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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
If one picture is worth a thousand words, then the combination of text and images in Nomads of Niger adds up to the equivalent of a whole encyclopedia. The cover photograph alone tells you this will be a special journey; before you even reach the title page you've already been treated to several stunning portraits of a nomadic people known as the Wodaabe, "who number among the last nomads of Africa, indeed among the last nomads on earth." The landscape the Wodaabe inhabit is a harsh one: "In central Niger, between the great Sahara Desert and the grasslands, lies an immense steppe, scattered with scrawny bushes and skeletal trees. For nine months of the year hardly a drop of rain falls. The days are torrid, the nights sometimes freezing cold. And the harmattan, the hot wind out of the desert, blows up relentlessly, filling the air with a sandy haze." Across this no-man's land the Wodaabe herd their cattle, migrating north in the rainy season and south again in the dry months and leaving no trace of their travels as they go.
If one picture is worth a thousand words, then the combination of text and images in Nomads of Niger adds up to the equivalent of a whole encyclopedia. The cover photograph alone tells you this will be a special journey; before you even reach the title page you've already been treated to several stunning portraits of a nomadic people known as the Wodaabe, "who number among the last nomads of Africa, indeed among the last nomads on earth." The landscape the Wodaabe inhabit is a harsh one: "In central Niger, between the great Sahara Desert and the grasslands, lies an immense steppe, scattered with scrawny bushes and skeletal trees. For nine months of the year hardly a drop of rain falls. The days are torrid, the nights sometimes freezing cold. And the harmattan, the hot wind out of the desert, blows up relentlessly, filling the air with a sandy haze." Across this no-man's land the Wodaabe herd their cattle, migrating north in the rainy season and south again in the dry months and leaving no trace of their travels as they go.
Photographer Carol Beckwith spent 18 months traveling with one particular band of Wodaabe, and her photographs concentrate on the family of a herdsman named Mokao and his family. Nomads of Niger is more than just a coffee-table book; it is also an informative and highly entertaining account of the lives, customs, rituals, and taboos of the Wodaabe reminiscent of the best of National Geographic magazine.
From Library Journal
Belgian anthropologist Van Offelen banded with American photographer Beckwith to produce this stunning 1983 volume on the Wodaabe, the pastoral nomads of the West African Fulani people. Along with the 144 photographs are numerous line drawings and a healthy portion of Van Offelen's observations. This remains "recommended for area collections and for libraries where there is interest in the decorative arts of traditional societies" ( LJ 12/15/83).
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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- First Find Your Child a Good Mother: The Construction of Self in Two African Communities by Paul Riesman on page 4, and Back Matter
- Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection by frances Borel in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Colors of Africa by Duncan Clarke in Back Matter
- Instant Gratification: Jewelry by Annie Guthrie in Back Matter
- Recasting Ritual: Performance, Media, Identity (European Association of Social Anthropologists) by Hughes-Freeland on page 110
See all 9 books citing this book