introducing new products and ideas); this has been obscured by the fact that most written records about the nomads were left by the settled agricultural peoples and were often biased against the nomads. On occasion this was recognized; North African scholar Ab-ar-Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) wrote the first historical analysis of the relationship between tribal and urban people; he said that the city people needed the tribal people because the latter reinvigorated the civilized world, bringing in new blood and new ideas (such as Islam and Judaism). They brought a simple, direct, honest way of dealing with the world, a strength that accounted for the success of the Hebrews against the Canaanite cities, the Arab Bedouins in the Middle East, and the Moors in Spain (among others). However, the longer tribal people associated with urban people, the weaker they became. Weatherford makes the point that this assertion of Ibn Khaldun's was predated by the Old Testament of the Bible (evident in how the Hebrews viewed the corrupt cities of Jericho, Sodom, and Gomorrah), unique in being one of the few texts by a nomadic group. Weatherford definitely wrote what some might call a "big picture" analysis of world history. He devotes several chapters to how eventually the urban peoples of the world came to complete dominate tribal cultures. He wrote that it took roughly 8,000 years for a truly world economy to emerge, the time between the first agricultural village and the start of the first trans-Pacific route from Acapulco to Manila (via the famed Spanish Manila galleon). This process required three major technological and social breakthroughs; the unification of Asia and Europe via the horse (made possible by the invention of stirrups, bridles, and saddles), the connection of sub-Saharan Africa with the Mediterranean world via the camel, and the voyages connecting Europe and Asia across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (made possible by the mastery of celestial and compass navigation and by paper and the invention of the printing press and movable type to maintain contact over thousands of miles and to aid in the creation of modern nation states by standardizing language, culture, and national identity). I can only give a very brief introduction to this book. Though a quick read, it is epic in scope. Later chapters are devoted to how tribal peoples were treated during the age of imperialism, the advent of anthropology (the "study of the exotic by the eccentric"), and the future of tribal peoples today (which ironically may be aided by technology as it has aided widely separated people to maintain touch with one another and facilitated broadcasting and printing in tribal languages). I enjoyed how the author opened many chapters with personal experiences. They ranged from traveling by camel in the Sahara to drinking chicha (homemade corn beer) in the isolated town of Pocona, Bolivia, to recounting experiences with the Kuna of the San Blas Islands of Panama, the only Native Americans visited by Christopher Columbus that are still alive. A great book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you enjoyed Indian Givers, you will love this one too!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Savages and Civilization: Who Will Survive? (Paperback)
This is another brilliant, fascinating, and very entertaining book by Jack Weatherford. Like Indian Givers, each chapter of Savages and Civilization would make a documentary program all its own. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. This author is like the anthropology and history professors you wish you'd had, rolled into one. His writing style stirs the imagination and his thoughts and facts are easy to visualize. If you like your anthropology told with good stories, you can't miss with this book.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and worthwhile reading,
This review is from: Savages and Civilization: Who Will Survive? (Paperback)
I have taken one class from Prof. Weatherford, and plan on taking another this coming year. He is one of the most popular and well-liked professors at Macalester College because he is, in a word, fascinating. He combines an immense field of knowledge with an engrossing lecture and discussion style. He does the same in this book, penning a book that both broadens awareness and understanding, and entertains. I would often intend to read one chapter then go to bed, but would end up many chapters later wondering what happened to the time. If you want a book which is written for those not steeped in anthropology, and which contains a great amount of educational material of interest to people from all fields of study and interests, this is an excellent book to buy, read, and enjoy.
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