Customer Reviews

Where the Spirits Dwell: An Odyssey in the Jungle of New Guinea

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having visited the region where this book is set I found it mostly interesting for giving a picture of how things used to be there - they are much changed today!
For those who haven't been to the Asmat region of New Guinea, this will be a fascinating read. Those inspired to go should be prepared to find it a lot more civilized these days.

A nice read but a bit too much about the author rather than about the people of New Guinea.

I read this book and enjoyed it. Tobias is an off the books type of person, who is haphazardly entering upon territory in a why that is both remarkable but beyond the responsible range of any anthropologist. the other person reveiwing this book says that the Asmat regions are now civilized, so much the worse. there are traits common to the humanistic tradition which have thrived for millenia due to thier geografic remoteness, now the origins of our collective character is being usurped by values and judgements most purverse. Tobias was a man who belonged to a bygone era. one of color and mystisim. i rate this book highly for those who cant afford to bombard New guinea with thier tourisim and want a look at what things were like in a diffrent time and scope.

I read this book as a follow up to "Keep The River On Your Right". Again, Tobias takes us where few of us have ventured before. This exploration takes us to the primative people of New Guinea. Tobias gives us an excellent narrative of encounters with the people. In addition, we have insight to the politics and policies of the 1970's, when these people are invaded by the outside world as the need for natural resources become greater. Those who are interested in primative cultures, anthropology and third world experience will highly enjoy this book.

I read this at the suggestion of a drugged counter culture english teach in 1969 need I say more, the actual acount of Tobia's stay among the headhunters, where all other journalists who were dropped there and eaten, Tobias sheds his clothes and embraces the tribesmen and becomes one

this left such an impression on me that 30 years later i can remember all of it

going on hunts and cutting the enemy tribes limbs and heads and pileing them neatly and eating the hearts first to release thier evil sprit and use thier skulls as pillows

Variant, modifying New Guinea cultures - such is the conclusion that Tobias Schneebaum has accepted after compiling his social science field research at the end of an odyssey in the jungle on the second largest island on earth. Wild spirits, he infers in his book, Where the Spirits Dwell, could be mitigated by an unconventional search in the mysterious wilderness. Schneebaum's field research has taken the social scientist to a group's most sacred customs and practises, giving an intimate bird's-eye view on New Guinea. By participating in the daily spirit of the tribe he was able to collect data and now has shared his insightful findings. Most social scientists aim for the goal of presenting men in society as they naturally act. But to catch human nature surreptitiously requires the type of field research that is found in Where the Spirits Dwell. The secluded denizens were an attraction for the social scientist since he has investigated the hypothesis about the visual and thinking processes of the Asmat tribesmen by using the Lowenfeld Mosaic Test. But he also was drawn to the society by the tantalizing unknown. The author states, "perhaps it was nothing more than the thought that what lay on the other side of the mountain was more exciting than what was immediately around me." Some thoughtlessly have minimized the Asmat's thrill of discovering the first Caucasian. Years ago, social scientist and subject wanted to enjoy the intimacy of their encounter. The reader is attracted to the heart of the secret society which comprises some aspects of religious belief and many views of sexuality. Pursuing his field research the anthropologist's methods are justified by the freedom of inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge but perhaps he also may have achieved greater insight because the people sensed something in him that attracted them instantly. Tobias Schneebaum conveys the condition of a solitary social scientist's world. Besides the freedom of inquiry it is filled with the limitations of dangerou